musifying

Until now, in the first 5 parts in this series we discussed what is called “Urban / Classical twentieth century Egyptian music”. This was one of the central currents in Arabic music and has had an effect on the music in most of the Arab world through out the twentieth century. Today we conclude the Egyptian list. In the coming posts we move east and west from Egypt.

Sheikh Zakariyya Ahmad

Although mostly survived by his compositions that were sung by Umm Kulthoum and other great singers, it is possible to find recordings of Sheikh Zakariyya performing his compositions. My favorites of his compositions are:

• Emta El-Hawa
• El-Amal
• Huwwa Sahih
• Habibi Yis’id Awqato
• Ana Fi-Intizarak
• Il-Ward Gamil
• La Ya Habibi

Other Egyptian Singers

This is hardly a complete list. Although I will pretend to be objective, I am probably choosing my favorites:

• Mohammad Abdel-Mattaleb
• Nagat
• Warda
• Fayza Ahmad
• Laila Murad
• Karem Mahmoud
• Sayyed Makkawi

In addition, one should also be exposed to the early twentieth century singers. Recordings of the following singers are hard to find (though they are out there).

• Moneera El-Mahdiyya
• Abu El-Ila Mohammad
• Nour El-Houda
• Saleh Abdel-Hayy

All those lists are being made from memory. Feel free to correct the omissions of my faulty memory.