Damascus-SANA
Lovers and devotees of folklore in Syria mourned the artist Bassam Al-Bitar, who passed away today after suffering with illness at the age of no more than fifty years.
Al-Bitar, who was nicknamed by his fans as King of Ataba, had for twenty years had a distinguished experience in folk singing. Many Ataba and mountain style singers tried to imitate him and present his songs in their concerts, but he remained a distinguished voice in this field.
And if the spread of Al-Bitar was modest compared to his strong and distinguished voice, perhaps because he did not seek fame and his interest in it as much as his interest and devotion to his beautiful art, then his songs spread and preceded him by many, such as Ghazala and Khayam Al-Liham, and do not ask me and review Al-Deira and his music with popular content.
In February 2019, the Ministry of Culture honored Al-Bitar with the Coastal Heritage Song Festival, which was held at the Dummar Cultural Complex alongside Ibrahim Saqr and Adel Khaddour, in appreciation of their contributions to the song and intangible heritage.
The journalist, Idris Murad, who was the director of the Coastal Song Festival, explained to SANA that Al-Bitar was one of the important voices that carry the coastal spirit and he differs from others in this genre, so he chooses his songs carefully and has a special style of performance.
Murad considered that with his departure we missed an important and pioneering voice in the traditional song, although he did not get what he deserved from the spotlight, even though he represented the Syrian coastal song.
Bilal Ahmad