Yemeni singer Mohammed Murshed Naji is currently gearing up to release a joint album with the Saudi singer and composer Abdel Rub Idris which will mark his last album in his artistic career which has been full of creativity and devotion.
“I think age factor, I have exceeded 70, spurs me to withdraw gradually from the arena and limelight,” Naji told the London based Arabic daily al Sharq al Awsat.
“My latest album includes songs written by many poets including a poem for Omar bin Abi Rabia’h in addition to two songs from the heritage one which I included in the chorus for the first time,” he added.
The Yemeni singer attributed the lack of his country’s singing arena of unique voices like him during the past decades to the circumstances, which brought his generation up in a different manner from the younger generations. He said, “during the fifties and sixties there was an artistic and a political call for a specific song from Eden. The talented singers and musicians rushed to shape the new song with real art love and passion amid an astonishing public response. Following this, Eden broadcasting Service emerged in 1954 to push forward the new song which started to surface.”
In a music study on the history of Muwashahat (terza merza) he has recently presented in Bahrain, Naji aroused a big controversy about the results he revealed. “This study led me to new facts about the history of Muwashahat different from the ones prevailing among music historians which said that Zeriab was the creator of the first Muwashah. The historians related many stories to Zeriab and made a legend out of him. We accepted all these from them without scrutiny. For example the story about Zeriab’s fleeing from Baghdad to Spain to take refuge at the palace of the Islamic Caliph Abdel Rahman al Dakhil is not supported by the reliable books such as al Ekd al Farid, al Aghani and Murooj al Thahab and other references which were innovated by the Islamic civilization in Spain. We do not see the stories prevailing in our society in these books.”
Naj’s study is a long one based on new historical facts and strong reactions, the fact that will designate the forthcoming session which will be held in Abu Dhabi for discussions on the history of the Muwashahat -- Albawaba.com
