طَرَب
From the mountain villages to the theatres of Beirut, the voices that fill our dining room every evening.
Start listeningWhat is tarab?
Tarab is the Arabic word for the deep emotion, a kind of joyful rapture, that great music stirs in its listeners. It is why an audience sighs, calls out “Allah!” and asks the singer to repeat a line just one more time.
In Lebanon, tarab lives alongside the folk songs of the mountains, the poetry of zajal and the stamping rhythm of the dabke. Over a long Lebanese meal, music is never in the background. It is part of the table.
Our playlist
The legends
فيروز
“Neighbour of the Moon” · born 1934
Born Nouhad Haddad in Beirut, Fairuz is the most beloved voice of the Arab world. With the Rahbani Brothers she created the songs and musical plays that became the soundtrack of Lebanon, and many families still start their morning with her.
وديع الصافي
“The Voice of Lebanon” · 1921-2013
A master of the mawwal, the long improvised vocal line, Wadih El Safi carried the folk songs of the Lebanese mountains to stages around the world, with a voice that could fill a valley.
صباح
“Al Shahroura”, the songbird · 1927-2014
Singer, actress and icon of glamour, Sabah recorded thousands of songs and starred in dozens of films. Her joyful songs about Lebanon are still sung at every wedding and party.
نصري شمس الدين
Star of the Rahbani stage · 1927-1983
A favourite of the Rahbani musical theatre, Nasri Shamseddine often sang alongside Fairuz. His warm, playful village songs capture the spirit of Lebanese mountain life.
The instruments
The takht is the traditional Arabic ensemble: a small group of master musicians, each instrument with its own voice.
The pear-shaped, fretless lute at the heart of Arabic music. Warm, deep and endlessly expressive.
A trapezoid zither laid across the lap, its many strings plucked with picks for shimmering, rippling melodies.
An end-blown reed flute, one of the oldest instruments still played. Breathy, haunting and full of longing.
The goblet-shaped drum whose crisp rhythms keep the dancers moving and the whole room clapping along.
دبكة
At Lebanese weddings and festivals, dancers link arms in a line and stamp out the rhythm together, led by a dancer twirling a handkerchief. It is joy you can feel through the floor.