Suleiman Al Shaar & Hala Ghannam

A Letter to Golan

• Mawal
• Shaabi Dabke

• Mawal
• Hawara

Label

Location Issued

Artist Origin

Credits

Hala Ghannam has five appearances in our archive, all of which are attaba dialogues or mawals with other singers - Faisal Al Ahmad, Mohammad Benneshi, and in this case, Suleiman Al Shaar. The duo performs a lively and high-energy collection of Syrian shaabi and "patriotic" songs in the previous sense of the word patriotic, which usually meant singing praise to Hafez and Bashar Al Assad, this time in the dalouna format. Suleiman Al Shaar hails from the village of Fajleet in rural Tartous and began his career in the early 1990s when he was discovered by sound engineer Bassam Zeidan, founder of Al Arz Records. Zeidan recorded many of Al Shaar’s concerts, weddings, and private cassette albums. Alongside Zeidan, Syrian shaabi poet Talib Shahoud has been a key figure in Al Shaar's journey and influence, writing numerous mawals and atabas for him. Shahoud's contributions helped Al Shaar build a substantial repertoire of original songs in addition to the traditional works he revives in his performances. According to the introduction of one of our archive's cassettes, Hala Ghannam hails from the Syrian coastal region. The internet preserves several of her performances, most of which are attaba dialogues with other singers, especially Faisal Al Ahmad and Mohammad Bennshi.