May Hariri - Habibi Inta

It's hard to argue the fact that May Hariri got a head start on her musical career thanks to ex-husband Melhem Barakat. Whether her second album, Habibi Inta, was her best may be an arguable point, but it's definitely this listener's favorite. It's no secret that May's voice is limited, but she chose songs that sounded good and she didn't overstretch her voice. The album is dominated by Lebanese duo Haitham Zayyad and Tony Saba who composed/arranged Hasan, Fallaha, Ya Bta' El Gharam, and Dena. Habibi Inta and Hamama Beida are updated versions of Melhem Barakat's classics, and Tony Saba, responsible for updating Sabah's Yana Yana also, makes the arrangement more dynamic. Hasan is a fun, upbeat song with the simple things that make traditional Arabic pop good: a good beat, organic strings, and smart use of synths. Fallaha, the album's first single, has more great arrangment from Tony Saba. The song is very traditional, with a strong beat and a great string and mizmar intro. Ya Bta' El Gharam, which preceded the release of the album, takes a similar tone as Hasan in terms of Hasan, but with mizmar a some dance synths thrown around. La Tnamou is a cover of Ziynet Sali's Cikolata (which was a remake itself!). Einak Menni and Ma' Min are credited to Jean Saliba. The latter was first released on her debut album, but this is the video version (which added Urdu lyrics). The album ends with Dena, another cheesy Khaliji by Lebanese musicians, that the album could have done without! Overall, the formula followed here was a successful one, and May should have stuck to it, instead of the unfortunate trainwreck that was her 2008 album.



1. Hasan
2. Fallaha
3. Ya Bta' El Gharam
4. Habibi Inta
5. La Tnamou
6. Hama Beida
7. Einak Menni
8. Ma' Min
9. Dena

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