The story behind Fairuz's song "Kanou Ya Habibi" and the Soviet army "Polyushka Polye"

"Kanou Ya Habibi"  كانوا يا حبيبي is one of the eternal works of Fairuz written in 1974. Originally, and like several of the works of Rahbani Brothers, the music was inspired from the Polyushka Polye Russian army march music and which music was composed in 1933 by the Russian composer Lev Konstantinovich Knipper. Even though the originale version had an intense reference to USSR and its formal glory, Fairuz managed to convert all the patriotic lyrics off the spirit of the music and insert love and drama instead as she played the character of Loulou that was imprisoned despite her innocence for 15 long years..



Origins:
Polyushko-polye (Russian: По́люшко-по́ле; IPA: [ˈpolʲʊʂkə ˈpolʲɪ]) is a Soviet Russian-language song. Polye means "field" in Russian, "polyushko" is a diminutive/hypocoristic form for "polye". It is also known as Meadowlands, Song of The Plains or Oh Fields, My Fields in English.

The music was composed by Lev Knipper, with lyrics by Viktor Gusev in 1933. The song was part of the symphony with chorus (lyrics by Gusev) "A Poem about a Komsomol Soldier" (Поэма о бойце-комсомольце) composed in 1934. The original lyrics are sung from the perspective of a Red Army recruit, who proudly leaves his home to keep watch against his homeland's enemies.

The song was covered many times by many artists in the Soviet Union, including a well-known rock version recorded by The Singing Guitars (Поющие гитáры), released c. 1967. The song has been regularly performed and recorded by the Alexandrov Ensemble, and it is listed in the Alexandrov Ensemble discography, best known as the Red Army Choir....continue

Who was José Ortiz Echagüe?

José Ortiz Echagüe (Guadalajara, 1886 - Madrid, 1980)  was a Spanish Photographer, aeronautical and industrial engineer . He founded the aircraft manufacturing company Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) and was the Honorary lifetime president of Spanish car company SEAT.

Ortiz Echagüe business management combined his passion for photography, a field in which he received prestigious international awards. His photographs were exhibited in many European capitals and in numerous American Photography magazine and  by 1935, he was one of the three best photographers in the world.

His photographic archive consists of more than 30,000 negatives. A collection of human subjects, documentaries and art and more than 1,000 large and beautiful carbón fresson  (a carbon process also known as direct carbon printing) printings, that gave his images a rather romantic or pictorialist look. Among his illustrated books should be cited Spanische Köpfe – Bilder aus Kastilien, Aragonien und Andalusien (Spanish heads – Pictures from Castile, Aragón and Andalusia) was Ortiz Echagüe’s first book . Images of Spaniards in traditional costume often photographed in historical settings.

Although this book had a print run of 15.000 it is now surprisingly rare, especially complete with dust jacket intact continue