Amar (3)
Foundation for Arab Music Archiving & Research (AMAR) is a Lebanese organization, founded in 2009 to preserve and disseminate traditional Arab music, and based in Kornet el-Hamra, Metn, Lebanon. AMAR has one of the largest known collections of Egyptian/Syro-Lebanese Arab music from 1903 to the 1930s (over 7000 records), as well as 6000+ hours of reel-to-reel studio master tapes. This archive is located in a state-of-the art studio, specifically designed for digitization and conservation. The Foundation aims to expand its archive by acquiring, classifying and digitizing vintage and rare records, using the latest high-definition audio formats and scientific methodology. AMAR is selecting and supporting various researchers, as well as organizing concerts, public lectures, seminars and conferences.
Primarily focused on the Nahda era, which started in 1903 and continued throughout 1935, AMAR is working to preserve vocal and instrumental works that shaped this period:
• voices overshadowed by the overwhelming popularity of Oum Kalthoum, such as Mari Jubran, Laure Daccache, Fathiya Ahmad, and Nadra Amîn
• forgotten great masters: Mohammed al-ʾĀšiq, Mohyi al-dîn Ba’Ayûn, Mitri al Murr, Muhammed al-Qubbanjî
• studio recordings and live concerts of stars, including Saleh ̕Abd al-Hay, Abbas al-Balidi, and Mohamed Khayri.
The Foundation is also exploring the unknown heritage of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, the Gulf and the Maghreb, music of the Syriac, Kurdish, Coptic and other local ethnic groups, as well as the living tradition of the Sufi groups, and the great reciters of the Koran.