favorite arabic songs: ana leek, sawah...& israeli sawahs

my new friend cecile...told me her favorite arabic song was 'ana leek,'...and she sent me the following video

the first couple minutes of the video reminded me of that...tremendously endearing...and charming...german/turkish movie...from 2000, 'im juli' (in july), one of my all-time favorites

the singer's sound...struck me as like amr diab's -- and,...what do you know,...amr diab...has a song...of the same title

i found, on youtube, a couple of other videos...of samo zayn's 'ana leek,' which is...growing on me

one video has, for its background -- for the entirety of the song -- this...adorable picture

for my turn, i told cecile...my favorite arabic song was 'sawah,' by abdil-haleem hafudh (egyptians pronounce it 'hafiz') -- actually, it might be...my favorite song, period -- i adore abdil-haleem -- as the arabs say, haleem yiT'rub'ni (he...serenades me -- he...'sends' me,...'moves' me) -- he did that for my khala maha, with whom i spent many fun times in amman, recently -- and with her wonderful daughter, nagham, and nagham's three...fantastic children

well, khalti maha and i...have a few other things in common

my mother, when she was a girl or a teenager, made fun of her little sister,...for her...adoration...of haleem -- shame on you, beebee

here,...just the song,...without any visuals -- just the man -- his face

here's a shorter,...more...hip-hoppy...rendition -- and, for cecile,...there's a picture of a girl...surrounded by birds -- lots of birds -- seagulls...and...a sunset...over the sea

i just found...this great...video, the heading of which says...'complete' -- but...is it ever...complete

we get to see haleem...conducting

now,...for the israeli...wing...of the sawah musuem

we start with the ishtar/alabina rendition -- the only...israeli take...i knew -- ishtar/alabina...call it 'habibi' -- now this...is really hip-hoppy -- and...short -- about as short...as you can get 'sawah'

then there's...tamir gal -- it takes him...a couple of minutes...to get into...the sawah...rhythm -- the music sounds...quite turkish -- i'll have to find out...his ethnic background -- sounds a bit...kurdish too

well, i can tell you this much -- they're having...entirely too much fun...at his party

ishtar and tamir gal...team up

here's aufr loy's rendition -- i don't think that's him...in the lead picture here -- his picture...does appear, once the video begins

the star of the show, though,...is mr. arieh fartoush -- trusting...that that's the name of the singer, rather than the honoree...of the hafla

well,...this boy, by any other name,...smells as...confident...and commanding...and beautiful....