The "Arab Dream" operetta returned to the top of search engines recently with the escalation of events in Gaza (Reuters)

11 Arab artists recorded a new version of the famous national operetta, “The Arab Dream,” which was released for the first time in 1996. New artists joined the operetta, led by Balqis Fathi, Muhammad Assaf, and “Abu.”

This comes in conjunction with the escalation of events in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian city of Rafah, and the aggression against the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation army, which resulted in 37,000 martyrs and missing persons, as the lyricist Medhat Al-Adl revealed in his media statements that “The Arab Dream” has returned to the forefront. Search engines recently with the escalation of events in Gaza, which made him want to resubmit it again.

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New identity

The original operetta team, such as lyricist Medhat El Adl and composer Salah El Sharnouby, will participate in the new version of “The Arab Dream” 2024, but with new and different arrangements provided by composer and arranger Michel Fadel.

Medhat Al-Adl also revealed changes in the new version of the operetta by deleting some clips or adding new clips, and the sentences became shorter due to the difference in rhythm from 1996.

Salah El-Sharnouby considered that what distinguishes operetta is the diversity from all Arab countries. Each singer presents the traditional music of his country, which creates artistic diversity for the listener. New generations need to listen to operetta, but after presenting it appropriately for the current era.

The artists participating in the new version include Assi Al-Halani, Saber Al-Rubai, Balqis, Muhammad Assaf, Majed Al-Muhandis, and Abu, in addition to artists who participated in the old version, including Ahlam, Asala, Ahmed Fathi, Ihab Tawfiq, Walid Tawfiq, and Omar Al-Abdallat.

In statements to the media, Saber Al-Rubai considered that the “Arab Dream” is a noble message for the Arab peoples, while Walid Tawfiq said that it is a call to unify the word of the Arab peoples.

The first version of the Arab dream

The operetta "The Arab Dream" was presented in more than one edition, the first of which was issued in 1996, written by Medhat El Adl, composed by Salah El Sharnouby and Helmy Bakr, and arranged by Hamid El Shaeri. The operetta was then updated in 1998, before it was presented in a large ceremony held in Martyrs' Square in Beirut.

In previous press statements by composer Hilmi Bakr last October, he said that he hoped that the “Arab Dream” would be re-presented after the events in Palestine worsened following the events of the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” and he expected that the scene in Palestine would be the most difficult and worst ever.

Music critic Mohamed Attia says that presenting a new version of “The Arab Dream” is an investment in the success of the first version, which was originally presented as a reconciliation between the generation of composers Salah Al-Sharnoubi and Helmi Bakr, and the generation of Hamid Al-Shairi, but at the level of singers, great stars with a history were not used at that time. In national and political singing, such as Muhammad Mounir and Ali Al-Hajjar, the first version also did not succeed in adding to the popularity of stars who participated in it, such as Ahmed Fathi and Omar Abdel Lat. The operetta at that time gained great fame even though it did not address the issue clearly, like the operetta “Jerusalem Will Return to Us,” which supported The Palestinian issue directly.

Attiya added that “Arab Dream” gained popularity due to its reliance on mobilizing a large number of male and female singers in the Arab world, and he believes that it would have been better to present a new artistic work that calls for clear words about the events in Gaza or the Palestinian issue.

Music critic Mohamed Attia criticized the idea of ​​presenting the new arrangement in an orchestral form, explaining that addressing the newer generations requires the presence of singers from the new generation and not relying on classical singers, with the necessity of adding styles of musical modernity.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites