Farid's free flow

As part of this year’s International Oud Festival, Tarshiha Orchestra of Arabic Classical Music is offering a program of works by Farid el-Atrash.

By BARRY DAVIS
Taysir Haddad, Tarshiha Orchestra (photo credit: Courtesy)
Taysir Haddad, Tarshiha Orchestra
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Farid el-Atrash spread it about a bit. The Egyptian musician, who died in 1974 at the age of 59, earned his living as an oud player, singer, composer, arranger, conductor and even actor, and his musical output reflects his eclecticism.
He was also an innovator.
“He was extremely versatile, and he brought something new to Arabic music,” says Taysir Haddad, musical director and conductor of the Tarshiha Orchestra of Arabic Classical Music, which will perform an expansive program of works by Farid tomorrow night at the Jerusalem Theater, and at the Mawwal Center for Art in Nazareth on November 26, as part of this year’s International Oud Festival.
The concerts go by the highly evocative title of: “A Tribute to Farid El-Atrash, the Melancholic Musician.” However, Tarshiha Orchestra administrative director Albert Andreus believes that is something of a misnomer.
“There were two parts to Farid’s life,” explains Andreus, “the part before his sister, the famous singer Asmahan, died – or was murdered [at the age of only 26] – and the part after that. He wrote happy music before she died, and sad music in his later years. So he wasn’t a melancholic person all his life.”
Either way, Farid’s music is always highly emotive and evocative.
“There were so many colors to his music,” continues Haddad. “He added his own colors and his own style, and his music appealed not only to people of all ages all over the Arab world, but also to people in the Western world.”
The musical director adds that the British inadvertently helped to spread Farid’s music outside the confines of Arab countries.
“There was a British presence in Egypt, and in this part of the world, for a long time. When a foreign power governs a country, there are always reciprocal relations.”
That Western impact helped to season classical Arabic music with other sounds, textures, rhythms and even instruments.
“Arab orchestras started using contemporary Western instruments,” says Haddad, “like the piano, cello, double bass, keyboards and electric guitar. Farid took all that on board and used it in his own works.”
Farid’s oeuvre cuts across many genres and subgenres of music. He wrote and arranged works of symphonic proportions, as well as songs that are more akin to light entertainment and movie sound tracks.
“He was also an actor,” notes Andreus, “and that probably gave him a better understanding of that area of entertainment, and the music that was appropriate for it.”
The Tarshiha Orchestra’s forthcoming concerts will mark the sixth time it has performed at the Oud Festival.
Founded in 1988, the 48-piece ensemble comprises Muslims, Christians, Druse and Jewish players from Tarshiha, Haifa, Nazareth and elsewhere in Galilee. It recently performed, also for the sixth time, at the Opera House in Cairo.
“That was a wonderful experience,” says Andreus. “We were very well received. I think people there appreciate the fact that we are a mixture of different musicians from different places. I think some might consider us as not playing pure Arabic music, but it was a great occasion for us to play at the Opera House, the most important music venue in the Arab world.”
According to Andreus, the ensemble’s personnel mix fits the bill.
“Most people think of Farid as Egyptian, but, in fact, he came from mixed Lebanese-Syrian parentage and was born in Syria. He moved to Egypt as a young boy. The Druse like his music very much and we have Druse players in the orchestra.”
Farid enjoyed a highly successful career that spanned more than four decades. He was a very industrious musician and actor, recording no fewer than 350 songs and starring in 31 movies. He was also pivotal in raising the profile of the oud. Some called him “King of the Oud.”
BUT FARID wasn’t the only frontliner on the Arabic music scene at the time, and there was stiff competition from prominent Egyptian singer-composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab.
“The competition with Abdel Wahab wasn’t necessarily a bad thing,” muses Andreus. “I think it spurred Farid on to write and perform better and better material.”
As a child and a youth, Farid sang in school events. He studied in a music conservatory and became an disciple of the renowned composer Riyad as-Sunbaty.
In the 1930s, Farid began his professional singing career by working for privately owned Egyptian radio stations, eventually being hired as an oud player for the national radio station and, later, as a singer.
His movie career began in 1941, at 24, when he starred in Intisar al-Khabab, along with his sister. Farid scored all the music for the film.
Farid’s life was the stuff of modern celebrity; and had he been a Westerner, Farid would surely have featured in all the gossip columns. He found success as a musician and actor at a young age – and success brought with it a lifestyle of nightclubs, love affairs, gambling and a fair degree of notoriety, leading to temporary penury and the disapproval of his mother.
During this difficult passage of his life, his sister died. Farid struck up a highly publicized, non-marital relationship with a belly dancer called Samia Gamal. The couple starred in the 1947 box-office hit movie Habib al Omr. They appeared in five movies together before the relationship ended, but Farid maintained his success with a string of other leading ladies, always giving himself the romantic lead role of a sad singer.
Farid had a long and colorful music career lasting four decades. He composed musically diverse songs and was highly regarded as composer, singer and instrumentalist.
He always maintained that although some of his music had a Western musical influence, he stayed true to the tenets of Arabic music.
While most of Farid’s compositions were romantic love songs, he also composed some patriotic and religious numbers. His voice developed over the years, evolving from the high and mellow textures of his youth to a wider, deeper sound in his forties. His delivery was unfailingly passionate throughout.
“Farid had such a wide range of works, and we will perform material from different stages of his life, and in different styles,” says Haddad. “He always tried to give his audiences something new and different, and his music was quite popular in the West too. There was a polyphonic element to his music which, I think, people in the West found appealing.
“At the Oud Festival, we will perform complex material as well as some of his lighter songs. I wanted the program, as far as possible, to reflect Farid’s range and his great talent.
“He was one of the true kings of Arabic music.”
More information about the Oud Festival at www.confederationhouse.org/english/