Mohammed Abdel Wahab - Meen 'azebak

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Kickin' it off the right way.  Here's a recording from 1931.  Ripped straight from the delicious shellac it was pressed on.

And here's a sample:

Moh (09/18/12) sample by tapesssss

Umm Kulthum - Haseebak Lezzaman (Hasibak lil-zaman)

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FLAC:   Side A   Side B

320kbps MP3

Side A

01. Haseebak Lezzaman / Hasibak lil-zaman (Part 1)

     Composer: Riyad al-Sunbati, Lyrics: Mahmud Hasan Isma'il

Side B

02. Haseebak Lezzaman / Hasibak lil-zaman (Part 2)

03. filler music

There was a j-card for this, but it was for a different tape so I'm just including the scan of the actual tape.  This is a great performance from somewhere between 1957 (according to this discography) and 1964 (according to daretelayam).  Audio quality is excellent and it's not constantly maxing out the volume like the other 2 I have posted here so far.

Here is a preview from Part 1: Umm (4/9/12) Side A samp by tapesssss

Umm Kulthum - Zekrayat

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FLAC:   Side A   Side B

320kbps MP3

Side A

01. Fakir Lamma Kont Ganby (Remember When You Were Next To Me)

Side B

02. Ya Tool 'azaby (My Long Suffering)

03. ???

Here is a spectacular Umm Kulthum tape (although, I think all her work is spectacular).  There's not much I can say about this tape even though I feel the need to put some words here.  The last minute of Side B is a short, instrumental piece with some synthesizers.  I'm not really sure why it's on this tape (probably just to fill space) since Umm Kulthum does not sing in it.  It's cool, though.  Kinda funky with a Dabke-esque synth sounds and lots of percussive drive.

Thanks again to daretelayam for translation and Romanization!

Here is a sound sample from Side A:

Umm (3/12/12) Side A samp by tapesssss

Umm Kulthum - Rak El Habib

Download:

FLAC:   Side A   Side B

320kbps MP3

Side A

01. Rak El Habib (Part 1)

Side B

02. Rak El Habib (Part 2)

The j-card has titles of praise inscribed on it: Star of the East and First Lady of Arabic Song.  They are well-deserved nicknames.  The lyrics were composed by Ahmed Rami and the music was composed by Mohamed El Qasabgi who composed many wonderful songs for Umm Kulthum and a few other singers.  This is one of Umm Kulthum's most famous and popular works, and for good reason.

There are a couple weird skips in Part 2 which must be due to some laziness during the process of abbreviating the recording (they weren't about to put a 2-hour song on cassette).

Special thanks to daretelayam for the translation.

Here is a sound sample from side A:

Umm (2/21/12) Side A samp by tapesssss

Mayada El-Hennawy - Singer of the Generation

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FLAC:   Side A    Side B

320 kbps MP3

Side A

1. El Hob Elli Kan (The Love That Was)

     Lyricist and composer: Baligh Hamdi

Side B

2. A'mel Eh (What Do I Do?)

     Lyricist: Sayed Morsi, Composer: Baligh Hamdi

This tape is unbelievable.  It's the first I've heard of Mayada El-Hennawy and it certainly won't be the last.  Best $2 I ever spent at the record store.  Big thanks to daretelayam for the translation.  Enjoy!  Here's a quick sample from side A:

Mayada (1/18/12) Side A Sample by tapesssss