On Thursday, the star of the Syrian artist Noor Muhanna shined in a beautiful and exceptional art concert within the activities of the 56th edition of the Carthage International Festival in Tunisia.
After a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus, the rapture, suffering and music of One Thousand and One Nights were lived out by Carthage festival audiences thirsty for original art.
Noor Muhanna sang al-Qudut al-Halabi, al-Mawwal and tarab songs including “Raqq al-Zaman”, “Wahhadni”, “I am sending a reply” and “Kamred al-Hope” and she dazzled the audience. “If the Fire for Gwatni Gwatak” and “Yama” with two Tunisian songs by the late Tunisian artist Kamis Dernan and “Yama”. Oh dear. “Muhanna’s strong Tarab voice bursts through the Roman theater at Carthage, as if sending her audience back to the nobles. and grandeur of this archeological building.
There were long queues on the road to the Roman Theater in Carthage, as the runways were packed with crowds that had gathered since early morning.
Noor Muhanna, who has lived in Tunisia for many years, is well-known among Tunisians for the sweetness of her voice, her melancholy, her artistic technique and her non-entanglement in the trap of commercial art.
For more than two hours, Noor Muhanna, with great skill and talent, presented a bouquet of songs of Syrian and Arabic tradition in a concert titled Tarab, High and Pleasure.
Renewal of artistic heritage
Syrian artist Noor Muhanna said that Tunisian audiences are refined audiences who love tarab art and yearn for the best.
In his statements to “Al-Ain Al-Akbar”, he affirmed that he was the artist who presented the artistic tradition and was an extension of the dead artists, and Nur Muhanna was the only one left, explaining that he had more than 300 songs. Egyptian and Aleppo Tradition from Muhammad Abdul Muttalib, Saba Fakhri, Melhem Barakat and others.
“I can’t go back to Syria,” he said, pointing out that he’s been living outside Syria for 12 years and is deeply homesick for his country, forced by circumstances he won’t speak out about.
He explained that he is preparing technical work on Syria, without giving details about it.
He confirmed that Omar al-Batsh, the Aleppo artist who sings the muwashahad, was the son of the artistically rich country of Aleppo, where the artist Muhammad Abdel Wahhab had visited at the time. Grandpa Basboosa sells, their voices are beautiful, and they gave birth to great artists with strong voices like Mayada al-Hanawi, Sabri al-Mudal and Saba Fakhri.”
Muhanna believes that Tunisia is also full of beautiful voices, but it has not found its luck, calling on the Tunisian media to re-examine these voices and support their countrymen.
Regarding his artistic innovation, Muhanna said that he was one of the sons of the renewal of songs and the old tradition: “As for the new, composers have no melody for Noor Muhanna’s voice.”
Carthage presents the festival
The audience of the Carthage festival will shake hands with a group of Arab and foreign artists in this session, as well as musical and theatrical performances, offering a variety of musical tastes from Tarab, classical, mystic, rap and world music.
The festival will continue until August 20 with 33 performances including 15 Tunisian concerts, 10 Arab concerts and 8 foreign ones. Egyptian artist Sherin Abdel Wahab will attend the closing ceremony in collaboration with Tunisian-Egyptian Culture 2022.
Upcoming performances include Tunisian rapper “Baldi”, Syrian singer Noor Muhanna, Lebanese Ragheb Alama, Tunisian Saber Al-Rubai and Ziad Garza. Tunisian Noor and Salim Arjun will be participating.
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