The Western music, whether classical or pop, has been reflected in the advancement of Arab musical harmony since the first half of the 20th century. The Egyptian film industry played a significant role in the development of music as of the 1930s, when musicals were box office movies.
In 1942, late Egyptian singer/composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab (1898-1991) starred in Mamnou El-Hob(Love Is Unallowed). The movie was a blockbuster then. However, I will not discuss the movie here. What’s most important is a song that Abdel Wahab beautifully crooned.
The song was “Ya Mesafer Wahdak” (Traveling Alone). The song is one of the best ever performed in Arab signing. As for the music, it was superb.
However, that’s not the issue here.
Abdel Wahab used maqam Nahawand Kurd, which is frequently used in Turkish, Persian and Greek music. With globalization and thanks to state-of-the-art technology, we can listen to songs and music produced anywhere on this planet.
For the Greek community living in Egypt in early 1940s, Ya Mesafer Wahdak was an Egyptianized version of Poso Lypamai (I’m So Sorry) by singer Sofia Vembo (1910-1978). The original song was recorded in Greece in 1939.
Abdel Wahab simply copied and pasted PosoLypamai’s music. In 1959, he composed and sang “La Mosh Ana Elli Abky” (I Will Never Weep). Technically, it’s a tango set in maqam Ajam.
However, the music was taken from a 1954 hit titled “The Magic Tango” by British singer/songwriter Tony Brent (1927-1993).
There are many examples of plagiarism in Abdel Wahab’s career. However, Ya Mesafer Wahdak remainsblatant.
Late Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez (1929-1977) starred in 16 films between 1955 and 1969. In one of these movies, Ayyam We Liyali (Days & Nights), he sang “Ana Lak Ala Tol” (Forever Yours). The film was a blockbuster in 1955.
The song is another blatant copy and paste from “Catari” by French singer Tino Rossi (1907-1983). Rossi recorded the song in 1955. However, it was first released in 1911 by Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso.
Caruso’s original was titled Core ‘ngrato, or Ungrateful Ueart. I argued in a previous article that Abdel Wahab despite his frequent plagiarism, especially in his early career, he had a greater influence on the development of Arab music when compared to a more talented composer like Riadh el-Sonbaty (1906-1981).
Abdel Wahab’s works, whether his own originals or taken from Western pop and classical music, have contributed dearly in the advancement of oriental tunes.
When it comes to plagiarism, I find no better words than Spanish painter Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973), who was quoted as saying that good artists borrow, great artists steal!
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