Lebanese music, 1958

June 9, 2006 2:56 PM

What music was popular in Lebanon in 1958?

My mom spent a year of her childhood in Lebanon. She's into Lebanese music. She's now trying to track down some of the music she heard at the time -- basically just whatever was really popular and playing on the radio.

I'm most interested in finding Lebanese music for her -- if there is a top 40 for Lebanon in 1957 or 1958, that would be ideal. I'd also be interested in finding out what foreign music was popular. Basically, I want to give my mom some of the happy sounds of her childhood.

posted by Margalo Epps to society & culture (11 comments total)

Almost certainl Umm Kulthum (or Um/Oum Kalsoum) was the really big Arabic star.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:00 PM on June 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

Oum Kalsoum for the most important singer of the modern Arab world at the time. Farid el-Atrache for another. A lot of the big Arabic pop stars of the 60s and 70s who made music for the Egypstian film industry were Lebanese.
posted by zaelic at 3:04 PM on June 9, 2006

The above. Also, Abd el Halim Hafiz, Fayrouz, Mohammad Abd El Wahhab.
posted by evariste at 3:25 PM on June 9, 2006

Sabah, born 1927 and Fairuz, born 1935

check the entries for them in wikipedia. the article on Fairuz especially puts her career into context, including the musicals and films by the rabhani brothers, the first Baalbeck festival etc

i think your mom would like to hear either of these singers!
posted by subatomiczoo at 3:27 PM on June 9, 2006

With more time, further thoughts:

And although she was dead by the 50s, her popularity remained strong throughout the Levant well into the 70s: Asmahan. I believe she was a Druze, born in Lebanon. Her style was far more western-oriented than Umm Kulthum. She influenced many other modern Arabic singers.

The most emblematically Lebanese of all, though, would be Fairuz. This excellent bio of her gives you lots of context on the broader history of popular/classical Arabic song in the Levant.
posted by fourcheesemac at 6:39 PM on June 9, 2006

I've got a record of Lebanese music from the late 50s, I believe it's called Baalbeck, it's performed by Fairuz and Nasri Shamseddine. I don't know if it was popular, I believe it's some type of play. Sorry I am of no assistance.
posted by cloeburner at 7:02 PM on June 9, 2006

I have a few Fayrouz and Abdel Wahhab mp3s, if you're interested. I don't know if your intention was to buy mom CDs, or if mp3s/a burned CD would be just as good.
posted by evariste at 9:20 PM on June 9, 2006

also a lot of wonderful italian & french pop
posted by growabrain at 9:21 PM on June 9, 2006

On the more frivolous side--and I agree with the great growabrain, a lot of pop.

The provenance is uncertain, but this song is iconic, not to mention deeply irritating after a few playings. You can spot the Middle Easterners in a room by seeing who mock-grimaces in recognition--or claps four times at the appropriate point. French and Arabic "nonsense" lyrics, clumsy wordplay, an oft-repeated chorus, and nobody seems to know what it is really about [please correct me on this last]. But back then--+/- a couple of years--it was a huge hit.

Other song choices: well, a lot of latin stuff, e.g."Qui Sas, Qui Sas, Qui Sas."

"Only You" by the Platters was popular throughout the Middle East.
posted by Phred182 at 12:36 AM on June 10, 2006

Does anyone know if there are websites or books that talk about Lebanese music in the fifties and sixties? It would be nice to have somewhere further to go after these specific singers...
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:07 AM on June 10, 2006

for example, this Nel blu Dipinto di blu song
posted by growabrain at 1:49 AM on June 11, 2006