Viral Video Shows Evolution of Arabic Music From 1900s to Today

Saudi Iranian a capella artist Alaa Wardi got together with music platform Anghami to create the latest viral video that’s breaking the internet in the Middle East. With 42 hit songs, Wardi goes through the history of Arabic music dating back to before the 1900s until today.

Starting off with “Lamma Bada Yatathanna,” a muwashah song, which is a form of classical Arabic music dating back to medieval times, Wardi moves on to the Egyptian popular music icons Sayyid Darwish and Umm Kulthum as well as Layla Murad in songs representing the 1930s and 1940s.

Continuing on the Egyptian track, for the 1950s and 1960s Wardi impersonates prominent singers Abdel Halim Hafez and Mohamed Abdel Wahhab.

Covering tunes by famed Saudi Arabian singer Talal Maddah and Lebanese superstar Fairouz in the 1970s and 1980s, Wardi transitions into the 1990s with Amr Diab’s “Habiby Ya Nour El Ayn” and “Didi” by Algerian Cheb Khaled.

The 1990s also sees Wardi perform songs by Lebanese singer Elissa and by the turn of the millennium two other Lebanese stars, Haifa Wehbe and Nancy Ajram, enter.

Going through songs by Saber El Robaey, Hakim and Hussein al-Jassmi, he finally arrives at the 2015 superhit “Enta Moellem” by Moroccan artist Saad Lamjarred.

With not only presenting the music of each decade, Alaa Wardi also changes his outfit (except for his jeans!) to portray the fashion of the time, creating a fun collage of the development of Arabic music in the last century.

If you’re visiting from Facebook and the video did not load above, click here to watch it on YouTube.