Filed under: Lebanon
♬ Aldiyl Abu Zalouma / الضيل ابو زلومه
A few months back, I bought a stack of cassettes from Egypt. This one, I bought just for the cover. Wouldn’t you? I did end up using the photo for the Arabic Organs Vol. 3 mix on my SoundCloud.
The Kings / فرقة الكينجز were the resident band in Casino du Liban in Lebanon at the end of the 1970s. The band had various incarnations beginning as The Nighters then I Notturni and later The Kings. The band leader was Khaled Choufari / خالد شفري.
The majority of this album is covers of classic Disco hits like KC and The Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way (Like It)” and “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty”, Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting” and Silver Connection’s “Fly, Robin, Fly”. But this track is, to the best of my knowledge, an original.
No catalog number listed. Released in 1978 on Alam Al Moosiqa / عالم الموسيقى of Cairo, Egypt.
Filed under: Lebanon
Alain Abadie was from Beirut, Lebanon.
He recorded three singles between 1973 and 1974 – this one being his last. He also had a small role in the French slapstick comedy “Les Quatre Charlots Mousquetaires”. He died in Israel in 2019. And that is all I have been able to find on him.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number RF 234 on Société Libanaise du Disque of Beirut, Lebanon. Released 1974.
Filed under: Lebanon
♬ Raqsat Alsamah / رقصة الشباب
Walid Gholmieh / وليد غلمية was born in Marjeyoun, Lebanon in 1938. He was a composer and founded the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra which he also conducted. During the late 1970s / early 1980s, he released at least seventeen albums and four singles.
Gholmieh composed the former Iraqi national anthem, “Ardulfurataini Watan” / “Land of Euphrates” that was in use from 1981 until 2003 during the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. He was also featured on the album Plastic Beach by Gorillaz that was released in 2010. Gholmieh past away the following year.
Catalog number 905/906 on Morico Records of Lebanon. Released 1971.
Filed under: Lebanon
♬ Muqadimat Musiqia / مقدمة موسيقية
♬ Khaliyk Huna Khaliyk / خليك هنا خليك
Nabil Abd el Al / نبيل عبد العال – also seen transliterated as Nabil Abdell Aal, Nabil Abdel Ali, Nabil Abdelaal and Nabil Adbel Ali – was, to the best of my knowledge, from Lebanon. He was apparently a studio musician, and played on records by Mohamed Abdel Wahab / محمد عبد الوهاب and Hassan Abu El Seoud / حسن أبو السعود. He may or may not have been related to Aboud Abdel Al / عبودعبدالعل – who was a violinist and composer.
You can find two more songs from the album above on Cedarphon’s The Groovy Sounds of 1970s Lebanon.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number SLD 15023 on Société Libanaise du Disque. Released 1974.
Filed under: Lebanon
The person who sold this record only had one piece of information – that it was from Lebanon. And for over a year, I have been trying to find anything about this record. I’ve had a few people translate the stylized script, and this is what the label says:
A Gift from Mohamed Abdulwahab Association
Djibouti
P.O.Box 502 – Phone 629
Production by: Abdulraheem Odda
P.O.Box 619
Beirut – Lebanon
Here is a larger scan of the label. If you have any information about this recording, please leave it in the comments below.
Thanks to Hisham Mayet for his help on this post.
No catalog number, record company or release date listed.
Filed under: Lebanon
Just a quick post this week… I’ve been a bit busy as of late, and haven’t been putting in as much time as I need with the site.
So here’s a single I have nothing on, other than it was “Recorded and mixed on August 21, 1972 at Baalbeck Studios, Lebanon.”
If you have any information on Abdallah Geahel, please get in touch or leave a comment.
Catalog number EM 115 on Empire. No other information available.
Filed under: Lebanon
I occasionally run across articles bemoaning that bloggers are not journalists. And, to be honest, I have to agree with that. Bloggers have an opinion – or an agenda, depending on who ask – while journalists are supposed to not have a bias. You know, fair and balanced…
As much as I had intended not to insert myself into the writing about the music, it became unavoidable. For so many of these records, there is very little – if any – information that is available. So sometimes the process of finding that tidbit of information – or that there is a lack of – becomes all there is to write about.
This is one of those records that I have very little to go on. Supposedly how the story goes, is that Ocean was a group of Lebanese musicians who moved to Côte d’Ivoire… But that is all that I’ve got.
If you have any further information, or even a scan of the record cover, please get in touch or leave a comment.
Catalog number SID 30 on Société Ivoirienne du Disque of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, released 1977.
Filed under: Lebanon
This week… I got nothing.
O.K., that’s not entirely true. I can tell you that Taroub (or as seen here, Tarup), along with her sister Mayada, were from Lebanon and were of Turkish descent. They had recording careers both in Lebanon and Turkey, where this single is from.
But beyond than, I can not tell you anymore.
Writer’s block? Perhaps.
I looked up writer’s block, and one of the major causes is “A project may be fundamentally misconceived, or beyond the author’s experience or ability”… This may be true. Guess we’ll find out.
If you have any further information, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number MT-574 on Moda Plāk of Turkey. No other information is available.
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I received some more information from our friend Hany Zaki. Here’s what he had to say:
Her real name is Amal Jarkas from Turkish roots, as you mentioned. From time to time she used to go to Turkey for making records, or films, or to fall in love. In 1968 [could be the time around when she made that single] she was in Istanbul taking a part in Lebanese -Turkish production film titled Gang of Women with Sabah as the film star and a Turkish actor. His name is Jonette Arkan. He is pretty much looking like Alan Delon [likely that’s what drove him to acting]. The film ended with Arkan and Taroub romancing reached the limit of marriage concept, but eventually it appears to be it was crush.
Thanks Hany!
Filed under: Lebanon
Prior to the Civil War in 1975, Lebanon enjoyed a period of relative calm and prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, and banking. At that time, it was considered one of the banking capitals of Western Asia, which some even referred to as the “Switzerland of the East“. The country also attracted large numbers of tourists, so much to the point that the capital city of Beirut became known as the “self-proclaimed Paris of the East.”
From the late Sixties up until the Civil War, Lebanon was the center of music for most of the region. Musicians from Egypt, Syria and even Armenia came to Lebanon to record and perform there. A handful of record labels sprung up, and even for a short while the country had it’s own pressing plant – Société Libanaise du Disque. During this time, there were concerts and festivals featuring artists from all over the world, including Charles Aznavour, Joan Baez, Gilbert Bécaud, Dalida, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Julio Iglesias, Mireille Mathieu and many more
I do know that this record is from Lebanon. But as for Jacques Kodjian, I am not so sure. I do know he was of Armenian descent, but whether or not he was born in Armenia or Lebanon is unclear. Besides being a pianist, composer and conductor, he also ran his own record label “JK” and worked with other Armenians in Lebanon. When the Lebanese Civil War started, he left for America. There, he worked with Adiss Harmandyan. In 1996, Jacques Kodjian performed in New York City accompanying the Shushi Armenian Dance Ensemble.
Many thanks to Hany Zaki for the information.
Catalog number GVDL34 on Voix de l’Orient series for A. Chahine & Fils in Lebanon, manufactured and distributed by EMI of Greece, 1972.
Filed under: Lebanon
To the best of my knowledge, Fawez was from Lebanon.
Lebanon (Arabic: لبنان), officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a small, predominantly mountainous country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Due to its sectarian diversity, Lebanon evolved a peculiar political system, known as confessionalism, based on a community-based power-sharing mechanism. It was created when the ruling French mandatory powers expanded the borders of the former Maronites Christian autonomous Ottoman Mount Lebanon district.
No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over religious balance. The 2006 CIA World Fact Book, Lebanon entry, gives the following distribution: Muslim 58.7% (Alawite, Druze, Nusayri, Shi’a and Sunni), Christian 40% (Armenian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian, Chaldean, Copt, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Syriac Catholic and Syriac Orthodox), and 1.3% of other religious sects.
As for Fawez, I have not been able to find any information. Both songs on this single were with the Orchestre Rahbani, and the song “Leila-Liela” on the flip side was written by Elias Rahbani. I even tried e-mailing Mr. Rahbani, but the message was returned undelivered.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number C 006-23 152 on Pathé / EMI, pressed in Belgium. No release date given.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
