On that Zanussi jingle by the Rahbani Brothers

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

In case you have not been living under a rock, Ksarak (the beautifully named Arak from Chateau Ksara) had an iconic ad (which you can still see here). The ad had the highest budget at the time and in many ways helped usher the Lebanese advertising industry intro new grounds. But also, it had a jingle/song from Mansour Rahbani. Just to be clear, the brother in the family who specialized in ads/jingles was Elias producing such incredible specimen such as Picon, Re-O-Vac, Tatra, Nido (yes, that Nido ad!) or the Barilla masterpiece (which had a curious double life as I spoke of here). So for the great Mansour to do an ad jingle was a rarity.

However, Mansour (RIP) was actually known as one-half of the duo "Rahbani Brothers", the other half being the late incomparable Assi (who died in 1986). But here's a small unknown story: the two brothers actually composed a jingle (which sadly I do not have in my archive), long, long ago for the electronics brand Zanussi. The jingle in question went: 

زانوسي زانوسي بالدار بيرقصلي

Zanussi, Zanussi dances for me in the salon.

The reason this analogy was used is because old refrigerators used to produce a great "shaking" hum whenever their generator would work.

So, whereas Ksarak is indeed a masterpiece - there has been a precedent.

Gantous w Bou Raad or how to revive an iconic ad

Gantous w Bou Raad, easily one of the most memorable jingles in the Lebanese advertising landscape. But... do you remember the original TV ad? Not only do I remember it, I have bits of it actually. Actually the original ad was just a series of beauty shots with the arak interwinding. So how do you revive such an iconic ad? Gantous w Bou Raad found the magic formula: If it ain't broke don't fix it.

So they came up with a new ad, which is very much on the downlow - food and good company and... Arak. If the ad is nothing too special, that's because it rests on its backbone: the inimitable jingle blaring in the backdrop. Which in itself, carries the ad from start to finish.

As I said, the smartness was not to overwhelm what is essentially the most known bit (the song/jingle) and whereas the cast is nice and food appealing, Gantous w Bou Raad know where their strength lie. Smart people, trust me. Please see full ad here.

The strange double life of the Barilla jingle in Lebanese pop culture

Credit: Lebanon Dikkene

That Barilla jingle! The one drilled into the collective memory of the Lebanese population. Yes, that one! One of the many many achievements of multi-hyphenate creative Elias Rahbani who left us at the beginning of this year. But you know how it happens, a musician produces a hit song, the song gets used in an ad - it happened gazillions of times.

But what if I told you the reverse happened in this instance. Case in point? Our legendary diva Sabah and her own hit single "wa3douni w nattarouni" - you will realize that it is the exact same beat as Barilla.

Usually this means that the hit was produced (by Elias Rahbani) and he was commissioned by Barilla to put new lyrics to it (side note - Rahbani who composed "Tafta hindi" for Raja Badr did exactly that for Niers luncheon meat in an ad starring Dalida Baroud when she was still at LBC in the 80s). Actually, in the case of Barilla, Sabah who had an ear for potential hits and a great sense of hype, heard the Barilla jingle and asked Rahbani to pen a song on the same music. Naturally, a mega hit was born. But as I said, it was born "the other way around" - with the advertising coming first.