From Old to New
Classical and older Arabic music has not seemed to ever have lost its appeal to Arab audiences. Albums of singers like Umm Kalthoum or Abdel Halim Al-Hafeth, among other greats, continue to sell very well today. Even in American music stores, the older and classical music can sometimes be found in the area of "World Music", with Umm Kalthoum being the most likely to be found there. However, modern Arabic music is reaching new borders. There are quite a few Arab performers today whose albums are popping up in American music stores more often than before.
Using ancient instruments and styles, and combining them with other sounds to create a somewhat "alternative" Arabic sound, performers like Natacha Atlas, Alabina, Rachid Taha, Khaled, Cheb Mami and others are taking Arabic music into new realms, and reaching a wider audience outside of the Arab world. Rai (pronounced "rye"), an old North African style of music dating back to the 16th century, has become an increasingly popular style of music among non-Arabs-- unfortunately, more so in Europe than in the United States -- with the success of North African singers such as Khaled, Faudel, and Cheb Mami who have given it a modern twist. Drawing on traditional Algerian and Arabic musical stylings, Rai is mixed with Western pop music, including Reggae, and is performed using both the Arabic and French languages. (For brief profiles on these and other singers, see link below)
There are also a number of more mainstream modern Arabic performers who are worthy of note. Performers like internationally known Palestinian composer and musician Simon Shaheen, Egyptian singer Amr Diab, Iraqi singer Kathem Al-saher, Lebanese singers Wael Kafoury, Nawal Al-Zughbi, and Dianna Haddad, and Syrian singer George Wassouf, to name a few, are all very talented performers. Amr Diab, whose music combines Arabic and Western sounds, was named the Best Singer in the Arab World throughout the nineties. He continually sets new Arabic sales records with successive album releases. His album "Nour El Ain" has become the best selling album ever released by an Arabic artist. In 1998, he received a Triple Platinum Award for the sales of "Nour El Ain", and received the Worldwide Music Award in Monaco in May of 1998, under the patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert of Monaco. The event was attended by such International performers as Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey. The award was the first of its kind for an Arabic artist, proving that, unlike many of his contempories, his appeal is not just confined to the Middle East. Popular with Arab audiences and performing concerts all over the United States and Europe, the majority of Arabic performers, however, are still largely unknown to non-Arab audiences.
