The Best of Azar Habib Podcast

Azar Habib Podcast
عازار حبيب

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For translations of Azar Habib on the site click here

The most-repeated of the Azar Habib (عازار حبيب) truisms is that he was the first Arab musician to blend a "light western style" with "eastern rhythm." To me, this is a pretty banal way to describe Habib's music which combines some of the most innovative and catchy beats to ever come from a synth. Testament to the Lebanese singer's popularity is how his songs are in constant rotation on Damascus and Beirut radio stations, but there were missteps along the way.

Much like one wonders what Elvis was thinking in his Vegas days, one wonders what Habib was thinking recording songs that harken a carnival or, even odder, some type of vampire shakedown. Yet much to his credit, even when his songs teeter on kitsch, redeemable loops abound and he's never uninteresting.

This podcast is a sample of my favorite Azar Habib songs, between tracks that I instantly loved -- and tracks that on first-listen sounded campy, but then developed into undeniable classics.

Track List

1. The Pearl Drop on Your Cheek (translation available)
على خدك حبة لولو
2. Cheeky Cheeky Baba (translation available)
شيكي شيكي بابا عيني عيني يأبا

This song is actually performed by the Lebanese one-hit wonder Adonis Aqel

3. Going round to the "Dayer-dayer" (translation available)
عالداير داير مندار
4. It's Hard For Me to Sleep (translation available)
عازز عليّ النوم
5. When My Beloved Left Me (lyrics available)
انا والحبيب لما هجرني
6. Not Important (translation available)
مش مهم
7. I Love You
حبيتك
8. Pharmacist (translation available)
صيدلي
9. Tell Me (translation available)
قولي
10. I Love Her Eyes (translation available)
بحب عيونها
11. Everything That's Happening (translation available)
كل اللي صاير
12. I'm Gathering My Affection (translation available)
عم لملم حناني
13. Since You're Going to Our Village (translation available)
يا رايح عضيعتنا