Big pimpin' | Adaweya in London (1976)

 

While in England's capital, Ahmed experiences one of the biggest highs and bitter lows of his early career.

Ahmed's 1976 opens with a residency at the Omar Khayyam in London. London may seem like an odd choice for him to have visited that year, but according to this 1976 Guardian article by David Hirst, the city was teeming with Arab visitors and immigrants hungry for entertainment. (A post by Asmahan of London about her 1977 visit echoes this.)

The Omar Khayyam in it original building on Cannon Street.
It later moved to Regent.

"The Arab visitors," Hirst writes, "now almost exclusively male and wearing Western dress, are likely to head for a nightclub or a casino. If it is Crockford's to which they may have been drawn by sumptuous advertisements in Arabic magazines, they can retire to an 'Arab room' with Egyptian hostesses in attendance. If it is to the Omar Khayyam nightclub, they will find an ambience, decor, floorshow, staff, and clientele so completely Oriental -- Arabic, Persian and Turkish -- that it must come as a surprise, upon re-emergence in the small hours, to rediscover that this is Regent Street, London."

While in the English capital, Ahmed experiences one of the biggest highs and bitter lows of his early career. As Andrew Simon recounts, Abdel Halim Hafez, the Dark Nightingale himself, "offered Adawiya a five-year recording deal [at Sawt al-Fann]." But, as Simon notes, "shortly thereafter, Adawiya's label [Sout El Hob], eager to retain him, countered Abd al-Halim's terms by raising its star's salary to 500 [Egyptian pounds] per song in addition to a cut of the price of his recordings."

This probably meant less to Ahmed than what happens next: Hafez joins Ahmed onstage for a version of "El Sah El Dah Embo" and, as Ahmed later recalls, the legendary singer listens while Ahmed sings Hafez's "Khosara Khosara," a track that would become well-known decades later in the west when Jay-Z samples it for "Big Pimpin'."

It's a fleeting high. Andrew Simon again: "Less than two weeks after news of Sawt al-Fann's proposal broke, Ruz al-Yusuf printed a picture of Abd al-Halim gleefully singing 'al-Sah al-Dah Ambu' alongside Adawiya at a party. The photo caused a stir. Arabic periodicals reprinted it and writers claimed the scene evidenced Abd al-Halim's approval of Adawiya's 'vulgar' art. In response to this charge, Abd al-Halim reportedly denied the incident ever took place."

Despite this devastating slight, Ahmed continues to speak well of Hafez for decades after the singer's passing in London a mere year later.

There are two distinct versions of Adaweya in London; the original 1976 cassette packs in seven tracks and nearly an hour of music whereas a later, likely 1990s cassette reissue (simply titled In London) slims it down to 18 minutes per side, or about what you'd expect from a vinyl LP. The reissue switches the order of "Ya Layl Ya Basha" and "Ya Einak Ya Gabayrak," renames the first "Mawawil Folkoria" track "Mawawil Shaabia," and drops the second "Mawawil Folkloria" and the final super-freaky instrumental, "Egypt Nights," which sounds suspiciously like Hany Mehanna, who was also in London in the mid-1970s,

These are not, as the cassette titles suggest, live tracks. Presumably they are recorded somewhere in London, although I haven't managed to track down any information as to where, really, this was recorded. Hassan Abu Itam (lyrics) and Mohamed Asfour (music) wrote most of these tracks, except for Little Up, which is a partially English-language reprise of  "Haba Fouk We Haba Taht" (Mohamad al-Masri).

Fair warning: These two versions sound very different, with tracks from the OG version a bit slower, murkier, and with more oomph to the lower frequencies. The reissue is brighter if thinner sounding and slightly faster-paced. 

Side A of the OG 1976 version

(Listen to "Little Up")

(Listen to "Ya Layl Ya Basha")

(Listen to "Ya Einak Ya Gabayrak")

(Listen to "Mawawil Folkloria (1)")

Side B of the OG 1976 version

(Listen to "Edeelo Edy")

(Listen to "Mawawil Folkloria (2)")

(Listen to "Egypt Night")

The 1990s reissue

(Listen to "Little Up")

(Listen to "Ya Einak Ya Gabayrak")

(Listen to "Ya Layl Ya Basha")

(Listen to "Mawawil Shaabia")

(Listen to "Edeelo Edy")