Arwa needs more airtime within various broadcast mediums. I don’t say this because her album deserves two thumbs up - it actually doesn’t - but because specific singles within the album are nowhere near the mainstream “mumbo-jumbo” music.

This is an adult album; it consists of sophisticated songs with powerful lyrics and refined music with layers of traditional tones, which enables its listeners to trace back their past. Youngsters won’t be able to appreciate it, but Arwa proved she knows how to prevent herself from being pressured by the industry’s demands.

 The album, which is entitled “Inta 3arefni,” is entirely Khaleeji. For Middle Eastern music based upon the Egyptian and a currently rising Shami dialect, Khaleeji was definitely a dangerous approach. However, this is one of the reasons the album should be appreciated even more. There were very solid Khaleeji old school songs like “Tehwa Ghayri,” “Wallah Zain,” and “Ya Nas.”

They weren’t exceptional songs, but weren’t songs that were inserted for the purpose of filling space either. But for an artist like Arwa who perfected the Egyptian dialect in past singles like “7obbak Inta,” and one of her latest singles, which is not included in this album, entitled “3eenaik,” I would have liked to hear more diversity, no matter how “mumbo-jumbo” it may have sounded.

If I hadn’t seen her perfect other dialects I would have let her off easy, but I’ve heard her solid Egyptian singles. And so, why aren’t there any in this album? Most songs in this album however, tell a story. In these songs, Arwa portrays a tough, independent woman with stringent thoughts about revenge, and confidence about her self-worth.

 “Bagoolek” is one of the songs that could have been created from some kind of traditional children’s story or nursery rhyme. Arwa sings in the chorus, “bagoolek shay/ la, la latshik bi 5illek/ washi 7akalek/ wella 2eblees bighoolak/ lat kaber el mawthoo3.” It seemed, even from the chorus that Arwa was narrating the song as an outsider, but listeners weren’t certain until the 3rd verse that the song was really written in her perspective.

 In it she sings, “7isbi 3allali ghayyar sooreti bi 3einek/ 5allak tinsa 2elli baini wo bainek/ mahma taba3adna sawt el hawa masmoo3.” Although vocal execution was the best in that verse, the fact she hadn’t made it clear she was talking about herself made the song lack sinuousness.

Arwa goes head on in both, “Weshlon Ye5sarni” when she sings “Weshlon ye5sarni wo ana rasi maalaa/ 2adri ana ma yigdar yi9iddi 3anni,” and “Maskeen” when she sings, “ana mazajeeya fawit/ wen bgheet az3al amawit.” Many modern female Arab singers have adopted this same “tough” character in songs and follow the same concepts. But I have to admit that no one does it better than the female Khaleeji artists like Ahlam, or any artists singing in the Khaleeji dialect like Asala.

 It seems that images of confidence, revenge, and independence existent in Shami or Egyptian songs are restrained and/or subtle, yet these same images are somehow amplified in Khaleeji songs. My biggest disappointment however, is the hit single “Ya 7abib Ro7i,” which had considerate amount of radio play. Its verses have not given the chorus much justice.

 The song took too long to start, which was followed by a tragic slow verse with an awkward melody. To put the verses hand-in-hand with a beautifully harmonized chorus which creates an exquisite ringing echo right before Arwa sings, “2isma3 9ada soti/ fi 9amti, we bo7i,” made it go from potentially charming to a mere “c’mon-sing-the-chorus-already!” kind of song.

But Arwa’s latest songs, not included in this album, are indeed a good listen. Remember to dedicate “3eenaik” or Sawt Beirut International’s exclusive “El 7ilem” to all your loved ones.

Dareen Awwad - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it