Year: Currently unknown.
Country: Lebanon.
Label: Saut el Fan Al-Saudi.
Transfixing female vocalist & orchestra from Lebanon. Hana al Safi appears to be the younger sister of the iconic Wadi al Safi, aka: “The Voice of Lebanon.” More song/date/translation info definitely wanted!
Awesome
Nadia Bechara-Francis who sang under the alias of Hana’a al-Safhi, was the fourth child born to the Safhi family consisting of (count’em…), eight boys (Wadih was the second-born male), and five girls, namely; Tierze, Nadia, Jean D’Arc, Mary, and the youngest Linda al-Safhi who has a few records on her own, plus Iliah al-Safhi who later on became the gendarmie orchestra conductor for the Lebanese Army.
Some of the old 45 RPMs featured her and Wadih both on the two faces of the record, like ‘Mersal El-Hawa/Qal Li Ana Behabik’ (1960). They shared some duets in the late-60’s (e.g. Ya Houb), but he later decided for her to stop singing all-together; which was really sad because her voice was rather beautiful, but she conceded to her older brother’s will. She went into total obscurity until in the 90’s when a Lebanese TV presenter introduced her in a special programme.
Her most famous songs that were popular in the mid-to-late-60’s were, among many:
-Ya Beiti, Ya Bweitati.
-Ya Shiek El-Shabab.
-Teir El-Tayyer.
-Law Kan Kelmit Ah.
-K’Berti Ya Helweh.
-Mahboubi Bil-Jhendiyyeh.
-Ya Bou El-Einein El-Helween.
-Ya Bou El-Bedleh El-Khaki.
-In Kount Ma’alem aw Fallah.
-Khayfeh Min El-Houb.
-Dayyeb Doub.
-Ana Farhaneh.
-Jana El-Ma’azoun.
-Shouf Ad Eih El-Hawa.
-Shoufi Yamma.
-Shweeiyh Enti.
-K’dah Ah.
-Kelouh Bel-Felous.
-Man N’Heb Gheirak.
-Rahou.
-A’amein fi Hamm El-Jafa.
Hana’a sang in many Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in the early 60’s, and soon she was invited to stay in Libya where she settled for a while in the mid-60’s and became a famous singer singing Libyan sh’abai songs for a short period of time until she quit singing, ultimately, returning to Lebanon.
This song is from 1962, but the record “Sawt al-Fan al-Saudi” dates to the late-60’s (probably 1968).
Thanks, Nick.
H.H.
P.S.: Ashki Li Mein (Whom Shall I Complain To) translated roughly to ‘Where Do I Go’, was written by Ahmad Sadiq, and composed by Jihad Saleh.
H.H.