Melhem Zein is a 31 year old Lebanese – pan Arab singer who was a contestant on the Arabic version of British Pop Idol, named, Super Star. I decided to focus on this artist because in addition to my love and admiration for most Westernized music, I take interest in Arabic music as well. The deep acoustic registers and ranges of the music from this region, in general, bring a different sense of involvement in music.
Unlike Westernized culture, Arabic music and most third world countries’ popular music revolve more around a transcendent focus. Westernized music generally brings about a sense of euphoria and excitement that “POPS!” (hence the name of the genre POP). Even though American music is known for it’s storytelling as well within genres such as Hip-Hop, Rap, R&B, and even some contemporary, it seems the primary purpose of Westernized music is to entertain.
However, within Melhelm Zein, the music is slightly different in purpose. The genre of music that Melhem Zein primarily sings is named, Mawwal. Mawwal, is a traditional genre of Arabic music that is characterized as vocal (acoustic) music and is usually presented before the actual song begins. It is characterized by spelling vowel syllables longer than usual. Besides my initial interest in Arabic music, I decided to focus on this genre because of it’s close connotation to American Blues. The way that Mawwal marries poetry and music, many of it’s artists and songs can be compared to early recordings of American Blues music.
An example of this acoustically, sentimental style of music is seen in this video, featuring artist, Melhem Zein singing, Maqsoum Melhem Zein Ya Ebni (Mawwal).
One thing that I find interesting about music is how it has one main theme: geographical location. Most of the time, music is defined by the surrounding environment. Some genres focus heavier on this element than others. Mawwal is one of them. Mawwal, contrary to classical Arabic music, is sung in colloquial. It’s a genre that heavily utilizes the culture, physical surrounding, and accessibility to instruments. This is once again very similar to American Blues as they used their limitations to create the most out of what the few resources they had. The emphasization on vocal strength only identifies how vital this music is to it’s listeners. The primary location where this music is played is in Egypt. However, the most famous singers come from Lebanon in specific, artists Sabah, Wadih-al Safi and Fairouz.
Here are a couple of videos displaying these artists amazing vocal talents: Sabah – Yana Yana
Hope You Enjoy!!
Explore New Music.
– Evan J.
Got A Million Rhymes 