Category: Music

Hung Up On Madonna

Man, I can’t get Madonna’s new song Hung Up out of my head.
It’s one of those infectuous tunes and songs that just stick to you and keep going on constant rotation in your head.

It’s off her new album Confessions on a Dance Floor, which will be released tomorrow and is a really cool album with a disco / dance touch.
My favourite songs off the album are: Hung Up, Push, Sorry, Jump, Get Together. Even though the rest of the songs are cool too.

The thing I love about Madonna is how she re-invents herself with every album, setting new trends in the music business, raising the bar and always one step ahead of the pack.

She just rocks!

I totally recommend the single Hung Up and the album Confessions on a Dance Floor for all music lovers.

Sami Yusuf – Hasbi Rabbi

Today while flipping through Arab satellite music channels I came across Sami Yusuf’s video for his new song “Hasbi Rabbi”.

The song is so beautiful, the music, the lyrics, Sami’s voice, the video, all of it…

The lyrics are in 4 languages: English, Turkish, Hindi and Arabic; The melody is from the Afghani folklore; and the video is shot in England, Turkey, India and Egypt.
Hindi lyrics are by Ustadh Mehboob, Turkish lyrics by Ustadh Firooz, and Arabic & English lyrics by Bara Kherigi.

It’s one of Sami’s best songs, and I can’t wait to hear it again and to get his new album “My Ummah”.

To listen to an audio sample of the song, click here: Hasbi Rabbi.
To buy Sami Yusuf’s new album, go here: My Ummah.

Continue reading Sami Yusuf – Hasbi Rabbi

The Corrs – Home

A couple of days ago while rushing through the supermarket to get some stuff for the break of fast, my eye caught the new Corrs album “Home” on the shelves of CDs. Being a fan of The Corrs and their style, I grabbed it in my way, popped it in the car cd player and have been listening to it while driving.

This album is a collection of traditional Irish songs with new contemporary interpretations by The Corrs, which explains the name “Home”.
The album also has two songs in Gaelic (“Buachaill On Eirne” and “Brid Og Ni Mhaille”) and two great instrumentals (“Old Hag”, “Haste to the Wedding”).

I really liked this album, although it might not be my favourite by the band. It’s mostly slower than their previous albums, with only the instrumentals and “Old Town” having upbeat tunes. And it doesn’t really sound that much like previous albums by The Corrs.

My favourite songs on this album are: “Old Town” (Which I’ve loved ever since I first heard it on their unplugged), “Spancill Hill”, “Old Hag”, “Haste to the Wedding” and “Buachaill On Eirne”.

If you’re a fan of The Corrs, of course you have to get this album, if you just liked a couple of their upbeat songs only, then maybe this one is not exactly for you.

I personally respect their choice to honour their Irish musical heritage with this album. I also can’t wait for their next album with their unique and beautiful style.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether you’re soar away sun or BBC 1
Misinformation is a weapon of mass destruction

You could a Caucasian or a poor Asian
Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether inflation or globalization
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction

Whether Halliburton or Enron or anyone
Greed is a weapon of mass destruction

We need to find courage, overcome
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

Song: Mass Destruction
Band: Faithless

Another great song by Faithless; Another extremely catchy tune and really interesting lyrics.

I personally totally agree that all of the above are weapons of mass destruction, because countries and communities don’t just get destroyed by some huge bomb being dropped on them, all of the above things eat away at the society from the inside causing even bigger destruction.

Future Arab SuperStar 3

A year has passed since the 2004 season of SuperStar, the Arab version of “Pop Idol”, which is known as “American Idol” in the US.

Last year’s winner was Libyan Ayman El Aatar, whose debut single called “Ahebbak” was released a few weeks ago.

Now, the new season of SuperStar will start airing on Lebanese Future TV this Sunday, 25th of September.

What they’ll be doing in the first episodes is airing a selection of the thousands of auditions, which is really funny, and showing the people who made it through to the second stage.

I can’t wait for the new season to begin. SuperStar is the best musical talent show as the people who make it through are really talented and have great voices unlike other stupid shows like Star Academy or whatever.

Plus I love how it brings us all to know and appreciate our Arab music more.

I fully covered the show last year and will most probably be covering it this year too.

Over the Border of Tunisia

“Over the Border of Tunisia”, a series of Oud concerts, that look at the oud from three different angles, will take place starting from October 30 in Amsterdam.

The event will start on October 30th with the concert of Rabih Abou-Khalil, which is entitled “Jazz Ballads from the East”. In his contemporary jazz and non-Western quintet, the oud is the leading instrument in the concert.

On December 11th, Hesperion XXI’s concert entitled “the Lost Paradise”, the oud is played as an accompanying and ensemble instrument, along with a few improvised solos based on manuscripts from the 13th century.

And on April 9th, Dhafer Youssef’s concert entitled “Echo from the Past”, the oud returns to its origins, in the stirring, spiritual and plaintive melodies of Tunisia and other Arabic cultures, as well as in his own compositions.

More info on the event and tickets is available here.

Lucie Silvas – “Breathe In”

The other day while switching through music channels, I came across a video for a song called “What you’re Made Of” by a new singer called Lucie Silvas.
I really liked the song and sent myself an email with it’s title and her name as a reminder for myself to check more of her music out.

Today, I got to hear her new debut album “Breathe In”, and I simply loved it.

Lucie Silvas is a highly talented British singer/songwriter, who has previously supported Macy Gray and written songs for Rachel Stevens, Gareth Gates and Liberty X.

She has a great voice, pure and powerful. It reminds me a bit of Christina Aguilera’s voice, only I like Lucie’s voice and style of singing better. She breathes a lot more life into her songs. In fact her style reminds me of the great Australian Delta Goodrem.

“Breathe In” is produced by Mike Peden, who has previously worked with stars like The Lighthouse Family, Des’Ree and Shara Nelson.

I really liked her music, lyrics and style of singing. I enjoyed the whole album.
My favourite songs on it are: “What You’re Made Of”, “Forget Me Not”, “Without You”, and her great cover of Metallica’s masterpiece “Nothing Else Matters”.
But in reality this album has no filler tracks, it’s all really great material.

I totally recommend getting this album, it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.

My score for it would be: 9/10.
Yeah, it’s that good.

Musical Baton

Eman passed the musical baton on to me, so here it goes…

Total volume of music files on my computer:
Well, I have too many music files to keep on one computer’s hard disk, so I’m always burning my stuff on to cds or moving them to external hard disks or stuff.
So, I think at the time of this post, I have approximately 4.5GBs of music on my laptop, 5GBs on my mp3 player, and gigs and gigs on cds and stuff.

The last CD I bought was:
Hmmm, I can’t remember exactly. Maybe “Kel El Asayed” by Marwan Khoury.

Song playing right now:
“Stand” by Jewel.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
1. Insomnia (Faithless)
2. Wonderwall (Oasis)
3. Layla (Eric Clapton)
4. Losing My Religion (R.E.M)
5. What A Wondeful World (Louis Armstrong)

Five people to whom I