Ammar el Shiriey – Ya leil /

The superproducer Timbaland loved to use Arabic samples in his older Hip-hop and R’n’B songs. Some of his best known tracks are Jay-Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’ and Aaliyah’s ‘Don’t know what to tell ya’. These samples where from the legendary Arabic singers Abdel Halim Hafez and Warda.

While doing some cassette digging, I came across a song that sounded fimiliar to my ears but I didn’t recall where I heard it before. The instrumental interpretation of Farid el Atrache’s ‘Ya Leil yama feik sahara’  was doen by the blind genious synth and oud composer called Ammar el Shiriey. After a while I remembered where I heard it before, I was on the Timbaland and Magoo album that got me dancing and studying through my high school years. The song is called ‘Drop’ and features Fat Man Scoop. As you will hear the song samples the first melodyline from Ammar’s tune, and a part of the drum sample.