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As Elias Rahbani passed away today, in @projectrevolver's absence, here's a thread of some of his best work, both solo, with his orchestra and producing and arranging hundreds of songs of some of the most famous Lebanese classics.
Dance of Maria (1974) Maybe his most famous revived track in the western world, covered by Khruangbin and featured in the What We Do in the Shadows, from one of the best albums to come out of the levant "Mosaic of of the Orient":
Another great from the same album, La Danse de Nadia.
Absolute bizzarity. From the Moon, defining oriental psychedelic before it was defined.
Liza Liza is objectively a killer disco track, played by DJs worldwide in recent years.
Moving on to his writing, arrangement, production and collaboration work with almost all living and dead legends of the music scene. Elias Rahbani is the writer behind some of Fairuz's most famous work. Hanna el Sekran as a start:
He's also the brain behind Kan Aanna Tahoun:
Rahbani composed some of Sabah's best well. From 1964 this is Hully Dabke
From the same EP, here's the beautiful multilingual Jazzy Sola Cha Cha
Sabah did a whole album with Elias Rahbani, the most memorable track is probably Wa'douni w Nattarouni:
Rahbani collaborated with Georgette Sayegh and created this now classic: Ya Nassini
Speaking of collaborations, Oumi ta Nor'oss, this beautiful uplifting song by Sammy Clark has Rahbani's prints all over it:
Kezzabi or that song played in every modern arabic music party is also Elias Rahbani
Kenna Sawa is another beautiful track the result of a collaboration with Samir Hanna
On a less known path, here's Azef el Layl, a collaboration between Rahbani and Ihsan Munzer
More greatness, Lakini with Issam Rajji
Finally, Kboush el Touti co-written by Elias Rahbani and performed by the late Melhem Barakat
This was a selection from different eras and phases of a man whose impact and influence has been immense and will remain for generations to come. I probably skipped a lot of great tracks so please feel free to share.
