United States

We tend to think of surf rock as an all-American musical style. However, it has some amazing roots.

Misirlou – an early example of Surf Rock

Source: Surf music – Wikipedia

Dick Dale developed the surf sound from instrumental rock, where he added Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, a spring reverb, and rapid alternate picking characteristics.

Take for instance, the famous tune, Misirlou, which goes back to a Mediterranean folk song of unclear origins. Misirlou (1963), by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, was an early example of American surf rock.

So where did MISIRLOU come from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou

The earliest known recording of the song was by a rebetiko musician, Tetos Demetriades, in 1927. In 1930, Michalis Patrinos and his rebetiko band recorded a cover version in Athens, Greece. As with almost all early rebetika songs (a style that originated with the Greek refugees from Asia Minor in Turkey), the song’s actual composer has never been identified, … Patrinos, who originally lived in Smyrni, named the song “Mısırlı” or “Misirlou” which means an Egyptian Muslim girl, as opposed to Egyptian Christians who were referred to as Αιγυπτιοι (Aigyptioi) in Greek.

There is a debate over who composed the melody. Did the Greek band really compose it? Was the composition a modification of an earlier tune? There are claims that “Misirlou” was Arabic in origin, and actually comes from an Egyptian singer/composer Sayyid Darwish.

Nevertheless, Dick Dale was half-Lebanese, and an Oud player before he picked up guitar. He grew up playing these melodies, and would have been familiar with the tune. Dick brought all of that experience with him when he created surf music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou

The song was rearranged as a solo instrumental rock guitar piece by Dick Dale in 1962. During a performance, Dale was bet by a young fan that he could not play a song on only one string of his guitar. Dale’s father and uncles were Lebanese-American musicians, and Dale remembered seeing his uncle play “Misirlou” on one string of the oud. He vastly increased the song’s tempo to make it into rock and roll. It was Dale’s surf rock version that introduced “Misirlou” to a wider audience in the United States

Let’s go back to an earlier Greek recording of the tune.

The Greek recording

One of the comments on the video says:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPSDH4hdS3Y

There are claims “Misirlou” is Arabic in origin, specifically coming from Alexandrian singer/composer Sayyid Darwish and his song “Bint Misr.” He supposedly recorded it around 1919 but until a copy surfaces, we’ll just have to wonder! DICK ROSEMONT

Indeed, many Arabs claim the tune as their own Arab original.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou

The song’s oriental melody has been so popular for so long that many people, from Morocco to Iraq, claim it to be a folk song from their own country. In fact, in the realm of Middle Eastern music, the song is a very simplistic one, since it is little more than going up and down the Hijaz Kar [link inserted] or double harmonic scale (E-F-G#-A-B-C-D#).

The Hijaz Kar is one of the Arabic musical scales, called maqam. As Misirlou was based on that basic Arab scale – amenable to modification – this is another indication that the tune was probably not originally composed by the Greek band, though they might have modified an earlier composition. Almost certainly the tune went back further. Maybe to Egypt, maybe further back.

It might be a stretch, but it might go back to the Hijaz, the western side of Saudi Arabia.

So there you have it. Surf Music may be Arabic in origin.

So it looks like this:

Hijaz (?) → Egypt → Greek neighborhood in Turkey → Greek recording in America →
Adopted by Dick Dale to Surf Music

Try not to forget that when you hear these blond, blue-eyed All-American boys play the song.

BUT, FINALLY IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO CONVINCE YOU!

Check out this tune: SURFING TO MECCA, by Tempest. It blends American Surf Music with Arabian music almost seemlessly. You will immediately see that Surf Music is the child of Arab Music.

Posted on YouTube: February 25, 2015

If that does not convince you, then you are tone deaf.

May 8, 2017 – Edited: Minor edits.
November 24, 2017 – Edited: Added video.
September 4, 2020 – Edited: Added text and video.
September 28, 2021 – Fixed video links.
November 19, 2024 – Changed from page to post