Mike's Oud Forums

Title of this song? (Arabic)

ArmoOudist - 8-23-2021 at 01:01 PM

I'm trying to figure out the proper title of this song Chick Ganimian does.
The Arabic transliteration is not the best...so it's hard converting this to arabic script and finding it that way.
The song starts at 2:35. For the Arabic speakers in the room, be prepared for some less than stellar Arabic pronunciation. Ganimian was not a native Arabic speaker.
I'd be interested to find another version of this song, as I've only heard this version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRfvv2_p0nc

Badra - 8-23-2021 at 08:40 PM

"Ma Alli Wi Oltilo" or "Ya Awazel Falfilu" - That's cool, I never saw saw this cover. And I've seen a lot of them, like maybe 100?

It's a very famous Farid El Atrache song, originally from the film "Akher Kidba" 1950 - it featured Samya Gamal dancing. Probably #1 or #2 top Farid belly dance songs. It's especially famous in Israel and has many Hebrew and Arabic versions there.

I made a colorized version the original film clip, with fixed speed, and English Translation here: https://fb.watch/7AcdSmSVgw/

Also me playing it on oud here: https://youtu.be/9eOXnAN9xRc?t=201

Badra - 8-23-2021 at 09:01 PM

You fill find endless covers of this song if you search for:
ما قال لي وقلت له
or
يا عوازل فلفلوا
also various English spellings

ArmoOudist - 8-24-2021 at 03:35 AM

Thanks!
Chick Ganimian was really ahead of his time. He was probably the first musician to introduce oud to the Western Jazz scene. Unfortunately, struggles with alcoholism derailed his career.
Now that I think about it, this actually was a popular song with the Armenian community, but it was under the title of "Heddy Lou"
This is a version of it by Armenian performer Artie Barsamian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZI7UTcf0YQ
This is another version by Chick Ganimian, but with singing by Onnik Dinkjian, a famous Armenian singer. The lyrics are in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwQi37onQYs
To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Dinkjian's singing here. It comes off as really cheesy. I will, however, recommend the album this comes from, as it's (most likely) the first fusion of jazz and middle Eastern music.
This is a nice jazz arrangement of a Turkish folk song in 9/8, from the same album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vAxqdeoKY&list=OLAK5uy_m19KKte...

Brian Prunka - 8-24-2021 at 05:49 AM

Quote: Originally posted by ArmoOudist  
I will, however, recommend the album this comes from, as it's (most likely) the first fusion of jazz and middle Eastern music.
This is a nice jazz arrangement of a Turkish folk song in 9/8, from the same album.


This album is a classic, but Ahmed Abdul-Malik's "Jazz Sahara" predates it by about a year. Still a landmark album!

ArmoOudist - 8-24-2021 at 06:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  



This album is a classic, but Ahmed Abdul-Malik's "Jazz Sahara" predates it by about a year. Still a landmark album!


Oh wow, I need to listen to that!
It's interesting how much jazz and Middle Eastern music seems to naturally blend together. When done right, it feels like Middle Eastern music could have been as big of an influence on Western pop as much as Latin music eventually was. Too bad it was short lived.

maraoud108 - 8-24-2021 at 09:08 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  
Quote: Originally posted by ArmoOudist  
I will, however, recommend the album this comes from, as it's (most likely) the first fusion of jazz and middle Eastern music.
This is a nice jazz arrangement of a Turkish folk song in 9/8, from the same album.


This album is a classic, but Ahmed Abdul-Malik's "Jazz Sahara" predates it by about a year. Still a landmark album!



Jazz Sahara features the great Syrian violinist Naim Karacand.

http://syrianlebanesediasporasound.blogspot.com/2020/02/nineteen-ye...

Badra - 8-24-2021 at 05:23 PM

Awesome! Thanks to you for sharing this great album with us. My subscribers will love finding out about this English version from 1959. I'm thrilled about it as well.

At first the English sounded cheesy to me too, but then it starts to just come off as a fun song and enjoyable. Not a lot of singers have been able to sing English with an Arab melody with success. British/Egyptian jazz singer Ahmad Hourfoush has done it but it's still awkward. I think it's possible for sure if done right. Other languages seem to not have this issue.

My channel has been documenting all the languages that have sung Farid El Atrache songs, so far it's 14 languages: Russian, English, Spanish, Hebrew, Hindi, Swahili, Turkish, Indonesian, Malaysian, Kurdish, French, Assyrian, Greek, Arabic (from non-Arab countries).

I'm still missing Armenian and Persian. Surely there's someone who sang a Farid song in these languages. Hopefully someone can help me find them.

Badra - 8-25-2021 at 02:19 PM

Quote: Originally posted by ArmoOudist  

Now that I think about it, this actually was a popular song with the Armenian community, but it was under the title of "Heddy Lou"


Any idea what "Heddy Lou" means?

ArmoOudist - 8-25-2021 at 06:57 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Badra  
Quote: Originally posted by ArmoOudist  

Now that I think about it, this actually was a popular song with the Armenian community, but it was under the title of "Heddy Lou"


Any idea what "Heddy Lou" means?


Absolutely no clue. It's probably some sort of joke or play on words. It certainly isn't anything in Armenian.

Badra - 8-26-2021 at 05:36 PM

I was doing some more research on Chick, pretty interesting guy. There weren't a lot of videos or even recordings of him. But there's this gem, which maybe you've seen, from a Jazz festival in 1967 https://youtu.be/a0Zbc3lPb4Y?t=129

ArmoOudist - 8-27-2021 at 06:46 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Badra  
I was doing some more research on Chick, pretty interesting guy. There weren't a lot of videos or even recordings of him. But there's this gem, which maybe you've seen, from a Jazz festival in 1967 [url]https://youtu.be/a0Zbc3lPb4Y?t=129
[/url]

Yes, I've seen this before. Incredibly ahead of his time. Unfortunately, recordings of him are rare. He preferred live performance over studio albums, as he felt that something was lost once the music moved into a studio. I would highly recommend listening to that live album put out by Ara Topouzian if you want to get as close an experience as possible. His style was very different. Very aggressive. There are other recordings floating around of Chick playing at Kefs, but these are hard to find, and many of them are not on the internet.

If you want to hear Chick in a more traditional style, I'd recommend "The Exciting Music of the Nor-Ikes."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WKr09Xi6Xs

The clarinetist here is Souren Baronian, who Chick frequently worked with, and also did a lot of crossover between Middle Eastern music and Jazz.

Here's a nice blog post by Armenian kanunist Ara Topouzian on Chick Ganimian.

https://hyetimesmusic.com/2019/02/11/chick-the-blue-collar-musician/

I think if his struggles with alcoholism didn't spiral out of control, his career would have been a lot different. Even most Armenians don't know who he is, which I think is a shame. He was a great talent, at least from the little bits that I've heard.