Create Your Blog | Sign In
Next Blog

Dear Readers and Fellow-Apes; 2008 was a Murky and Hapless Year! Let us hope that 2009 does not turn out to be even  More Murky and Hapless!

I intentionally did not wish you a Merry Christmas, because Christmas is another story for another Posting at another time; and I do not wish you a Happy New Year, since I believe that ONLY FOOLS ARE, OR CAN BE, HAPPY ALL YEAR ROUND. I do, however, wish all of you A GOOD YEAR! With a little Good in one's life, one can be a little happy, which is all one can ask for in one's short sweet dream one calls a life-time. BY GOD AND SATAN! 

A Jack of many trades and master of all; I am honest to the core and I hate lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and stoic compliance; and I despise – and actually pity – Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack

I expose and reveal the lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and blind, deaf, and stoic compliance, and Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack; I tell or write the truth; and I say what I mean and mean what I say

I fear nothing; least of all, death

If I must fear anything at all in life, then let me fear what I think and  know of myself; because, in the end, one’s knowledge and opinion of oneself is what counts most. All the world may think and believe one is such and such, but one knows one is such and such. Also, I like to look in the mirror and like what I see and know about me.

I invite comments, remarks, criticisms, and even insults – so long as they are straight to the point, in order for me to correct or adjust myself accordingly. What I do not welcome and won’t accept or tolerate is HORSE-SHIT!

Dear readers and felow-Apes; with every page, every report or article, every paragraph, every sentence, every word, and every letter; I thank you for taking the trouble and the time to read My Not-So-Humble Comments.

354: RIGHT SWAN-SONGS IN WRONG PONDS – Warda in Lebanon after Fairuz in Syria – Algerian Rose at Baalbek, Lebanese Jewel or Precious Stone in Damascus
27 August, 2008

RIGHT SWAN-SONGS IN WRONG PONDS – Warda in Lebanon after Fairuz in Syria – Algerian Rose at Baalbek, Lebanese Jewel or Precious Stone in Damascus

 

Algeria's voice of Arab nationalism ignites Jupiter Temple. Warda Al Jazairiya leaves audience at Baalbek festival wanting more

The Daily Star Saturday 23rd August 2008

Dear readers and fellow-Apes; no comments. It is sad and delicate enough as it is. However, to those that might say Baalbak was closed when Fairuz went to Damascus, I say Warda could have gone to Damascus, too, but she waited for Baalbek.

BAALBEK: It was a beaming and charismatic diva who strode onto the stage before the splendidly lit Baal Temple on Thursday night. At a distinguished 68 years of age, and despite a voice beset by a Lebanese humidity-induced cold, Warda Al-Jazairiya charmed and dazzled Baalbek's capacity audience into wild enthusiasm and multiple ovations. Many in the audience had braved a rare patch of August mist and rain to cross the Lebanon range into the Bekaa Valley. A good many of them were men and women of a certain age, eager to remember the heady days of their youth. Many had brought their children along for a taste of a past they had never known. They were not disappointed.

From the moment the legendary singer joined the orchestra and opened her show with Fi Yawm wa Layla until the climactic final chords of Harramt Ahabbak, Warda fascinated, thrilled, and enthralled the audience. Her voice let her down at times and the orchestra occasionally hesitated, but her sheer charisma and obvious pleasure at being on the stage in Lebanon again more than compensated for such minor flaws.

Warda played the crowd with beaming self-confidence, joking and making wise-cracks as she sang and was rewarded with enthusiastic clapping and seat-dancing. All present sang along passionately to such classics as Batwanes Bik, Hikaiti Maa Al-Zaman, Qalbi Saied and Tab Wana Mali. It was as if this would be one of the last opportunities to enjoy a concert by this icon from the heyday of Arab nationalism, one of the few living stars on a par with the classic voices of Umm Kalsoum and Abdelhalim Hafez.

Warda Al-Jazairiya was born in July 1940 in a little town near Paris. She was born the daughter of Mohammed Ftouki, said to be one of France's first Algerian immigrants. He ran Tam-Tam, a cabaret in the Quartier Latin, that staged live Arabic music and later served as the French headquarters of the Algerian independence movement, the FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale). Her Lebanese mother taught her the classical repertoire of Lebanon and the greater Middle East. As a child, Warda would sneak down into the cabaret to listen to the orchestra's rehearsals. She appeared on the Tam-Tam stage at the early age of 11. She won her first successes on an Arabic children's programme for French radio and by 1954, when the Algerian war for independence began, she'd begun singing patriotic songs. In 1958, the family had to leave France because of their involvement in the independence movement and found refuge in Beirut. The family moved into a small apartment on Hamra Street. There, the 17-year-old Warda started singing in Tanyos, a then-famous nightclub in Aley, where she was discovered by the late Mohammad Abdel Wahhab. Abdel Wahhab honed her talent and formed her into a professional and remained her mentor throughout her later career. She remained dedicated to the struggle for Algerian independence and Arab nationalism and, in 1961, along with Abdelhalim Hafez, Mohammed Kendil and others, recorded Al-Watan Al-Akbar. It was during that period that she adopted the stage name Warda Al-Jazairiya: the Algerian Rose.

A few months after Algeria had won her independence in 1962 she went there for the first time and married an FLN Army officer, whom she'd met in Beirut. For a decade she gave in to his insistence to give up performance and take care of her family.

In 1971, however, the then Algerian President, Houari Boumedienne, asked her to sing at the ceremony to celebrate the tenth anniversary of independence. She agreed, and returned to the stage; thus ending her marriage. Back in Cairo, she married Baligh Hamdi, the composer who would write many of her subsequent songs. From then on, she released four to five albums a year and starred in movies such as Sawt al-Hobb and Hikaiti Maa al-Zaman.

Warda has always been an independent and proudly individualistic artist, choosing to develop her own style rather than imitate popular predecessors or cater to prevailing trends. Her unique style owes much to her mastery of Maghrebi genres and her ability to cross the boundaries within the Arab world – combining traditional Andalusia vocalization with Middle Eastern melodies. Her tremendous talent and passion for music and performance still burns vividly and joyously in her and the Baalbek audience paid tribute. Even after two hours of intense pleasure, the audience still demanded an encore. The exhausted diva obliged with a short version of Wahashtuni, before finally retiring backstage.

N.B: The Baalbek International Festival ended tonight, Saturday 23rd August, with a programme of classical music preformed by piano virtuoso Abdel Rahman Al-Bacha.

Posted by akill 18:29 | General | Comment(2) | Permalink

Comments

Comment Icon

货架 货架厂 北京汽车租赁 网络地板 防静电地板 白癜风 白癜风遮盖白癜风治疗白癜风资讯白癜风资讯白癜风治疗楼梯有机玻璃有机玻璃加工

car weash | 23/10/2008, 07:04 [ Reply ]

Comment Icon

Rat-Shit!
And by a Rat with Diarrhoea and Dysentery, too, to boot!

Daniel in The Lion's Den | 23/10/2008, 07:31 [ Reply ]

Add comment
authimage
Authentication
A service provided by Al Bawaba