I'm looking from some songs that are good for singing, preferably with lyrics that are not too hard for my mediocre arabic (the music doesn't have to
be simple though).
If anyone knows where I can find the lyrics for ya ein muwlatein (or how to spell it in arabic), and if anyone knows of a translation of even can give
a brief explanation of the lyrics of ya mali elsham I would be really happy.
يا مال الشام يالله يا
مالي
طال المطال يا حلوة تعالي
طال المطال وجيتي
عالبالِ
ما يبلى الخال عالخدِّ
العالي
طال المطال طال وطوَّل
الحلوة بتمشي بتمشي
وتتحوَّل
يا ربّي يرجَع زمن
الأوَّل
يوم يا لطيف ماكان على
بالي
طال المطال وعيوني بتبكي
وقلبي ملان ما بقدِر بحكي
يا ربي يكون حبيبي ملكي
يوم يا لطيف ماكان على
بالي
طال المطال وما شفناهم
يوم الأسوَد يوم
الودَّعناهم
ياربي تجمَعْني وياهم
يوم يا لطيف ماكان على
باليJohn Erlich - 5-27-2009 at 11:16 AM
Shalom Masel,
I've always wondered about this one, too. I also love the Hebrew pizmon "Na'imah Li" written to this tune (it was supposed to be on our last album,
but didn't make the final edits.)
I found this on-line:
Oh treasure of Damascus, oh my God, my treasure.
The time is so long, my beauty, come here to me.
The time is so long and in my mind’s eye,
I see a beauty mark appearing high on her cheek.
The time is so long and it grows longer,
the beauty paces back and forth, oh God,
bring back that wonderful day in that past that escape me.
The time is so long, my eyes spill tears
and my heart is so full I can’t talk, oh my God.
If my love becomes my own it will be a day too wonderful to imagine; It is so long since we have seen each other.
It was a dark day where we said goodbye to them,
oh God, how I wish you could bring us together again,
such a wonderful day I can hardly imagine.
-----------------------------------------------
The authentic old Damascene song “Ya Mal el-Sham” was composed and set to music by the Damascene artist Abu Khalil al-Qabbani.
Translated by Andrea Rugh, Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
-----------------------------------------------
I love this forum! Enjoy! MatthewW - 5-28-2009 at 02:55 AM
hi Masel! Surely there must be many Arabic speaking folk and musicians near you who can help?
Watching the clip of Sabah Fakhri I noticed that the venue looked very familiar, and of course it's always nice to have a young pretty lady dancing
along!
Must be the same venue as this next clip, posted before but always worth another look and listen, especially if you haven't seen it before. The oud
player seems to be having a great time-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pYlRhE2AP4 Reda Aouad - 5-28-2009 at 04:53 AM
This was great fun! But only listening and not watching :P
The oud should have been dancing instead!
And the oud player is Nkoula (Nicolas) Nakhleh (Palm Tree :P).Reda Aouad - 5-28-2009 at 04:59 AM
And the video is not in 2007 as the title says. The music players and actors I could identify were too young.. and the whole setting looks more like
the 90s.MatthewW - 5-28-2009 at 07:56 AM
This was great fun! But only listening and not watching :P
The oud should have been dancing instead!
And the oud player is Nkoula (Nicolas) Nakhleh (Palm Tree :P).
Hi Reda- it would have been cool to see the oud player jump up and start dancing as well!
Would you know if the sheet music to the song he is playing is available, or do you have it by any chance? regards, MWReda Aouad - 5-28-2009 at 07:58 AM
Well can anyone first tell me what song/piece is he playing?Masel - 5-30-2009 at 03:01 AM
Thanks everyone. John, Sham means damascus, I thought the song is about a man travelling to damascus and feeling anxious to get there -
yamali elsham - I am "inclined" towards damascus
tal elmatal ya hilwa ta3li - the road is long my pretty let's go
a palestinian in sheikh jarah in east jerusalem (I will leave politics out of it but anyone interested can look it up) gave me a partial translation
that also fit in with this, what do some of the arabic speakers say? also Sabah Fakhri seems to be singing slightly different lyrics to those I
posted
That tune by Nkoula Nakhle is really nice by the way!John Erlich - 5-30-2009 at 08:36 PM
Shalom Masel,
I have known that Es-Sham/El-Sham/Sham means "Damascus" long before I learned much else about the Middle East...I (briefly) dated a woman of Damascene
ancestry when I was in college.
There is another, very different, translation of "Ya Mal Es-Sham" in the notes for the "The Two Tenors..." CD. The Arabic text looks a bit different
in this version, but my Arabic is very basic and the print is VERY small...
Here it is:
O Damascene beauty
It has been too long
Please come back
You are my love and my life
O Damascene beauty
You have left me but you vowed
Not to forget me, nor would
I forget you, no matter
How long the years
It has been too long, my beloved
But I will never change
Come back, light of my eyes
Enough separation, O Beloved
Let us restore the good old times
Well can anyone first tell me what song/piece is he playing?
the name of the song piece is "ya mali el sham." He is playing the full version with the "mawal" that Sabah sings in the full vesion of the song. If
you'd like, when I get to my own computer I can load the MP3.
With regards to the meaning of "El Sham," I understand it to mean the area or group of contries that comprise Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and maybe Jordan
and other countries. This is similar to how "khalegy" means "of the Gulf area."
Demascus is trantlated as "Al Dimishk" in Arabic.
"mal" = money= wealth= treasure.
"ya" = oh
"ya mal el Sham"= Oh the treasure of the [the region] of the Sham. (Where treasure is refering to it's beautiful ladies)
Ya mal el Sham= Ya Mali Sham= Ya Mal Esham etc...
John Erlich - 6-2-2009 at 11:35 AM
As far as "El Sham" meaning a wider region, something like, "El Mashriq" I think you may be right, in terms of formal Arabic. Colloquially, though,
isn't "El Sham" almost always used to mean Damascus?
I did find this in an on-line Al-Jazeera article about Damascus:
