لَسْتُ أَدرِي

If you follow my blog, you’ll notice that lately my posted items are taking a different curve. Recently, I tend to write mostly in English, share more songs and quote a line or two – that may or may not relate to me in person. Most likely, some of you find them as meaningless posts; and frankly, if you ask me why I do so, I may tell you “I do not know” (Arabic: لستُ أدري).

Sometimes a song or a piece of music struck me by the beauty of the words, or the magic of the melody or the gracefulness of the voice. And in the three cases, I like to highlight the gems in my oriental culture to either westerns who may not be aware of it, or people living in the east and are blinded by the western culture or globalization.

I find majesty in original artistic creations, specifically from my region. And just now as the idea crystallizes in my mind, for the first time, I would like to take my blog one more extra step. Therefore, I will introduce pieces I feature in a different way and try to make you (whoever you are, my dear visitor) understand my culture a little bit more. So feel free to pop up any time, and leave your comments or questions. As usual, I will not promise to have the answers you need, but will promise to search for one.

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Today’s song is for Lena Chamamyan (Arabic: لينا شماميان). As per Wikipedia, a Syrian singer of Armenian descent. I like to describe her as one of the new wave of intellectual singers in the Arab world, who likes to mix oriental folk music with elements of jazz.

In her 2006 album, Hal Asmar Ellon, one of the songs she sung was from the Andalusian folk (Arabic: موشحات أندلسية) called “Lamma bada” (Arabic: لما بدا). While this song is widely remembered for a version sung by the famous Lebanese diva Fairuz, many other Arab singers did the same over time; and yet the original composer stays anonymous.

It is a fine melody..
Yalla, enjoy!

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When I saw my love sway, his beauty amazed me.
Something about the moment captivated me.
Like a branch bending gracefully.
Oh my fate, and reason for my perplexity .

Who could be the one to alleviate my sufferings in love and torment,
except the king of all beauty.
Oh mercy, oh mercy, oh mercy.

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PS: I managed to do the above rough translation, by the help of my friend Huda Gado [Ar], so that you can catch the meaning while you listen.