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kentauros

(29,414 posts)
Wed Feb 29, 2012, 09:25 PM Feb 2012

A little Love music :)

Well, it's a love song anyway, though I didn't know that until I watched the following video with lyrics translation:




I don't expect everyone to like it, because for one thing, it's Middle Eastern music, and I know most people on DU listen to Western-society music. But the first time I saw this particular version of a song I've grown to love over the past year or so, well, I was moved.

The title is completely counter to what it's about, by the way
14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Howler

(4,225 posts)
1. Wow! She's got alot of animals !
Wed Feb 29, 2012, 10:01 PM
Feb 2012

I just wish she would take the rope of her dogs foot.

I like middle Eastern music sounds Kentauros.
Actually Robert Plant and most recently melisa Ethridge play with eastern rifts in their music. It's beautiful just like this song and sentiment is.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
3. If you read the comments to the video
Wed Feb 29, 2012, 11:10 PM
Feb 2012

it seems there's another interpretation for the "rope on the dog's foot":

Let's go to the meadow, the meadow where rabbits live and my dog has mercy in its demeanor.

I think " Taab" here means patience! or mercy in this instance.


Loreena McKennitt also has an album (2 CDs) that's very Middle Eastern. It's "A Mediterranean Odyssey" CD-1 - the Olive and the Cedar" and "CD-2 - from Istanbul to Athens". It's live, I think, and has a kind of orchestral quality to it, but definitely the exotic nature of the Eastern style

And if you want to explore further (beyond clicking on the suggested videos to the one above), I just found this site last night: http://www.listenarabic.com/
Click on the "Radio" choice to the left to get to the page with the 100 channel-links!

FirstLight

(13,352 posts)
2. wow...
Wed Feb 29, 2012, 10:17 PM
Feb 2012

middle eastern? wonder what culture? I dig the sound actually, and the trebel in her voice...

i bet the song is like an older tribal or traditional type song, with the repetitions and the round in the lyrics...

thanks for sharing!

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
4. The singer, Azam Ali, is an Iranian-American, so she's singing in Farsi.
Wed Feb 29, 2012, 11:19 PM
Feb 2012

However, on some songs, she also sings in Urdu, the language of India. And I would also guess the origins of the song is based on traditional folksongs

Another fine singer of the genre to look up is Natacha Atlas. I know belly dancers that use her music for their performances, too

Mojorabbit

(16,020 posts)
11. I love natacha atlas!
Sat Mar 3, 2012, 01:26 PM
Mar 2012

I love her version of I put a spell on you. I play frame drum, doumbek and djembe and I love music with good drumming.



Another band I am really liking lately is this one but I have no idea what they are singing
just love the music. The description at the site is :Mazaher are a small group of mainly women musicians and singers who play zar music: ritualistic songs and polyrhythms which are used as a purification ritual to help pacify and cleanse peoples spirits. Filmed at the Makan, Cairo in MAy 2008."

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
12. I didn't know you played such percussion instruments :)
Sat Mar 3, 2012, 04:53 PM
Mar 2012

I've never learned, mostly because my own inner sense of rhythm and time-signature isn't that great. Maybe I'll eventually learn the frame drum, though. If you've heard of the drummer Layne Redmond, she's quite the player and teacher by what I've seen of her instructional videos. Here's a performance she does with another frame drummer, Zohar Fresco:



And if you go to her page, she's got more CDs and instructional videos. I need to get her book, "When the Drummers Were Women" because it sounds like a compelling history

As for what the women in the second video are singing, I don't know what the words are, but after a little research and mention on the comments, that they are singing about the Zar. The book "Encyclopedia of Spirits" (Judika Illes) has an extensive entry on the Zar, so I'm not going to transcribe it. In brief, the Zar are akin to the Djinn. Here's a highlighted quote from the entry:

Zar may be a sub-species of Djinn. However, in Egypt as elsewhere in the Islamic world, it's very important to avoid associations between Djinn and Zar because consorting with Djinn is strictly forbidden. An Egyptian euphemism for Zar spirits is Malayka Ardiyya, "underground angels."

Mojorabbit

(16,020 posts)
13. I have signed up twice and sent in a check for her bee priestess
Sat Mar 3, 2012, 08:49 PM
Mar 2012

workshop only to have it be canceled!. She is having one in Asheville coming up and I had planned to travel there to attend and my ride canceled. I am guessing it isn't time for me to take the workshop yet! She is awesome. I have read , "when drummers were women" and you will love it!. Thanks for the research on the Egyptian video. ((Hug))

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
14. That's too bad that you haven't been able to learn from her yet.
Sun Mar 4, 2012, 06:55 PM
Mar 2012

I'm sure it will happen one of these times

I guess I'll have to order her book then
The CD "Hymns from the Hive" sounds incredible just from the available clips, so I'll have to get that, too.

You're welcome on the 'research'. I knew it sounded familiar as soon as I read that they were Zar singers, as I'd already read about the Zar in my own research (for my piece of fiction.) So, it was nice to share that in the context of something else for a change

Celebration

(15,812 posts)
5. very cool and fun to listen to it
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 04:26 PM
Mar 2012

I am a bit tired of Old McDonald Had a Farm anyway. This is a nice antidote.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
8. I'm guessing you had an earworm in the form of "Old McDonald Had a Farm"?
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 06:28 PM
Mar 2012

Then go looking through the "suggested videos" for more Middle Eastern music and establish an earworm you can't translate!

Glad you liked this one I have more of their music on order, and will get to enjoy it all soon (and in FLAC format!)

Celebration

(15,812 posts)
9. Mostly because
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 07:40 PM
Mar 2012

They both keep adding animals to their verses. My grandson is somewhat passed the Old McDonald stage now, thankfully.

An earworm of this music?

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
10. That's true about the adding of the animals :)
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 08:18 PM
Mar 2012

As for an earworm of this kind of music, try this one:




The French had a huge and lasting influence on Arabia, so it shows up for many of them, such as Natacha Atlas again:




For my mind, it doesn't seem to matter if I don't know the language, I still get the tune and bits of the song stuck in my head. I guess because it's all of the music

icymist

(15,888 posts)
6. This is some great music.
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 06:19 PM
Mar 2012

I just don't understand what she is saying. I love the tune and the way she sings with the melody, but I don't know what she is saying. Cool music though.

kentauros

(29,414 posts)
7. The version I posted has lyrics along the bottom in both Farsi and English.
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 06:24 PM
Mar 2012

If you listen to just what she is saying, you can pretty well follow along in the Farsi words. It gives you an idea of how they pronounce things

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