“Ya Tera Tiri” (2006) – Sabah Fakhri * Written by Abu Khalil al-Qabbani * Produced by Sabah Fakhri * LP: Master of Andalusian Folklore * Label: Hollywood Music Center
The charismatic Syrian vocalist Sabah Fakhri appears on this 2006 album cover with an oud, but on stage he had always stood behind a microphone, waving his arms to punctuate musical flourishes. Fakhri was a key figure in reviving the secular Arabic muwaššaḥ genre for the twentieth century and beyond, and this live recording presents it boiled down to its essentials with his lead vocal accompanied by an oud, a spike fiddle, a kanun (zither), a darbukkah drum, and a tambourine, with all players also singing backup. (Other recordings find him fronting larger ensembles.) The final component: an enraptured audience clapping along. Fakhri was famous for keeping the house lights on so he could maintain eye contact with his audiences. On Master of Andalusian Folklore, a live recording, all the songs merge into each other, and you get a sense that Fakhri is bringing forth all the hits in a thrilling array.
The traditional song here is familiar to the Levantine Arabic world, with a title that translates to “fly, o bird.” Abu Khalil al-Qabbani, a Syrian pioneer of Arabic music theater, is said to have composed it as a tribute to Esther al-Hakim, a Jewish singer in his troupe whose nickname was Tira (bird).