100 things blogging challenge: 6

[untonuggan]

This post goes out to northern , so she can appreciate a Fairouz (also spelled Fayrouz) song or two before her library's festival. Fairouz is a Lebanese singer who is one of the most famous musical artists in the Arab world. She was born in 1935, and chances are that if you eat in an Arab kebab restaurant you are going to listen to at least one Fairouz song or cover. (Unless of course they're one of these newfangled places that are all about smoking sheesha/hooka and only play Trance music.)

My favorite song is by far Khedny, which is below. I have had the good fortune of having it translated by my partner, because translations are few and far between on the internet. Arabic is a very poetic language, and I find it striking how poetic this song really is. It is a real tear-jerker among Lebanese people (and others, me included now that I know what it means).

Translation from my partner (please note the asterisk comment, as that line is not meant to be sexual but it comes across that way in English because there is no direct translation of the word):

take me

take me to her lovely hills
take me to the land that raised us
forget me upon the gardens of grapes and figs
undress* me upon the soil of our old street

take me and sow me in the land of lebanon
take me and sow me in the land of lebanon

in the house waiting by the hill
open the door and kiss the walls
and kneel beneath the loveliest sky
and pray

and kneel beneath the loveliest sky and pray
and pray

*(to be read as: the speaker is an article of clothing worn by the listener)

Also another translation (happens to be of the long version)

Comments

[northern]

That's beautiful. The lyrics are so melancholy, especially the longer version. I'll definitely look up more! Thank you for the post. :)

[untonuggan]

You're welcome! ^_^ Glad you enjoyed it.