IBRAHIM AL-MĀS
Ibrahim Al-Mās (sometimes spelled ''al-Mass'') was another major singer and 'ud player. Son of Muhammad Al-Mās who played the qanbus, Ibrahim took up the 'ud and recorded between 150 and 200 songs according to Jean Lambert.
Here we have another tape probably commercial but without any information; only the titles of the songs are mentionned. The violin appears on some tracks.
More information about him :
Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Mass: Master Yemeni Singer by Saleh Abdulbaqi, musician
Yemeni master singers or
sheikhs, as they were known then, played a major role in enriching the
Yemeni artistic movement. One of the greatest singers in Yemen’s
artistic history is Sheikh Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Mass.
Sheikh Ibrahim was born in Aden where he received his public
education. After finishing his study, he worked in the public sector
until he passed away in 1966. His father who died in 1953, was a famous
singer whose songs were recorded on gramophone records. He descended
from a tribe in Shibam, Kawkaban in Northern Yemen. Because singing was
forbidden by the Imam in pre-revolutionary days, Mohammed Al-Mass and
other singers moved to Aden. That made his house a gathering place for
some of Yemen’s outstanding singers. Mohammed Al-Attab was one of those
who frequently visited Al-Mass’s house bringing with him different
traditional songs.
Ibrahim Al-Mass, still a little boy, was brought up in such
atmosphere that he very much loved. That created in him a deep desire to
learn how to play the lute. His father started to teach him to play the
lute as well as the principles and methods of Yemeni traditional
singing. In addition, the boy listened to some Egyptian singers like
Salamah Hijazi, Sayed Darweesh and Mohammed Abdulwahab. He recorded
Hijazi’s song Mata’a Hayatak (enjoy your life) which was mentioned in
Dr. Mohammed Fadhel’s book about Hijazi’s life and works.
Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Mass aimed to maintain the originality of the
Yemeni traditional song. Dr. Mohammed Abdu Ghanim wrote: ‘Sheikh Ibrahim
Al-Mass was the one who combined the songs of Al-Madaheen (eulogists)
and the Sanaani songs in his recorded songs. A common mistake is that
those songs were attributed to the Tihami lyricist Jaber Rizq.’
Thus, Al-Mass made the greatest favor to the Yemeni song heritage in
performing Al-Madaheen’s songs. Ibrahim Al-Mass rebelled against the
high-class society’s viewpoint concerning the traditional arts. They
regarded those arts as backward practices, a concept Al-Mass would never
accept.
As Mr. Fahmi Abdullateef describes them in his book “Styles
of Traditional Arts,” Al-Madaheen (eulogists) had very distinguished
artistic practices. They depended totally on their personally acquired
artistic skills in playing the tambourine, their only instrument. The
tambourine is used to regulate and control the rhythm of a musical
troupe’s. performance. Arab people used the tambourine in announcing
eulogies and elegies. Some mystics still use it in their religious
ceremonies.
Al-Mass did not take singing as a profession from the beginning,
though he was quite famous as a good singer. He started by singing in
family and friends’ gatherings. As the breadwinner for a 10-member
family, he finally agreed to record his songs on disks. According to
Hajj Awadh Al-Ajami, Ibrahim Al-Mass was a Yemeni singer who gained
great popularity all over Yemen and the Arab Peninsula.
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