Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
!!!!!!! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!!! :
This NOT a digital release!!!!!!! Only the physical album on vinyl is for sale. The digital tracks are samples of the music on the album.
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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
High-quality pressing housed in a delicately handmade natural paper jacket with vintage looking die-cut and flipback features.
Includes unlimited streaming of Hakam Aleena El Hawa
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
There is no Western counterpart to Umm Kulthum, that much is clear. She was once described as having had “the virtuosity of Ella Fitzgerald, the public persona of Eleanor Roosevelt, and the audience of Elvis”, and the likes of Bob Dylan and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin count her among their ultimate sources of inspiration. Charles De Gaulle adorned her with the title of “the Lady” and to the Arab world, she was simply known as the “Voice of Egypt” or “Egypt’s Fourth Pyramid”. What Umm Kulthum achieved over the course of her sixty-year trailblazing career is nothing short of legendary; renowned for her ability to gracefully rise above the grandeur of instrumentation, she would reincarnate melody by deftly colouring her tone depending on each piece’s deep emotional context. Adding to her gravitas, she had perfected the diction and pronunciation of Classical Arabic, having committed the entire Quran to memory aged 12 - a feat that remains to this day unmatched by any other prominent artist. Her five-hour long performances would rapture her listeners into feeling wistful melancholy, warming jubilation and fierce trans-nationalistic pride, all at once.
Throughout Umm Kulthum’s illustrious years in the limelight, there were persistent rumours of a romantic relationship between her and prolific Egyptian composer, Baligh Hamdy. The true depths of their relationship remain a mystery, however, their collaboration as artists brought the world some of its most prized & collectible pieces in the Arabic musical canon. Hamdy was a powerhouse who epitomised the parlance between avant-garde oriental and occidental arrangements with vigour and tenacity, and Umm Kulthum herself was deeply compelled by his compositions. After delivering her the sensation that is Alf Leila we Leila and other timeless classics, Baligh Hamdy for the final time composes Hakam Aleena El Hawa in Umm Kulthum’s parting ode before her death. In a hauntingly beautiful ballad, she speaks of the overwhelming nature of love and sincere affection, over a delicately formulated Maqam Nahawand on the Arabic melodic scale. With an intro featuring the rhythmic fireworks of Hany Mehanna, Egyptian King of the Farfisa organ and pioneer of the oriental synth, Souma Records proudly present a remastering of the original studio version for The Voice of Egypt to live on. High-quality pressing housed in delicately handmade natural paper jackets.
Musing, beckoning and triumphant as always...
Muhammad Al-Najjar
London, April 2023
credits
released April 21, 2023
Music: Baligh Hamdy
Lyrics: Abdel Wahab Mohamed
Album artwork: Milan Hulsing
Graphic design: Jeremy Klinger
Handwritten Lyrics: Mahmoud Atef
supported by 17 fans who also own “Hakam Aleena El Hawa”
See here: http://amiscellany.info/2019/09/07/music-various-artists-zamaan-ya-sukkar-exotic-love-songs-and-instrumentals-from-the-egyptian-60s/ Rudy Carrera
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