by Marlena Elias
October 14, 2000
Recently I inherited the Arabic music tapes my sister Cathy gave to our Dad. There were three tapes, and the one that piqued my interest had a woman on the front, dressed in black, with an enormous black beehive hairdo and cat's-eye glasses as she gazed into what has to be the Mediterranean Sea. I held off and listened to the first tape of Arabic Folk music by an artist whom I've heard of most of my life. Her name is Fayrooz and she has a beautiful exotic voice. The tape of her folk music was recorded live at some outdoor arena. Since I don't speak Arabic, my guess as to what she was singing is this: "You terrible goat herder, wash your hands before you touch me!" The passion in which she sings can only be indicative of the culture.
One of my favorite singers of Arabic music is Natacha Atlas. Her voice is as haunting as Fayrooz, but her music is contemporary. On one of our favorite songs, Natacha sings one line over and over and over again. Ethan and I are convinced she's telling her boyfriend, "Go to the 7-Eleven and get toilet paper!" Her voice is so beautiful you don't mind the kvetching!
So back to the lady with the beehive hairdo and the cat's-eye glasses gazing out at the Mediterranean Sea. I anxiously opened the cellophane wrapper on the cassette, opened the tape case, put the tape into the tape player making sure I put side "A" in first. The music started with what can only be the music of the Middle East. This slow, hypnotic, rhythmic beat that starts to build to a faster beat. The crowd at this taping went wild with excitement as a man started to sing. I can only describe his singing as "The night of the drawn out consonants". Try to imagine "h" and "l" sounds being droned endlessly. He voice was pleasant enough, but the song was so slow and the stretching of the words so tedious that I was getting impatient. So the song ends, and the crowd goes absolutely out of their mind wild. The next song starts, sounding vaguely familiar to the first song. Then the same guy who is obviously telling the story of how he got a blister from his new Nike running shoes sings the same endless string of consonants! All I could think of was, where is the babe with the beehive hairdo and the cat's-eye glasses? AND was this man wearing socks with his new sneakers? I'm now afraid to listen to side "B".
Being raised around non-Lebanese people, I have taken my heritage for granted. As a teenager I had made a comment to my Dad that Arabic was a rather guttural language. He about had a heart attack and proceeded to lecture me on how beautiful the Arabic language is. As I have gotten older, and with Ethan's taste in weird and exotic music, I now have a much better appreciation of not only the music, but also how melodic and complicated the Arabic language is. For all the joking I do about what is being said in the songs (I mean no disrespect), I find the music to be completely mesmerizing. I certainly hope my Father sees this article and is enjoying my personal evolution into the appreciation of the music of our culture. And since there is a snowball's chance in hell of me EVER learning Arabic, I will continue to take poetic license with the lyrics! I'm still waiting to hear the woman with the beehive hairdo sing. <EM>
