Lovers of authentic oriental melody will meet next Thursday evening with Riad Al-Sunbati, one of the most important masters of oriental creativity in our Arab world.
An exceptional, oriental night par excellence in the “Riyadh Season”, with all its variations, presented by the “Entertainment Authority”, to continue its celebration of the icons of music and singing in our Arab world, such as Muhammad Abdel Wahhab, Umm Kulthum, Farid, Halim, Muhammad Abdo, Abdul Majeed Abdullah, Muhammad Al-Muji, Baligh Hamdi, Talal Maddah, and Abu Bakr. Salem, Hani Shenouda, Mohamed Mounir and others, to remain in our collective memory, nights of singing that are difficult to forget.
When the name of Al-Sunbati is mentioned, the other side of the picture becomes Umm Kulthum. There is a psychological and intellectual connection between them. Al-Sunbati occupies the largest share of “Kawkab Al-Sharq”’s credit. He is the composer of at least 30 percent of its credit, with more than 100 tunes. Subconsciously, he was dominated by the feeling that he A partner in all the literary and financial success she achieved, he is the only one among the adults who accompanied Umm Kulthum from the mid-thirties until the early seventies.
Al-Sunbati achieved a distinct space for himself with those who preceded him on the “Six” map, such as Muhammad Al-Qasabji and Sheikh Zakaria Ahmed. The first stopped since the end of the forties, and the second left in the early sixties, and Al-Sunbati completed the journey, in the presence of others, the most active of whom was Baligh Hamdi, who began his career in 1960 with “Love.” Eh,” and Muhammad Abdel Wahab – his arch rival – also entered the line, since 1964 (You are my life).
Al-Sunbati pushed Umm Kulthum to search for a new composer, after he announced on the pages of newspapers that he would stop composing for her, and filed a lawsuit to demand his financial rights. She chose Baligh, who is more than 25 years younger than Al-Sunbati. Al-Sunbati used to describe Umm Kulthum as having moody moods like the world, sometimes becoming generous and then suddenly holding her hands. Al-Sunbati expected that she would submit to him. He never believed that it was possible for her to sing compositions by the next generation, such as Al-Muji and Al-Tawil. He completely ruled out Baligh, and he was not convinced until his departure of their melodies. He considered that he and Umm Kulthum would rise in the public’s taste, while others were presenting melodies. Down to the public’s taste!
From time to time, when Umm Kulthum would procrastinate with him in repeating one of his melodies, he would assign it to another, which he did with Scheherazade (O Nasini), and repeated it with Najah Salam (I Want Your Answers), and Umm Kulthum became angry and wanted to practically prove to him that she was the secret to success.
The response came from Baligh with overwhelming public success. Time has proven that Baligh’s melodies gave Umm Kulthum an additional artistic life. Despite this, the duality that settled in history and conscience remained only Umm Kulthum and Al-Sunbati, who never surrendered, but rather took revenge when Umm Kulthum became angry with… Baligh was composing Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal’s poem (For the sake of your eyes, I fell in love with passion), so Al-Sunbati picked it up and composed it.
Will we slow it down or will it suffocate him? This is the question that was repeated in their lives and after their departure, which means, did Umm Kulthum impose her taste on Al-Sunbati, or did he impose his melodies on her?
Umm Kulthum’s voice is an inspiration to Al-Sunbati. Many voices echoed some of “Al-Sitt”’s songs after her passing, and not a single one achieved significant success. The melody becomes part of the flashes of Umm Kulthum’s voice, as she is the source and also the source.
Why do we remember Sunbati now? Not only for that twinning with Umm Kulthum, which resulted in “The Ruins” becoming, in the language of the press, “the Mansheet,” the poem of the twentieth century.
It suffices to mention Umm Kulthum’s opinion about Al-Sunbati that he composes the meaning, not the word, and that is the peculiarity of the giant of Eastern music.
In the 1920s, Al-Sunbati applied to the Institute of Music in order to learn academically how to play and compose. After a test conducted by the institute’s professors, they discovered that he understood the depth, mystery, and magic of music more than they did, so they asked him to become their dean in the teaching staff!
Sunbati Night will take us back to a time whose tunes we long for so much!
