My Contribution to the history of Lebanese Pop Music :-))

Regarding the title of this post, many people I know argue that I should not be taking credit for these songs or be proud of them as they are very tacky and cheesy.While I agree that they are possibly slightly tacky, I am not embarassed by them in the least and am happy to take the credit as the composer. The first song "Oyoun el Soud" was a huge hit and it launched the career of Issa Ghandour who is a great guy. It has been 16 years since it was a hit and I meet people all the time who have very fond memories of the song and can still recite all the words by heart!


In 1990, guitarist/songwriter Walid Itayim and Lebanese pop singer Issa Ghandour got together on the island of Cyprus to record Issa's second album. The result was a 6-track mini album that was released in 1991 on cassette under the title of "Mish Ma32oul" which was also the name of one of the songs. They wanted to introduce to the Arabic music world a new and innovative brand of pop that was unlike anything that had been done up until then. The idea was to fuse elements of Rock, Funk, Jazz and Blues and combine them with Arabic lyrics written by Issa set to catchy melodies and memorable hooks. While nowadays this kind of approach is very common, back in 1990 no one had yet attempted to do anything in that style. The result was quite innovative and different from anything that the Lebanese popular music audience had heard. Unfortunately, the music sounded foreign and strange to the ears of the people who were not already exposed to that kind of music (the majority of the Arabic music public). Issa Ghandour took quite a bit of criticism for the album but noticed that there was a generally positive response to one of the songs, called "3oyoun el-Soud". Issa figured that with a new arrangement that was more in tune with the musical trends of the time, the song had enormous commercial potential. So, in 1994, Hani Siblini, who was still in the early stages of his career as "arranger for the stars", was brought in to give his personal touch to the song. Along with the video clip that was speedily put together, "3oyoun el-Soud" became a mega-hit that took the Lebanese and Arab pop scene by storm (thanks in part to Future TV who, believing in the song and in Issa as an artist, played the clip on a regular basis both locally and internationally). Even today, the song is remembered by everybody and brings back a lot of nostalgic feelings to the people who loved the song when it first came out. In 1996, the song was rearranged and recorded in Egypt for Issa's third album "Is2alouh" but didn't even come close to matching the 1994 version and was a disappointment to many of the original song's fans. The Siblini version was never released on CD and has not been heard or seen on Lebanon's airwaves in almost 15 years. So now, with the success of youtube, it has become an absolute necessity for the song to earn it's proper place in Lebanese pop history. It's appearrance on youtube serves a double purpose: a) to satisfy the nostalgic feelings of the people who love and miss the song and b) to introduce it to the younger generation who never got to hear the song or watch the clip. Another thing that should be noted is that the clip broke ground image-wise and made an important fashion statement. Traditionally, the Arab and Lebanese "moutrib" always appeared in video clips stiffly dressed in a black suit and tie in the best case scenario or the even way more repulsive glittering silver and gold blazers and tasteless bow-ties. In his video clip, Issa was the first Arab "moutrib" to appear in a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, a look that the young people of the Lebanon of the 1990's could more easily relate to. Finally, a piece of trivia about the origins of "3oyoun el Soud" that hardly anyone actually knows is the fact that Walid Itayim, the composer of the song, first wrote and recorded it as an English language rock ballad in 1981 under the title "The Genius". The subject matter of the original lyrics had no relation whatsoever to the Arabic version and musically and stylistically was incredibly different. But if you listen to the original version you will be able to tell that the two songs are one and the same because they clearly share the same melody and chord pattern.

Oyoun el Soud
Song composed by Walid Itayim
Lyrics written by Issa Ghandour
Music arranged by Hani Siblini



In 1996 Issa signed with the Music Master label for his third album "Is2alouh" and he travelled to Egypt where he worked with the "cream of the crop" of Egyptian musicians and arrangers. Issa, who still believed in the 6 songs from "Mish Ma32oul", had two years earlier had 3oyoun el Soud rearranged by Hani Siblini and scored a mega hit with it. For the Egyptian sessions, another song from "Mish Ma32oul" was to be rearranged and recorded for his third album. The very successful Egyptian producer/arranger Ashraf Ma7rous liked the bluesy funk influenced "Dawwar Ya Zaman" so he had a go at reworking it and both Issa and Walid Itayim (the original composer and arranger of the song) loved the result! When the time came to make video clips from the new album, Dawwar Ya Zaman was given to the newly created computer video animation department at Future TV who undertook a project that was a first of it's kind in the Arab pop world. The technology back then was in it's early stages and it took many months to complete the work in that the animation had to be done by hand frame by frame. But the final result was well worth the waiting and hard work! Dawwar Ya Zaman was the first Arabic music clip to utilize computer animation.


Dawwar Ya Zaman
Song composed by Walid Itayim
Lyrics written by Issa Ghandour
Music arranged by Ashraf Ma7rous