Ramzi Salti's Arabology

Moroccan singer Sophia Marikh, who initially shot to fame after her participation in the popular Lebanese TV show Star Academy (First Season), has just recorded and released her version of the popular Barbra Streisand song 'Woman in Love' titled 'Tahwak' (She Loves You).  The song is in classical Arabic which makes it accessible to listeners all over the Arab world.  Marikh also released a superb clip o go with the song. The original song in English was originally written by Barry Gibb and recorded and released by Barbra Streisand back in the 1980's.  A few years later, French singer Mireille Mathieu released a French version of the song called "Une Femme Amoureuse." Here is the video clip for Sophia Marikh's 'Tahwak' followed by the English version by Barbra Streisand (Woman in Love) and the French version by Mireille Mathieu (Une Femme Amoureuse). Also included at the end of this blog entry are the lyrics to the Arabic version

My May 26  Podcast is available already for free  downloading. Go to the  link  below then click on the arrows to the bottom right to download (or right click to save). http://www.radio4all.net/ index.php/program/52042 THIS WEEK May 26  (Episode 10): Includes great music from Lebanon and Syria, courtesy of special guest Tareq Al-Samman. If the link above doesn't work for you, click on the links below to listen. Part One:   CLICK HERE Part Two:   CLICK HERE PLAYLIST Artist/ Track/ Album/ Label PART 1: 1. Kulna Sawa/ Izaet Kilna Sawa/ Kulna Sawa/ NA 2. Kulna Sawa Sahra fi salon el Madame Kulna Sawa/ NA 3. Tareq Al-Samman Intro/ Interview/ KZSU 90.1 FM/ KZSU 4. Itar Sham3/ Matar/ Baytuna/ Incognito 5. Saleh, Tania/ Omar & Ali/ Wehde/ Forward Music 6. Rouhana, Charbel/ El Bent el chalabiya/ Rouhana/ EMI 7. Offendum, Omar/ Damascus/ Syrianamericana/ Cosher Ink, Llc 8. Chamamyan, Lena/ Cha'am/ The Collection/ Forward Music 9. Huwat, Sami & George Yamin/

The Art of Revolution By  Colleen Gillard & Georgia Wells At an art school in Cairo, students explore the Egyptian uprising through a once-banned medium: protest art Full article at  http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/the-art-of-revolution/238049/#slide4   On the sidewalk outside Cairo's Faculty of Fine Arts college on leafy Zamalek Island, just across the Nile from Tahrir Square, hijab-wearing young women are elbow-deep in paint. Absorbed in their work, they climb ladders to study the effect, all the while graciously answering questions from a gathering audience. The students, whose sweet faces are framed by pastel scarves, don't look much like revolutionaries, even if their art tells stories of blood, agony and rage. Two months after protests forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, these students are communicating their feelings about the revolution in the way they know best: by covering the school's drab gray walls with color

"We7 -- Wlad el 7ara" are a Palestinian Hip Hop group from the city of Nazareth and since 2001 has been comprised of group members "Adi Krayem (1986), Alaa Bishara (1987) and Anan Qssem (1985)". We7's musical style is a cultural mixture combining western Hip Hop beats and eastern melodies -- sounds of O'ud, Qannun and eastern violent take a leading part in the band's productions. We7's lyrics convey street wisdom as they address the social and political problems they face as a minority of Palestinians living inside Israel. We7 became one of the leading groups in the local scene through taking part in most of the Palestinian hip hop projects -- concerts, websites and musical releases, they reached local mainstream in 2007 when they released there first demo album entitled "Music to all my people" which was distributed for free across Palestine -- over 5000 copies, the album was produced and recorded in the band's studio in Nazareth "

Members -Mijrim Kaleim (MC/producer) -Carbonn (MC/producer) Hometown:  Beirut Record Label:  Toj Kil Shi prod. About: 100% Lebanese rap crew Biography Started in the year 2001 in Beirut (Lebanon), a city that witnessed over the past 2 decades: war, destruction, corruption, terrorist attacks, bombing, assassinations, social injustice & other kind of inspiring materials that were the main topics in ASHEKMAN songs. The crew is composed of identical twin brothers: MIJRIM KALEIM (born. Mohamed Kabbani) MC/Producer and CARBONN (born. Omar Kabbani) MC/Producer, both university graduates (Graphic Design major) from the Lebanese American University (L.A.U) and Graffiti Artists. The style adopted by ASHEKMAN is Lebanese rap, with Arabic lyrics/Lebanese dialect, with an aggressive/cynical tonality and underground topics that created problems with the censorship/organizers and led ASHEKMAN to be shutdown/censored in 5 concerts, but on the other hand created a street buzz and a

My May 12  Podcast is available already for free  downloading. Go to the  link  below then click on the arrows to the bottom right of that page to download (or right click to save). THIS WEEK (Episode 8): Great new songs in Arabic, French and English; an interview with Stanford Arabic Librarian David Giovacchini and Stanford student of Arabic Michael Peddycoart. http://radio4all.net/index. php/program/51711 If the link above doesn't work for you, click on the links below to listen. Part One:   http://radio4all.net/ responder.php/download/51711/ 57942/72243/?url=http://www. radio4all.net/files/author30@ gmail.com/4294-1-HKC_8_Part_1. mp3 Part Two:   http://radio4all.net/ responder.php/download/51711/ 57942/72244/?url=http://www. radio4all.net/files/author30@ gmail.com/4294-2-HKC_8_part_2. mp3 PLAYLIST: Artist/ Track/ Album/ Label PART 1: 1. Bassil Moubayyed/ Kanoun Baghdadi/ Rough Guide Bellydance/ World Music Network 2. Hanine Y Son Cubano/ Arabo Cuban Improvisat

Mashrou' Leila wins over Cairo By Chitra Kalyani/ Special to Daily News Egypt May 8, 2011, 4:56 pm Be warned — when you ask Mashrou' Leila about their name, the Lebanese band will not give a straight answer. They’re a bit tricky, and might just spin you a yarn from A Thousand and One Nights. On their first night in Cairo, Al-Azhar Park’s Geneina Theater was packed in preparation, audiences clutching tickets crowding the door an hour in advance. As the night progressed, the grass on the slope leading to the theater was used as seating. Not only were Mashrou' Leila popular with fans that sung along to lyrics, they also won new ones out of the head-banging crowd that lined the front of the stage, and who took over the stage at the concert finale. Calling the band an “overnight project” would be to lose their name in translation. Rather, the band wonders out loud together about who Leila is, easily completing each other’s stories and sentences as they mig