Old Arabic music is very rich in its melodies and its rhythms with variations in its styles. Various sites offer old rare Arabic songs mp3 by Abdo Yaghe, Fairooz and many other famous Arabic singers. The old Arabic songs lyrics, videos and video clips are also available for free download.
 
Music was used initially for hunting, fighting and then developed to be used in performing primitive rituals for beliefs including magic, and paganism that is idol worshipping.  The prototypical Arabic music ensemble in Egypt and Syria is known as the takht, and included at different time periods instruments such as the 'oud, qanún, rabab, ney, violin (introduced in the 1840s or 50s), riq and dumbek. In Iraq, the traditional ensemble is known as the chalghi and included only two melodic instruments - the jowza and santur which is accompanied by the riq and dumbek.

Riyadh Al-sonbati is a prominent Egyptian composer and pioneer of Arabic music, who remained in the lime light for almost half a century. At the age of 18, his intuitive propensity to music was discovered by his father, Mohammed Al-Sonbati, a popular singer and a lute player, who was widely admired by the local community of his home village of Sonbat in the Delta countryside. In the early sixties, he was nominated, for the third time, by the Higher Musical Committee for State Award of Merit and in 1976 for the UNESCO Award of Music.

Fairuz is one of the most critically acclaimed Arabic singers. The early works of Fairuz and the Rahbanis were innovative mixtures of oriental and foreign modes combining Fairuz's distinct vocal timbre with ingenious music by Assi and poetic lyrics that expressed innocent love and nostalgia for Lebanese village life.
Umm Kulthum is known as "the Star of the East". More than three decades after her death, she is still recognized as the Arab world's most famous and distinguished singer of the 20th century

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A few of my favorite old arabic songs are:

• if Leila wa Leila ("One Thousand and One Nights") by Umm Kulthum
• Sirat el Houb by Umm Kulthum
• Ayyam al Hassad" ('Days of Harvest' - 1957) a musical theatrical by Fairuz
• Al 'Urs fi l’Qarya a musical theatrical by Fairuz.