Sabri Moudallal

Sabri Moudallal was born in the Al-Jalloum neighborhood in Aleppo in 1918. He grew up in a musical environment, attending Sufi Zikr ceremonies with his father, who also sent him to Qur'anic school to memorize the Qur'an and study Quranic recitation. He learned the style and forms of classical Arabic music from Omar al-Batsh, one of the greatest masters of the time. He became a muezzin at the Great Mosque of Aleppo and sang on Syrian radio for the first time in 1949. He founded a religious music ensemble with Hassan Haffar in 1954. His repertoire consisted primarily of sacred Islamic music, especially the muwashshah, an old Andalusian poetic form. He also performed secular music and was the original performer of several well-known Syrian songs, such as Ib'atli Jawab. He was influenced by the modern Egyptian composers, such as Sayyid Darwish and Mohammed Abdel Wahab, which gave his music a new color that did not previously exist in sacred music. He played a central role in popularizing the traditional musical style of Aleppo throughout Syria and internationally, along with his younger and more popular contemporary, Sabah Fakhri. He died in Aleppo in August 2006, leaving behind many recordings and compositions that are considered masterpieces of Syrian music.