Mike's Oud Forums

Is the Zeryab.com Site Down?

John Erlich - 6-10-2014 at 01:13 PM

Hi Folks,

Do anyone know what's up with the Zeryab.com site? I managed to get in yesterday and download music sheets, but can't get in today. (Maybe I surfed in "sideways" yesterday?)

Here is the site: http://www.zeryab.com/

All but 2 or 3 of the links on the index page are broken.

Maybe I'll send Qussai an email...

:(

Peace out,
"Udi" John

Alfaraby - 6-10-2014 at 02:47 PM

Unfortunately, Zeryab site has been abandoned by its founders &/or owners.
As you might have seen, the last update took place back in Oct. 2010 :(

If this was not enough, the greatest catastrophy in the modern Arabic music history occured when ZERYAB MUSIC FORUM went down the drain after 8 years of vivid action. All of a sudden, one gloomy day in Jan. or Feb. 2013, the forum just vanished, off the air, as if it had never been there, along with hundreds of thousands of rare recordings, that had been contributed by half a million fellow members from all over the globe. What a great loss !
Why ?
It's rather a long story . I may tell you sometime if you'd ask.
Did anybody take any action whatsoever regarding this issue in the Arab world ?
NAY !
Did anybody mention a single word in the Arab media ?
NAY !
The poor ladies and gentlemen just didn't have time for such a trivial issue, in the mess of "good" news they stuff us, on hourly basis, from the flourishing "Arab Spring" ....

Ugh :(

Could something similar happen to Mike's Oud Forums ?
Well, I don't know .. but never say never. Beware !

Yours indeed
Alfaraby

John Erlich - 6-10-2014 at 03:21 PM

Marhaba Alfaraby,

I noticed no updates on Zeryab.com since 2010, but I was able to get in just yesterday and download a sama'i music sheet. I wonder if it's possible to get in "sideways."

I'll let folks know if I find a way to access Zeryab archive.

Best,
"Udi" John

Jack_Campin - 6-10-2014 at 03:54 PM

It seems to have been mirrored on archive.org.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140329122201/http://www.zeryab.com/E/i...

John Erlich - 6-10-2014 at 03:55 PM

I am able to access the Arabic music sheets archive from Zeryab.com here: http://www.zeryab.com/a/Arabic_Sheets.htm

John Erlich - 6-10-2014 at 04:52 PM

The mirrored archive version also seems to lack most of the links.

ameer - 6-11-2014 at 03:18 AM

I've always been curious about what happened to the zeryab forum. It's not every day a site just disappears like that.

Lysander - 6-11-2014 at 03:46 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Alfaraby  
Why ?
It's rather a long story . I may tell you sometime if you'd ask.
Did anybody take any action whatsoever regarding this issue in the Arab world ?
NAY !
Did anybody mention a single word in the Arab media ?
NAY !
The poor ladies and gentlemen just didn't have time for such a trivial issue, in the mess of "good" news they stuff us, on hourly basis, from the flourishing "Arab Spring" ....

Ugh :(

Could something similar happen to Mike's Oud Forums ?
Well, I don't know .. but never say never. Beware !

Yours indeed
Alfaraby


Interesting. Is this anything to do with music being viewed as 'haram' by some areas of the Islamic wold?

ALAMI - 6-11-2014 at 05:04 AM

What I heard is that the website was shot down due to a threat from Fayrouz daughter: Rima Rahbani.
Her Lawyer sent a letter to the US located hosting company saying that there are many breaches to the Rahabanis' copyright and Intellectual Property....

The hosting company shut the whole site down and deleted everything and didn't even give a copy of the huge amount of years and years of data to the original owner Ziryab. All this for some Feiruz songs and music sheets that are anyways available everywhere on the Net.

My opinions regarding intellectual property diverge from the mainstream opinion that big companies are pushing into everyone's throat and mind.

Jack_Campin - 6-11-2014 at 08:04 AM

You do realize you have to use the Wayback Machine's navigation bar at the top to follow links? I haven't found one that doesn't work.

(Haven't found any Rahbani/Fairouz, either).

suz_i_dil - 6-11-2014 at 12:55 PM

if it is really what you heard Alami it is a real shame her influence for a few sheets findable everywhere deprive all of us of such a ressource.
I remember, one among many others, pages of thread from Ali Ibrahim, an oud maker who seems to have let down oud making. Days and days of work we choose to share publicly, a huge ressource about luthery, just vanished...
A shame

John Erlich - 6-11-2014 at 01:46 PM

Quote: Originally posted by ALAMI  
All this for some Feiruz songs and music sheets that are anyways available everywhere on the Net.


I wouldn't want to name sites and risk getting anyone in trouble, but, after Abdel Halim's, Fairuz' music sheets are the most available on the internet. Go figure!

ameer - 6-11-2014 at 02:07 PM

That would explain why sama3y.net and others removed their Fairuz section. That's too bad, I lost a few of my more obscure Fairuz recordings in a hard drive crash.

John Erlich - 6-11-2014 at 08:22 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jack_Campin  
You do realize you have to use the Wayback Machine's navigation bar at the top to follow links? I haven't found one that doesn't work.

(Haven't found any Rahbani/Fairouz, either).

Thanks! It's a strange setup, but, yes, I get it and it seems to work.

Alfaraby - 6-12-2014 at 03:35 PM

Alami dear
You're right. Miss Rima Rahbany, Fairouz's daughter, stood behind the conspiracy.
Zeryab's owner just gave up the legal battle against the host because they could not afford it. The American host confiscated all the files, not only Fairouz's, including 6000 super rare old records starting from 1896.
I offered my help by all means to reverse this decision, including hosting the forum where no Rahbany nor American can reach, but the owners said: no thanks. It's over. We can't finance this war and no one wanted to help, so why the f.. should we go on ?
AMAR (Arabic Music Archiving) of Lebanon started to build a new data base for the first Arabian songs after the gramophone invaded Egypt back in 1905. This archive shall be away from the reach of any American host, unless the US troops decide to concur Qurnet Alhamra.

Good luck dear friend Kamal Qassar, and thank you for the great job.

Yours indeed
Alfaraby

ALAMI - 6-13-2014 at 01:11 AM

Thanks Al Faraby for the infos and the insights. The Rahabanis are becoming more greedy managers and less artists, including the (maybe former) genius Ziad.

This story is a shame... In this Middle East where ignorance, violence and backwardness are gaining terrain every day, where dictators, military and right wing racists are wining elections...in the middle of all this: a guy like Ziryab (Ahmad) maintaining a site -in Arabic- with music sheets and a lot of musical knowledge is more of a hero to me.

The work of Kamal Qassar and the AMAR foundation is really great, let's hope that no troop would reach Qornet Al Hamra :)

Alfaraby - 6-14-2014 at 02:39 PM

Here's a free translation into English of a single news item released about this issue in a local site called Bokra.net (tomorrow) on 24/02/2013 :


Zeryab Musical Forum was Shot Down


"Zeryab Musical Forum" (Kuwait, since 2005) was recently shut (shot) down after Miss Rima Rahbani, Fairuz's daughter, filed a complaint to the host server, claiming a breach of copyrights of her parents' works on the forum pages, with no legal permission whatsoever from her. The American hosting server proceeded to close the Forum as a whole, rejecting to release the files uploaded to the forum over the years, even those that have nothing to do with Mrs. Fairuz or Rahbani Brothers.

The Forum instituted a special section for Fairouz from the time she began to sing in the early fifties till the latest releases, including songs that have never been released. Arab radio stations, and the Syrian in particular, used to broadcast Fairuz's songs, recorded in their studios, and fans from all over the Arab world recorded them and kept them hidden in their deawers until the internet era which facilitated the exchange of their recordings with other fans throughout the world.

Zeryab had a leading role in providing music lovers with Eastern classical recordings and introducing Arab masterpieces of the 19th century to the younger generation.

In an interview with with Mr.Al- Salhy the owner of the Forum who is currently London located, he said that all the efforts made since the end of last year for releasing the files of the Forum, which has nothing to do with Rahbany at all, have failed against the insisting of the American company to confiscate all the files and posts without exception. According to Al-Salhy, the battle against this decision needs finance to engage in a legal battle but he can not afford it alone unless efforts of all fellow members are concerted in this war, but nothing as such is really happening. He added that closing the Forum is the largest musical disaster in the Arab world since internet has been launched, and is another nail in the coffin of authentic Arabic music.

Another forum (Sama3y – Tunis & Egypt) just eliminated the whole Fairouz's section with thousands of rare recordings, after having apparently received a similar ultimatum from Miss Rima Rahbany &/or from the American host.

Yours indeed
Alfaraby

Jack_Campin - 7-28-2016 at 03:20 PM

Any progress over this?

Alfaraby - 7-28-2016 at 04:26 PM

This forum has been officially declared Dead :(
Final !
Sama3y.net is still alive and active
God bless

Yours indeed
Alfaraby