Description

This book, “Wadih Al-Safi – The Composer,” presents for the first time a collection of special melodies by the great Wadih Al-Safi in a purely instrumental form, and makes them accessible to musicians with a classical background, specifically through arrangements for the piano (with the participation of the oud) that allow musicians to taste the beauty of authentic Arabic music, and constitute an introduction to this ancient art.
At the same time, our Arabic music is presented in an automatic way that can be understood by the world with its various cultural backgrounds, due to its belonging to the European classical school and its transcendence of the language barrier.
The book is a selection of compositions by Wadih Al-Safi arranged for the piano by composer Wajdy Abou Diab, that follow the release of an album of recordings of these songs, performed by pianist Chantal Francis Manassa, who is Wadih Al-Safi’s niece, with the participation of oud player Afif Merhej.
Among the topics the book presents, for the first time, is a transfer of the Lebanese Mawal, in which the great Wadih Al-Safi became famous, from a purely lyrical form to a purely instrumental form, which opens the way for the launch of a new cultural musical movement to archive Arabic lyrical music instrumentally and make it accessible to musicians from all cultural backgrounds whether Arab or foreign.