Why did Mohamed Abdel Wahab not record the last verse of the poem “Ya Jarat Al Wadi”?
May 3rd was the twenty-fourth anniversary of the passing of the musician of generations (Mohamed Abdel Wahab), and these days the Arab audience that lived with Mohamed Abdel Wahab misses this exceptional artistic value.
The special and long friendship that brought together my father, Badih Serbey, and the musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab allowed me to meet him often, whether in Cairo or Paris, where he used to spend his summer vacation every year at the Intercontinental Hotel. There I had many meetings with him, and I remember one time I was with my father in the Bonaparte Suite, where the musician usually stayed, and my father was conducting a conversation with him to publish in the “Street of Stars.”
After the dialogue and the recording machine stopped, I found the musician asking my father a lot about the meetings that were held in Taif between the Lebanese leaders that led to the “Taif Agreement” , ending the Lebanese war that had lasted for many years.
When the Taif Agreement was announced, I saw the musician happy and pleased, so I asked him about the secret behind that, and he said to me: “With the end of the war, we will spend the summer in Lebanon next summer, God willing. Lebanon is my most beautiful summer resort, as it contains the most beautiful memories of my life that I lived in this beautiful, hospitable country.”
And about his Lebanese memories, he said:
“My visits to Lebanon began with the Prince of Poets Ahmed Shawqi, and we used to spend the summer at the “Shaheen” Hotel in the summer resort of “Aley”. At the same time, Dr. Taha Hussein, the dean of Arabic literature, was staying at the “Tanios” Hotel, and the satirical writer Fikri Abaza would often come with us, but he preferred to spend the summer in “Bikfaya” and “Broumana”. How I miss the “Arabi” restaurant in Zahle, and may God bless the days when I used to visit it with the Prince of Poets Ahmed Shawqi, where the poem “Ya Jarat Al Wadi” was born. I remember when I recorded the song on a stone record, the size of the second side of the record did not fit the last verse of the poem, which is “And I passed by the gardens, a singing hill, and I used to meet you in front of it”, so I did not record this verse, but I returned this verse in particular to the poem, when the song was recorded in Lebanon by the singer Fairuz.”
On the anniversary of his passing, we know how much we have lost with the passing of the musician of generations, Mohamed Abdel Wahab. He was an artistic value that enriched the Arab artistic heritage with hundreds of masterpieces, and his melodies and artistic works will continue to fill the ears and reside in the hearts and souls of the Arab public.