Rafiq Subaie (Abu Sayyah)

Sherim Berim Ka'b Al Fnjan

• Sherm Berim Ka'b Al Finjan (A Tiny Bit of Nothing)
• Al Khanafes (The Beetles)
• Habubabti Al Talmuzat (My Darling Students)
• Q'od Thbbak (Sit Down and Love Her)
• Tammam Tammam (Okay, Okay)
• La Tdawer 'Al Mal (Don't Worry About Money)

• Ya Tera Tiri (Oh Bird, Fly Away)
• Al Houb Thalthe Alwan (Love Has Three Colors)
• Dirn Dirn Ya Za'boub (Oh Little One)
• Tasse Trnn Tasse (The Tray is Rattling)
• Mu Shaghltna Haye (It's Not Our Business)
• Ya Salat Al Zein (Oh Prayer of Beauty)

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A recording featuring a collection of songs and monologues by the Syrian artist Rafiq Sbeie (1930–2017), a Syrian actor and monologist born and raised in the Bazouriya neighborhood of Damascus. He began his career in the late 1940s, performing improvised comedy sketches in theaters and clubs across Damascus. He later transitioned to singing and acting in various artistic groups, and from the Free Theatre, he started performing plays with his own songs, such as Bl Maqloub and Tase Al Ra'be. Rafiq Sbeie was skilled in playing the oud and mastered musical notation. He stood out for his performance of the "monologue," an art-form pioneered by the Egyptian monologist Sayed Darwish in the 1920s and further developed by Salama Al-Aghwani, a leading figure in the Syrian monologue in the early 1930s. At that time, monologues often carried political criticism in its expression of anti-colonialism. Sbeie contributed to the foundation of several emerging theatre groups following Syria's independence in 1946. He performed his monologues in the persona of "Abu Sayyah," a beloved Damascene character, addressing social issues that were surfacing during that period. His monologues have since become part of the social history of the time. Sbeie began working in Syrian radio in 1954 and was officially recognized as a radio director in 1960. He continued his work as a radio presenter, hosting his weekly program Hakawati Al Fan on Radio Damascus for 12 years, which he also prepared and directed. Each episode highlighted an Arab singer from the golden era of Arabic music. He also appeared in 55 films, ranging from comedies to serious dramas, both in commercial cinema and in films produced by the General Cinema Corporation of Syria.