Contemporary Middle Eastern Music

[Britomartis-the-Valiant]

Somewhat recently, I've discovered contemporary Middle Eastern music and enjoy listening to several favorite singers including:

Idan Raichel; In Medias Res introduced me to this singer some time ago and I still enjoy listening to this song, Boee.

Asalah Mostafa Nasri; I discovered a song entitled Aktar of this Syrian-born singer on a language learning community site and was hooked. Another of my favorites by her is Arod Leih.

Other singers I've heard of are:

Myriam Faris; an Arab friend of mine was surprised to learn that I enjoyed Middle Eastern music, and shared a song of hers called Ana Wil Sho.

Two other singers recommended to me by some Egyptian friends are Fairouz and Sherin.

And here is an article on Middle Eastern music. According to the article, there are numerous styles of music including Ghazal, Qawali, Maghrebi, Kahleeji and Arabic Pop.  

[In Medias Res II]

You MUST listen to THIS;

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qg_aSTVV4S4

Yonatan Rozen. This is ALWAYS being played on repeat.

As is this; http://youtube.com/watch?v=fHNF6z0Vz_Y (BEST ISRAELI SONG EVER)



Sorry, got too excited there.

Efrat Gosh is also great.

BTW, Aktar is also an amazing song <3. I second this!  

[Hellenistic]

For a more modern, 'pop' type style I would suggest Nawal Al Zoghbi. I have a few of her cd's, I like to call her the Britney Spears of the Middle East (but with actual talent).  

[Britomartis-the-Valiant]

Ooh, those songs are good, Amanda. I added both to my favorites, so I can listen them to death like the others.
Languages really give a different flavor to music, especially beautiful languages like Hebrew and Arabic (I know I'm biased).

Hmm, I'll have to look both Efrat Gosh and Nawal Al Zoghbi up.

Edit: I've looked up Nawal Al Zoghbi up. I like her music, but Asalah still remains my favorite. I really enjoyed the music that I found of Efrat Gosh.

There's really something about the sounds of those languages.  

[In Medias Res II]

Ah, you guys rock!

Let's keep the Middle Eastern music comin'!

Ofra Haza! She was HUGE in Israel in the 90's. Unfortunately she died due to complication of AIDS, but we have her music forever <3.

EDIT: Also!!! IVRI LIDER!!! You MUST listen to "Jesse", although I advise those who do not agree with homosexual relationships to stay away from Ivri's music as his love for men is a common theme.  

[Britomartis-the-Valiant]

Now I'm listening to a song by Ofra Haza. Wow, all these singers.
Do any of the names in this list or perhaps on this list look familiar?  

[Hellenistic]

Here is Nawal's label - Rotana Records  

[Britomartis-the-Valiant]

Oh, I found another list of singers while looking for something else, here. I guess I can go through it at leisure later.  

[In Medias Res II]

I can't stop listening to this!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=O2xNTzlFSk0


AH!  

[Britomartis-the-Valiant]

Currently listening to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9bIfh-8R3s
^^  

[PiercedPixie2]

You guys, im in foreign language music heaven eek

I really like Boee and Ofra Haza, she has SUCH a beautiful voice ^^;;

Also, does anyone know Ivri Lider? Im unsure if hes mainstream or what, but i love his music < 3

Me thinks hes Israeli as well...  

[In Medias Res II]

this isn't Middle Eastern but this video is fantastic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pKujuTgtL0

it's Regina Spektor, she also has a song called "Devil Come to Bethlehem" but it could be offensive to some Christians, I think it's brilliant.  

[PiercedPixie2]

In Medias Res II

this isn't Middle Eastern but this video is fantastic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pKujuTgtL0

it's Regina Spektor, she also has a song called "Devil Come to Bethlehem" but it could be offensive to some Christians, I think it's brilliant.

I love her!
I wish she would do songs in her native language of Russian =/

Some more good songs are, 'Fidelity' and 'Field Below'  

[Soni Amarelle]

That's cool. Personally, I've been listening to German Rock and Japanese pop and rock and I like them both. Different countries tend to have very interesting ways of expressing their feelings through certain words and phrases in music. Most of them are different to ours. In the German rock that I'm listening to, I see that they tell a story or hilight a certain emotion. Japanese pop tends to lean towards using somewhat unrelated phrases to express emotions.  

[PiercedPixie2]

Shizun Togu

That's cool. Personally, I've been listening to German Rock and Japanese pop and rock and I like them both. Different countries tend to have very interesting ways of expressing their feelings through certain words and phrases in music. Most of them are different to ours. In the German rock that I'm listening to, I see that they tell a story or hilight a certain emotion. Japanese pop tends to lean towards using somewhat unrelated phrases to express emotions.

Thats neat ^^

I recently made a thread called World Music Review, which is for all music of the world, this thread is for contemporary Middle Eastern music :]