Abu Draa | Mawal Jamal (Moriphon, 1963)

 

Egyptian sha'abi singer Abu Draa performs two mawwawel on this beautiful 7" released in 1963. The recording is sparse and sounds live-in-studio.

Wikipedia tells me that the earliest sha'abi was composed and performed by the likes of Sayyid Darwish from the 1920s to 1940s, and that Abu Draa was one of several keeping the flame alive up through the 1960s. We interviewed Andrew Simon on our weekly radio show Bodega Pop earlier this year about sha'abi during Egypt's cassette era; you can listen to an archived recording of that program here.

(Listen to "Mawal Jamal")

(Listen to "Mawal Rida Alwalidayn")