Traditional / folk music of Lebanon

Since early days in 20th century, Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, has been named as “Paris of the Middle East”. A port in Mediterranean Sea which rich European or American traveled to a lot. It was an open city for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace. After the world war II, Lebanon experienced a musical and cultural boom. Beirut became a big art and cultural rival of Cairo (Capital of Egypt). During this time several musicians rose up, under the influenced of traditional Arabic music and Beirut became one of the important musical voices in the Middle East. The main Arabic classical traditional orchestra and sound was heavily used. Many artists can ne be named from this era. Fairuz, Sabah, Wadih El Safi, Nasri Shamseddine, Salwa Katrib, Majida El Roumi, Ahmad Kaabour are some of names who rose up after world war II.

Fairuz is one of the most important iconic and famous singers from Lebanon. She born in 1934. She was a chorus member at the Lebanese Radio Station. In few years she became a celebrity through the Arab world including Arabs living in Europe and the America. Maybe only Umm Kulthum (Egyptian singer) has more popularity than her in the Middle East. Today she still continues her career but expand it styles to other than Middle Eastern style, like incorporating Brazilian and other global sounds into her recordings.

Lebanon experienced a civil war for 17 years, so many musicians migrate to Paris or Cairo and didn’t come back before 1992. After this period, the influenced of French music can be seen in the music of Lebanon. In the last few years, Lebanon has been under the rule of Islamic fundamentalists so still it is far away from its golden age era and still the traditional and folk music cannot grow up properly.

One of the traditional and folk music and dance which can be named from Lebanon is Dabke. Dabke is type of traditional music and dance which is popular in some Arabic countries like Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq and some more. It is performed on a circle or on a line. It is performed on weddings or some other occasions. There are many different type of this traditional music and dance. Based on the occasion or place, different styles is useed. Some of them are just by men, some of them are just by women and some of them performed by both. Some traditional music instruments which is used in Dabke are oud (lute instrument), mijwiz (wind instrument), tablah , daff (both are drum instruments).

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