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....

yitzhak nakash's 'shi'is of iraq' & other books

i finished yitzhak nakash's the shi'is of iraq, this morning-- excellent piece of scholarship -- and very well written (i've been wanting to read it, since it came out, in '94 -- while i was in boston, and got to befriend him -- finally...got to it) -- i tell you,...you memorize this book, and you've got iraqi history...of the 19th and 20th centuries, down pat

next up, lugalbanda: the boy who got caught up in a war (by kathy henderson), the only children's story i found...based on mesopotamian mythology -- i was looking for books for my 11-year-old nephew, who's 'into' mythology -- especially, fantasies, based on greek and egyptian myths -- so, i thought, why not find something for him...from 'his'...ancient forebears

follow-up (3/22): i finished lugalbanda -- very well done -- gorgeous pictures, by jane ray, whose name, as an illustrator, i've come across, here and there -- lugalbanda, by the way, was the father of gilgamesh -- both, kings of uruk -- and the story in this book is based on two poems, the first of which may be the oldest surviving story -- at least, recorded 'on paper'

update: in looking for pictures from lugalbanda, to include here (i could only find...two or three, on-line), i saw that ray illustrated the king of capri (by jeanette winterson), which i have in my inventory

plus, on amazon's page for lugalbanda, there's a trilogy for children...based on the epic of gilgamesh, written and illustrated by ludmila zeman: gilgamesh the king, the last quest of gilgamesh, and the revenge of ishtar

now, next up: the origins of totalitarianism, by hannah arendt -- i think

update (3/23): i gave up on 'totalitarianism' (who wouldn't), after just a few pages -- too difficult -- i'll need to build up to it

near at hand, for my next non-fiction, the best candidates were empires of the word: a language history of the world, by nicholas ostler (i read a few pages, a few weeks ago -- looks great -- great topic -- a survey of world history, as seen through its languages, their migration -- migrations -- etc. -- recommended...by former case linguistics professor p k saha), and the magic years, by selma fraiberg (about early childhood), which i've been wanting to read, for years -- i went with the lighter fare