Wadih el-Safi
Wadih El Safi (born Wadih Francis in 1921, and still alive and healthy at the age of 89) is a Lebanese Folk and
Tarab singer, often referred to as "The Voice of Lebanon", and known for his very powerful vocal range filled with warmth and sensibility, always accompanied by his own oud playing.
He started his musical career after winning a contest on the national radio at the age of 17. After that, he began composing and singing his own songs, and appearing in the Lebanese musicals made popular in the 50s and 60s and in the usual musical plays, alongside the biggest names in the business (in Lebanon & Egypt anyway), and composing to names like Fairuz and Sabah.
He sang his country and sang for love, with heartbreaking
Mouwals (a kind of slow emotional improvisation introducing the song) and his own heartfelt lyrics. So here are the usual youtube vids. I tried putting a bit of variety, so there are two sad songs and the other two are a bit more jovial.
The Saddies:
Rah halfak bel ghoson ya 'asfour (I will make you swear by the branch, O bird) - Walaw ( I don't think there's a word for it in English, it's if Caesar was Lebanese and he got stabbed in the back by Brutus, he would've turned to him and said "Walaw? Thou too, Brutus?")
The Jovials:
Al laylou ya layla (The night, O Layla) ------ Andak bahriyya ya Rayess (You got sailors Chief)
I just noticed something in the guy's style of writing. Seems like all the poems he writes are a kind of
Mounajat, a style in Arabic literature used to write a conversation, or monologue, to an object or a person.