Mohammed Abdel Wahab was born in 1907 in Cairo, Egypt. One of the most renowned and respected musicians of the time, he composed thousands of songs for many famous singers and instrumentalists including Abdel Halim Hafez, Umm Kulthum, and Asmahan.
Abdel Wahab revolutionized the landscape of popular Arab music. Throughout the 1920s, he wrote traditional Arab music under the tutelage of the famous poet Ahmed Shawky
Arabic music at the time had two core aspects, the centrality of audience and improvisation. Composed pieces were not popular, as they restricted the ability of the musicians to embellish and limited the interaction between the performers and the audience members. As Ottoman influence waned and the British took Egypt as a “protectorate” in 1914, the region saw a confluence of Arab and Western cultures. Abdel Wahab, like many other composers at the time, explored this transition in his music. He began using western rhythms, introduced the electric guitar into his songs, and in several instances even incorporated rock and roll into his compositions.
He was criticized by some for moving away from core aspects of traditional Arab music: centrality of the audience and improvisation, and moving towards composition and arrangement.
Abdel Wahab also revolutionized entertainment in Egypt by popularizing the Arab film musical. The invention of films with sound allowed these productions to be televised across the Arab world, launching him to superstardom. His first film, “The White Rose,” was a sensation that broke records across the country Watch Video. He continued with several other films, directly or indirectly launching the careers of several other artists such as Abdel Halim Hafez and Asmahan Watch Video.
Abdel Wahab was a contemporary of Umm Kulthum, another giant in the pantheon of iconic Arab artists. Their relationship was a complex one, but remains steeped in the cultural and political history of Egypt. Both Abdel Wahab and Umm Kulthum lived to see Egypt transfer from Ottoman to British rule, and watched the eventual overthrow of the British-aligned King Farouk by the Free Officers Movement. Both owe their popularity to this conjunction of a mass movement and the advent of new technology that allowed their image and voice to carry across the region. There was friction between the two musicians as they differed in their approach to music. Although Kulthum experimented in the 1930s with European influenced music by Mohammed El Qasabji, she later went on to reject this hybridization and maintained adamant traditionalism in her music that focused on audience and her own virtuosity. This was also a political statement by her, in order to elevate indigenous Egyptian culture. She primarily used a traditional takht ensemble. In contrast, Abdel Wahab used a broad range of influences that hybridized Arab tonality with European composition and instrumentation. Though it took some years, this rivalry eventually developed into collaboration. Abdel Wahab and Umm Kulthum began collaborating on several pieces, including Inta Omri, perhaps one of their most popular works Watch Video.
Abdel Wahab’s importance to Egyptian nationalism is widely acknowledged. He re-composed the Egyptian national anthem, Belady Belady Belady based on the original by Sayed Darwish. President Gamal Abdel Nassar awarded Abdel Wahab with the country’s highest civilian award, the Medal of Honor. Nassar’s successor, Anwar Sadat, bestowed the honorary title of General on Abdel Wahab.
Abdel Wahab died in 1991, at the age of 90 years. He was given a military funeral, to symbolize his importance to the Egyptian nation. http://www.almashriq.hiof.no/
