Singer, actor, and composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab (1902-1991) is commonly considered "the father of modern Egyptian song." After a visit to Paris, he revolutionized the film industry by introducing the genre "musical film" to the Arabic world, the movie The White Rose in which he starred broke all records and to this day is frequently presented in Cairo's cinemas. But in 1950, Wahab left the film industry to focus on singing and composing -- he wrote over 1800 songs (among others for Umm Kalthoum, an iconic artist in the Arabic music in her own right) that were deeply rooted in classical Arabic music but also laid the foundation for a new era of Egyptian music as Wahab was open to Western elements such as waltz rhythms or even rock n' roll in Abdel Halim Hafez's song "Ya Albi Ya Khali". He also composed several national anthems (Tunisia, Oman, Libya, United Arabic Emirates) and re-composed the Egyptian national anthem "Belady Belady Belady", based on the original by Sayed Darwish. Wahab received several decorations of Arabic states, and at his death in 1991, Egypt honored its famous son with a huge military funeral at the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo, the six-horse carriage procession carrying his coffin was actually led by the prime and foreign ministers, followed by the ministers of defense, interior and culture.

Simon Shaheen (born 1955) is the perfect choice for Wahab's compositions. Born into a family of gifted musicians, he learned playing the oud at the age of five and the violin shortly thereafter. He earned degrees in Arabic literature and music performance at the Tel Aviv University, and later pursued further studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and after his emigration to the USA (in 1980) at the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. Shaheen lives in New York where he founded the Near Eastern Music Ensemble and Qantara. He also has been organizing the Annual Arab Festival of Arts called Mahrajan al-Fan since 1994. His work incorporates and reflects a legacy of Arabic music, while it forges ahead to new frontiers, embracing many different styles in the process. Shaheen's biggest success was the Qantara album Blue Flame (2001) which has been nominated for eleven Grammy Awards. Produced by Bill Laswell, remastered for vinyl at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.