Marcel Khalife - The Bridge, Ode to a Homeland, Ahmad Al-Arabi, Promises of the Storm

Marcel Khalife, The Bridge

Tracks:
1. The Bridge
2. The Returnee
3. Departure of the Venders
4. The Violins
5. Madonna
6. The Kafiyyas
7. Beirut Our Star
8. Invade
9. The Qanoun Player

Marcel Khalife, Ode to a Homeland

1. Ode to a Homeland
2. You Were on My Mind
3. My Home
4. Anthem of Bread and Roses
5. Childhood
6. Afraid of the Moon
7. Dance of the Gypsies
8. Praying for Him

Marcel Khalife, Ahmad Al Arabi

1.Hands of thyme and stone
2.Let The Siege Come
3.The Wedding
4.Ahmad Emerges From the Ancient Wounds
5.I am Arab Ahmad
6.My Song
7.Ahmad Counts His Limbs
8.Ahmad Awaits
9.Resist
10.Among Small
11.Haifa Started Here
12.Rise to Your Dream
13.Rise
14.We shall remain
15.Ahmad the refugee camp
16.Ahmad the wind
17.Go Deep
18.You Will Die Near My Blood
19.Oh Arab Ahmad
20.Curves Of Autumn

21.Ahmad My Brother

Marcel Khalife, Promises of the Storm

1. Promises of the Storm
2. Passport
3. Mother
4. Rita
5. Birds of the Galilee

MARCEL KHALIFE:

Marcel Khalifé was born in 1950 in Amchit, Lebanon, and studied the oud (the Arabic lute) at the Beirut National conservatory. In 1976, Marcel Khalifé formed Al Mayadeen Ensemble, and the band's notoriety went well beyond Lebanon as it began a lifelong far-reaching musical journey, performing in the Middle East, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and Japan.

Khalifé’s compositions have been performed by several orchestras, most notably the Kiev Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Boulogne Billancourt Orchestra, and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.

Marcel Khalifé is a composer who is deeply attached to the text on which he relies. In his association with great contemporary Arab poets, particularly Palestinian poet par excellence, Mahmoud Darwish, he seeks to renew the character of the Arabic song, to break its stereotypes, and to advance the culture of the society that surrounds it.

Khalifé is sometimes called "the Bob Dylan of the Middle East." His numerous fans sing along to every song. His intense and emotional songs seem to have a power beyond mere words and music.

On his journey, Marcel Khalifé invents and creates avant garde music, a novel world of sounds, freed of all pre-established rules. This language elevates him to the level of an ambassador of his own culture and to the vanguard of Near Eastern music in search of innovators.

“Freedom, democracy and bread are the things we lack in our region.”
- Marcel Khalifé

"I consider the music of Marcel Khalifé one of the few cultural phenomena contributing to [Arab] spiritual revival."
- Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish

The Bridge (1983)
Any bridge, in Arabic communication, most often signifies "the bridge back to the Palestinian homeland."

Ode to a Homeland (1990)
Songs of nationalism - the original Arabic title "Tasbahouna Ala Watan" twists the traditional "good night" (literally, in Arabic, "may you wake up feeling well"), to come up with "may you wake up with a homeland."

Ahmad Al Arabi
This CD combines the lyrics of renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish with the music of Marcel Khalife. It is about a young man, Ahmad the Arab, and his struggle to return to his Palestinian homeland.

"Mahmoud Darwich and Marcel Khalife were bound to meet one day, not only because of the eternal marriage between music and poetry, but also because of their common political ideology. They simply match."
- Fawwaz, on Amazon reviews

Promises of the Storm
This is Marcel Khalife's debut lyrical album. This work endeared him to millions in the Arab world. It contains some of Marcel's most popular songs, such as Rita and Oummi (Mother), among others.

Promises of the Storm was first released in 1976, and then on CD in 1999, completely re-recorded and rearranged, while maintaining the soul and the spirit of the original work.