Salama Higazi as a singer of adwar (episode IV)

[fredlag@noos.fr]

This old trail stopped previously at episode III, I feel Ramadan is the proper time for an episode IV. And since I will be away from the site from late october until christmas, it is time for presents.

So, after
1/ el-wagh mesl el-badr tamam
http://www.zamanalwasl.net/forums/showpost.php?p=4558&postcount=1
2/ ya rashiq el-qadd
http://www.zamanalwasl.net/forums/showpost.php?p=4789&postcount=1
3/ qaddo l-mayyas (the ultimate chef d'oeuvre)
http://www.zamanalwasl.net/forums/showpost.php?p=4908&postcount=1

Let us appreciate another dor, a saba one this time,
le-gher lotfak ana ashki le-min
55546 1/2 (2 sides)
Could it be Higazi's composition ? The facts that Manyalawi sings it as well (but for once, Salama is clearly the winner) makes this hypothesis a little shaky...
I will comment more on it later, but the rythmic patterns are insanely clever, and the shifts to maqsum awesome. The record is not in a very good state, but it is a fantastic rendition anyways.

[alshame]

ألف شكر فريد بيك على هذا التسجيل الرائع والنادر

[Najib]

We may argue a lot about who is the best Adwar peformer (Manyalawi - Abdel Hay Hilmi - Higazi), and who knows maybe for memory refreshing purposes we open a chart of adwars and see who comes on top.

However doesn't this dor prove that Higazi is undisputed king of 3urab?

His 3urab from the 1st downward Aah are soooo captivating.

Also his first tackle on Habib Qalbi ana Ahwak is simply heart-melting.

And yes I'm sure we'll all come back to this again and again.

Thanks Fred.

[أبو علاء]

I've been impressed in the first place by the composition of this dawr. It is definitely an uncommon one not only by its particular rythmic arrangement, but also by its unusually descending melodic pattern. Actually, the whole melody is conceived as a sort of continuous shuttle between gawab and qarar. Wouldn't that last characteristic be precisely a clue to Higazi's paternity of the music? I guess, Fred, you are better placed than me to elucidate this question, but I remember other dors were also attribute to him. Does your skepticism apply to all of them or does it concern this one in particular? True that Higazi doesn't seem anyway to have been among the major composers of 'adwar and this one is definitely an outstanding one. The hank in bayati muhayyar is really moving.
A pity that the recording had to be compressed into two sides. I think the composition would have fully justified a four side recording. I must admit I remain under the influence of Bilidi's interpretation of this dawr, which I found tremendous.

Posted in the "min radi' al-tasjilat" series :
http://www.zamanalwasl.net/forums/showpost.php?p=6547&postcount=1

[Najib]

I was talking this morning to Mohsen about Higazi's rendition here.

Long time ago I saw an interview with Abdel Wahab, and he says that it was with Sayyed Darwish that finally the meaning of a song and its music started to match. So Music was in harmony with She3r Wujdany.

What a load of bollocks that was!

Just listen to the munagat that Higazi shows through this dor, and you realise how wrong Abdel Wahab was, and how undermining - in a mean way I must admit - he was to the nahda generation. A generation sadly Abdul Wahab was a traitor to its legacy.