{"id":30484,"date":"2014-01-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/30484\/five-unique-middle-eastern-covers-of-popular-songs"},"modified":"2014-01-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T00:00:00","slug":"five-unique-middle-eastern-covers-of-popular-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/30484\/five-unique-middle-eastern-covers-of-popular-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Unique Middle Eastern Covers of Popular Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"What makes for a good cover song?  Appropriation and re-contextualization, for one. A good cover must also have its own twist, respect (and sometimes transcend) the original, and convey the same emotions (or at least attempt to).<br \/>  <br \/>  Here we list some of our favorite Middle-Eastern-infused covers of popular songs. <br \/>  <br \/>  <b><big><big>1. This Cover of Radiohead&#8217;s &#8220;Karma Police&#8221; <\/big><\/big><\/b><br \/>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"490\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t7Xt4ObtKas\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>  <br \/>  <br \/>  Tel Aviv-based musicians Rotem Shefy (vocalist) and Leat Sabbah (cellist\/arranger) describe this oud-infused cover of Radiohead&#8217;s 1997 hit as their &#8220;very own Middle-Eastern version.&#8221; Possible political connotations aside (there was some outcry over cultural appropriation when the video was released in May of this year), the incredible oud solo around the 2-minute mark and Shefy&#8217;s beautiful vocals alone justify the song&#8217;s inclusion on this list.<br \/>  <br \/>  <b><big><big>2. This Cover of Whitney Houston&#8217;s &#8220;I will Always Love You&#8221; <\/big><\/big><\/b><br \/>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"490\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qKkFNHLATh8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>  <br \/>  <br \/>  Featured on the list more for the incongruity of its use than its quality. Listen to this: to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis in 2002, then-leader Saddam Hussein chose as his anthem &#8211; in perhaps the most wonderful (if nonsensical) choice of a campaign song in political history\u2026 Whitney Houston&#8217;s version of &#8220;I Will Always Love You&#8221; (originally written by Dolly Parton). Syrian pop star Mayyada Bselees&#8217;s Arabic cover of the soaring ballad was broadcast on Iraq&#8217;s three government-controlled TV stations during election season. Yikes. Whether or not the soon-to-be-forcibly deposed Hussein knew it was a breakup song will forever remain a mystery.<br \/>  <br \/>  <b><big><big>3. This Cover of Lorde&#8217;s &#8220;Royals&#8221; <\/big><\/big><\/b><br \/>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"490\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hg8lRpRcAi0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>  <br \/>  <br \/>  This entry doesn&#8217;t really have a distinct Arabic touch, but it&#8217;s one of the many remarkable (and incredibly fun) YouTube covers by Alaa Wardi, an Iranian musician living in Riyadh. His music features a cappella singing, usually with human rhythmic accompaniment, including beat-boxing. You may know him from his cover of a Bob Marley classic renamed &#8220;No Woman, No Drive&#8221; (which he produced), meant as a satirical comment on the Saudi Arabian ban on women drivers and featuring Saudi comedians Higham Fageeh and Fahad Albutairi. It was a major YouTube hit and made the rounds on social media last month, putting Wardi on many a radar.<br \/>  <br \/>  <b><big><big>4. This Cover of The Clash&#8217;s &#8220;Rock the Casbah&#8221;  <\/big><\/big><\/b><br \/>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"490\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7DbFYsi9iSg\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>  <br \/>  <br \/>  An obvious pick. Rachid Taha released this Arabic-sung cover of Rock the Casbah (renamed Rock El Casbah) back in 2004. An Algerian ra\u00ef singer reclaiming the Clash&#8217;s potshot at Arab nations who ban Western music\u2026 pretty irresistible stuff. In 2011, The Guardian selected it as one of the top 50 cover songs of all time.<br \/>  <br \/>  <b><big><big>5. This Cover of The Beatles&#8217;s &#8220;Yesterday&#8221;<\/big><\/big><\/b><br \/>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"490\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/erFIqlxL0S8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>  <br \/>  <br \/>  George Mgrdichian was a jazz clarinetist born in the United States to Armenian parents. Incidentally, he was also a virtuoso on the oud, which he helped introduce to American audiences (particularly the fretless, 11-string Turkish variety that he usually played). His stripped version of one of the most covered songs of all time (and a Beatles favorite) really holds its own, and is well worth a listen (or ten).<br \/>  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What makes for a good cover song?  Appropriation and re-contextualization, for one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":446767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-30484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"authorship":[173],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five Unique Middle Eastern Covers of Popular Songs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What makes for a good cover song? 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