2006: The Comeback With "E'tazalt El Gharam"
After almost 8 years without releasing an album, Majida’s fans were surprised by Etazalet El Gharam (I Quit Love) which spoke to a younger audience. The album was released in 2006 under the ‘’Good News 4 Music’’ productions. It peaked the top rankings in the charts from the release day and stayed top 1 several weeks; it was also seen in the top 20 after for years from its release. The work is still selling well after six years, and a new copy by EMI Music is now selling out after the previous label was sold out. New styles, new orchestration, simpler lyrics and the large variety in music were remarkable in this work in which Majida showed a youthful spirit in her songs.
The title song was written by Noha Najem, poem reviewed by Nizar Francis and composed by Melhem Barakat. It made a huge success across the Arab world and it made the top rankings on Arabic radio stations and televisions from its release date, it also had a two minutes introduction arranged by Jean-Marie Riachi who put a lot of saxophones and strings into it which gave it a jazzy, rather oriental, style. It was later released as a video clip directed by Nadine Labaky with dancers from the Caracalla Dance Theatre by Elissar Caralla’s choreography. Fisrt track titled "Ouhebouka Jeddan" (I Love You So Much) was taken from Nizar Qabbani’s poetry and composed by Marwan Khoury. The song spoke more to the youth with frequent uses of percussions and drums which showed a nice touch of Majida’s new in this work. The song ends with an 18 seconds breath (10 flat seconds on A4) and extends from the low A3 to the E5.
"Habibi" (My Beloved) is the second track in the album. The song is written by Noha Najem and reviewed by Nizar Francis, too. Jean-Marie Riachi arranged this track with a new adaptation of Tomaso Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor, previously interpreted by many well-known artists such as Lara Fabian (Belgian-Italian international singer) and Russian pop opera singer/songwriter Vitas. Majida showed a high sensitivity while performing this song especially in a concert held in Doha, Qatar in 2006 which was the first broadcasted concert after the album release. "Habibi" extends from the low G#3 with ease in high notes on the F5. After a short period, it was mixed as a clip to commemorate the late Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki with scenes from his movies.
Songs like "Keef" (How?) composed and arragned by Ihsan El Monzer and "Bel Alb Khallini" (Keep Me In Your Heart) composed by Jean-Marie Riachi, both written by Noha Najem are two classical songs and on a high level of romance in Majida’s voice which moved between strings and rhythmic melodies.
Lebanese violinist Claude Chalhoub arranged "Ghanni Lel Nas" (Sing For The People) which was written and composed by Marwan Khoury, a song dedicated to love through philosophical meanings.
Between different oriental scales, known as Arabian maqam, Dr. Abdel Rab Idriss composed "Al Hobb Wal Wafa" (Love And Loyalty). From the poetry of Al Nasser, the poem came expressing high feelings of men’s abandoning true love for their own gain and satisfaction considering women as an amusement, that’s where Majida puts an end to this situation and decides to move on with a better life and feels free to go out of her prison and her husband’s control finding satisfaction in love and loyalty. The song is on a high level of class with outstanding orchestration in diversity between western and oriental: Dr. Abdel Rab chose a transitional melodic phrase in the last part with a simple fade out showing the different circumstances and statuses of Majida during the song. Lebanese director Said El Marouk joined these circumstances and situations in an amazing video clip shot in Budapest inspired by the legendary fairy tale “The Beauty and the Beast” with a touch of creativity. Al Marouk worked really hard on this clip showing Majida running away across forests from her tyrant husband, symbolized by a wolf, leaving everything behind, and searching for freedom with her friends and her loved ones and trying to live her life full of happiness away from her past issues, which made her stronger and much self-confident. The clip cost around $700000; for Al Marouk chose hard frames and let nature express its beauty either taking it by helicopter or from the train station…
Jean-Marie Riachi also arranged “Nashid Al Zifaf” written by Noha Najem, with a new Arabic adaptaion of the Wedding March in C major for German pianist, composer, organist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn, originally used among the most well-known pieces and suites to Shakespeare’s play ‘’A Midsummer Night’s Dream’’. The track, dedicated to every girl getting married with, is full with sincere, truthful and warm wishes of eternal happiness. The arrangement shows a nice mixture of drums and strings and many symphonic instruments within the introduction along with mature choir. The piece extends for more than two octaves; from the low G3 with a semi-note transition in the last part of it where Majida hits a high C#6.
Dr. Abdel Rab Idriss also composed music for another track titled "Laylika Al Sari" (Your Ongoing Night) from Al Nasser’s poetry and Assaad Khoury adapted a new version of "Ya Maazeb Albi" in Egyptian Arabic dialect, previously interpreted by Halim El Roumi from his composition.
The last track is a patriotic titled "Sawfa Nabqa" (We Will Stay). Joseph Khalifeh contributed Said Akl’s text into a symphonic piece to deliver a strong worded message to all Lebanese people to unity and freedom and to show how Lebanese managed to stay faithful no matter what their country faced through years. The song was arranged by Kamal Saiqali with wonderful choice of instruments and orchestration and it extended to more than two octaves and Majida hit a high A5 during a long interval of opera. Majida’s most important performance for this song was in 2005 during a concert in Beirut Downtown, in the Martyrs’ Square on 13 April, in the memory of the Lebanese Civil War beginnings: Majida chose to refuse reliving the last years of war and gave the youth the choice to continue with peace or drive Lebanon to a bad future.
Read more about this topic: Majida El Roumi, Music Career