Traditional Arabic Pop

Traditional Arabic pop denotes the mainstream Arabic song of the mid-20th century golden age: long-form tarab compositions sung by star vocalists such as *Umm Kulthum*, *Abdel Halim Hafez* and *Fairuz*, built on maqam melody and performed by large orchestras mixing Arabic instruments such as oud, qanun, nay and riq with Western strings. Written by leading poet-composers and often running to concert length, the songs treat love, longing and national pride in classical or refined dialect verse. Distributed by radio, cinema and labels such as #Sono Cairo# and #Voix de l'Orient#, it remains the reference repertoire of Arabic popular music.