Its well known belly dance legend that Soheir Zaki (a ‘my heros’ post on her coming soon!!) was the first to dance to an Om Koulthoum song, Enta Omri (“You are my life”), this is an interesting clip about that:

and to show her cute and crazy side, her infamous gold bikini drum solo from that same VHS set (you can find part 2 and 3 linked down the side on youtube)

I was lucky enough to take a class with her at Ahlan wa Sahlan festival in 2006, and unlike some of the other stars from the past, she still ‘had it’ – even through the (slightly scary) plastic surgery etc, you could still see this same Mona shining though

The song is ‘Fakerni’ by Haifa Wehbe

You can find a video with translation of lyrics here:

and if you want to own the song to practice you can get it from amazon here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fakernee-Aatbak-Love-Gossip-Arabia/dp/B002IXVYQG/ref=dm_ap_trk48?ie=UTF8&qid=1312887888&sr=1-43

With the help of fellow geeks at bhuz.com, I found the lyrics in arabic and with the help of a very useful forum got a rough translation

http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/arabic-lyrics-translation/104343-mohammed-abdel-wahab-befakir-fi-illi-nasini.html#post818527

Below is my grand translation, combining the above with the translation on Yasmina’s CD notes, a transliteration of the arabic and some idea of where these appear in the song (all based on the versions on Yasmina’s CD and Kazem al-Saher’s live version).  The transliteration has been done by yours truely so might be a bit dodgy, hopefully good enough for people to follow the song.  I have also highlighted the odd word with a symbol in both english and transliteration that may prove helpful for dancers trying to interpret the song.

If you are better at arabic than me and spot any snafus, let me know!

Mawaal type bit at the beginning

بفكر في اللي ناسيني

 Bifakir fi illi Nasini

i think about who forgets me

وبنسى اللي فاكرني

Wa *bansa illi fakerni

and *forget about who remembers me

وبهرب من الي شاريني

Wa bahrab min illa shareni

and i run away/escape from the one who is wanting me/would buy me

ودور علي بايعني

Wa doowa ‘ali baya’ni

and look/to search for the one that’s selling me (out)

علي بايعني

‘ali baya’ni

the one that’s selling me out

Everything above repeats twice, but with rhythm (wahda kebira) underneath.

Masmoudi Kebir section -  no lyrics but some ohhs and ahhs and vocal accents

Next vocal section

ودور ليل على جرحي

Wa *doowa lil, ala garhii

and (why do?) i *look for my wound/pain

وجرح القلب مش فاكر

(Musa hebil) a -*garh (alqalb) mush fakir (there seem to be a difference between the arabic and what i hear here)

while this *wound of the heart doesn’t remember/the one who inflicted it doesn’t care

وقول يا عين لي تبكي

Wa (q)ul ya aiyn, li tibki

and i’m asking my eye, why does it cry?

ما دام الليل ملوش اخر

Ma daan il-laiyl, malush akhir

since the night has no end/when he doesn’t care  *i think this is a case of literal translation versus implied meaning*

**Mawaal section** (using last few lines above)

next section

عذاب الجرح يحرمني

‘adhab ilgarh yhrimny

the torment of the wound deprives me/has cast me out

من الدنيا الي انا فيها

 Min ildunya ili ana fiiha

from the life/world in which i am

وطول الليل يرجعني

wa tool al-laiyl *yarga’ni

and it keeps *bringing me back all night long/the long night keeps *sending me back

لدنيا كنت ناسيها

li-dunya konti nasihaa

to a world i used/want to forget

Maqsoum section

اهجر حابيبي وخلاني

 ahgar habayibi wa khilani

it made me leave the ones i love and made me/go away loved ones and friends

وانسى قلوب عايشه عشاني

wa ansi (q)uluub ‘aysha ‘ashani

forget the hearts that are living for me/forget, hearts that lived for me

 (repeat last 2 lines)

back to sort of wahda kebir rhythm

واروح ادور على ماضي

waruh adawar ‘ala *madhy

and go searching for the past/I’m gong back to search for *the past

كان ليه فيه يوم حب زمان

kaan liha fiha yawm hobi *zaman

once i used to have a love in it (*the past)

اشرب لوحدي كاس فاضي

*ashrab liwahdi kaas faaadhi

*I’ll drink/drinking alone from the empty glass

دائما افكر فيه ليالي

da’imon *afakir fiha lilly

always *I remember the nights in the past/think of when it was full *again i think this is literal translation versus implied meaning*

**Repeat whole section from Maqsoum**

**Repeat first verse and masmoudi kebir section**

**END!**

Khaleegy isn’t belly dance. It is a folk (sort of) style from the gulf region (‘khaleej’ refers to the gulf area in arabic). Every country and region has its own specific style, but bellydancers tend to do a generic mish mash (or ‘fusion’ heh) of the most well known moves. The costume is a large tent like dress, and as well as the typical ‘limping’ footwork it invovles a lot of shoudlers, hair and arms and no hip moves.

Anyway, I think all i needed was the right song. I found a great version of ‘Naweelak’ on a CD from Outi of Cairo, Outi helpfully even provides a full translation here.

Here is my third public performance of this piece. It’s still work in progress but happy with how it is going so far. I think I can say I’ve achieved that thing on my list of dance challenges!

Untitled from Zafirah Dance on Vimeo.

eta: for the geeky types like me, here is the original song:

Its interesting to note how differently Outi’s egyptian orchestra relate the melody to the rhythmn and the heavyness of the drums, to the original that kind of floats over the top. I suspect my khaleegy dance not only has a ‘english’ accent but also an ‘egyptian’ one. I’ve heard that the egyptian dancers are known for doing khaleegy more (“too”) heavy and energetic (that’s not quite the right word, use energy differently perhaps) for the gulf people’s tastes . . . .

I first became obsessed with this song whilst in Cairo in March 2010 when I saw it danced by Aziza of Cairo. Here is a video of her from that time.

I was particularly obsessed with the Masmoudi Kebir section (comes in at 2:20 on video) and this promised to be a great way to work on my ‘more interesting stepping and spinning patterns for 2011′ project! Plus I always love a bit of Tarab music.

I found a beautiful version on Yasmina of Cairo’s excellent CD (El Warda) but after seeing Aziza’s version I was looking for something more dramatic. Whilst searching for a translation of the song, I discovered long term favourite of mine Kazem el Saher had recorded a version, and there were several live recordings of his going round. My recording I found is similar to this:

His version was perfect for what I was looking for, more dramatic and super dramatic during my favourite section. In fact I suspect it is his version that Aziza’s orchestra were emulating, as neither could be further from the Mohammed Abdel Wahab original (I have no idea if this is the real original, but it certainly from the right period.)

Anyway, enough waffling for one day, I won’t insult these masters by putting my own video in the same post!!