Composer of Lamma Bada

[Jane]

Okay, I was reading about the history of Lamma Bada Yatathanna a while ago and I can't remember who composed the melody we use today. Vaguely, I remember it was either a Syrian or Lebanese fellow around the 1920s. Am I inventing things in my head? Does anyone remember where I got this information?

 

[Daimona]

:think: I thought it was much, much older than that, but that might have been the lyrics not the melody.

(Unfortunatly, I can't remember where I got this information either...)

 

[Aniseteph]

That rings a bell with me - must have been here or on Bhuz.

I also heard a proper music scholar IRL say that it's not ancient; the structure or composition or something isn't right for an Andalusian piece that old.

 

[Sophia Maria]

That rings a bell with me - must have been here or on Bhuz.

I also heard a proper music scholar IRL say that it's not ancient; the structure or composition or something isn't right for an Andalusian piece that old.

Perhaps it's a ongoing debate. I performed to it once, and I learned that (at least the lyrics) were from Andalusia. I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about the musical composition, though...

 

[gisela]

testing testing

 

[Jane]

Yeah, the lyrics are easy to find. It's the melody I'm having trouble with :think:

 

[Tarik Sultan]

It was composed by Egyptian musician and composer Said Darwish in the 1920's don't remember the exact year though. It was early in his career though.

 

[Jane]

Thank you Tarik! At least I had part of it remembered right

 

[Tarik Sultan]

You're welcome sweetie. It was a mystery to me for many years. I thought it was Andalusian till my Egyptian music mafia connection told me where it really came from and who composed it. Turns out that there really isn't any true examples of Andalusian music out there as they didn't have musical notation. What he did say was that there was a period of time when people in the Islamic world were feeling nastaglic and looking to Al Andalus as a period of time when Islamic civilization was supreme and ruled Europe. Very much a reaction to colonialism. I think he said that people began composing music inspired by what they thought the music was like, but don't quote me on that. I'll have to ask again to confirm.

 

[shiradotnet]

It was composed by Egyptian musician and composer Said Darwish in the 1920's don't remember the exact year though. It was early in his career though.

Actually, according to Dr. George Sawa, the composer was Selim el-Masri in the 19th century.

 

[Roshanna]

Definitely not composed by Sayyed Darwish, although he did compose a number of muwashshahat, and the earliest extant recordings of it are from 1912-ish. Knowledgeable Egyptian musicians all seem to agree on a 19th century origin for the melody, although I'm fairly sure I've seen it attributed to another composer of that era too - possibly Mohammed Othman.