Ahmad Tilawi & Fariha Al Abdullah

Fairouza Party

• Attaba Dialogue
• Mes'ed Ya Tanour

• Noudi
• Arab Al Sharqieh (Arabs of the East)

Artist Origin

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Fariha Al Abdullah formed with Ahmad Tilawi one of the strongest female-male singer partnerships throughout the history of Syrian shaabi music. Their rough-edged and unbridled voices complement each other, taking their listeners on wild journeys through the Syrian desert and countryside, in some of the best recordings that Syrian shaabi music has produced. Ahmad Tilawi is considered a cornerstone in the recorded archive of the Syrian shaabi music scene. His was strongly present in the 1980s and 1990s, performing ataba, shaabi, mawwal, and dabke at private parties and weddings, to the extent that it became difficult to check a few cassettes in our archive without encountering his name. Sharing the stage with Tilawi was a rite of passage for entering the shaabi scene for several female and male singers, such as Fariha Al-Abdullah, Ibrahim Al-Saad, and Hussein Al-Abdullah, especially in the field of ataba, which Tilawi’s name became synonymous with. Tilawi lived in his city of Saraqib in the countryside of Idlib for most of his life, and did not leave it, heartbroken, until armed conflicts forced him to do so. Before Sarya Al-Sawas became the first lady of Syrian shaabi song, this throne belonged to another mighty voice, that of Fariha Al Abdullah. Fariha is still present today, but she lived a golden age in the 1990s, when she was abundantly present at weddings, private parties, and nightclubs. She collaborated with a wide spectrum of voices and musicians, and shaped the features of the Syrian shaabi singer with her highly dynamic voice adorned with a hoarseness that gives it sadness. At the beginning of her career, Fariha carried the classification of Al-Hajiat or Al-Sheikhat, a title given by the people of Homs to female Syrian shaabi singers from their region, who suffered rejection from their conservative societies. However, Fariha today carries another title she deservedly earned through her long career: Singer of the Badia.