Senior year I took Arabic from an visiting Egyptian professor named Mona Hashish. One day she played this song five times and sent us home to practice reciting it. I had never really liked Arabic pop...it sounded like Bollywood music, which I've also never fully explored and apppreciated. Anyways, I remember walking home at 8:55am and planning on not jumping right back into bed. Something serious had just happened. I had just understood and enjoyed an Arabic pop song, and suddenly the prospect of living in the Middle East wasn't a sacrifice of my modern young adulthood. If a 21-year-old Egyptian or Iraqi or Palestinian woman hears this song like I hear a Backstreet Boys song, then there's no reason for me to feel lonely or isolated when I'm abroad. A broad...abroad. Old joke. Ok....
Amr Diab-Ana Ayesh
La bartah bi lailah wala bansaak wa leik nihaya
Wa laow hata baba'aid babaa maa'ak iw mantash maa'aya.
La bartah bi lailah wala bansaak wa leik nihaya
Wa laow hata baba'aid babaa maa'ak iw mantash maa'aya.
Ana a'ayesh iw mosh a'ayesh iw mosh aader a'ala boa'dak .
Wa la a'aref biyoum ansa iw la a'ayez habeeb baa'dak.
Ana a'ayesh iw mosh a'ayesh iw mosh aader a'ala boa'dak .
Wa la a'aref biyoum ansa iw la a'ayez habeeb baa'dak.
Iw basaal wi aalbi biyihlam youm yirtaah min jiraho
Dah ijdeedna illi kanoo ma bayna zamaan
Raja'een willa rahoo
Iw basaal wi aalbi biyihlam youm yirtaah min jiraho
Dah ijdeedna illi kanoo ma bayna zamaan
Raja'een willa rahoo
Ana a'ayesh iw mosh a'ayesh iw mosh aader a'ala boa'dak .
Wa la a'aref biyoum ansa iw la a'ayez habeeb baa'dak.
Ana a'ayesh iw mosh a'ayesh iw mosh aader a'ala boa'dak .
Wa la a'aref biyoum ansa iw la a'ayez habeeb baa'dak.
Ma habitsh ghayrak
Wa aa'mail eih bishoaqi iw hawaya iw laili wi nahaari bafakar feek
Ma tirjaa' kifaya.
Ana a'ayesh iw mosh a'ayesh iw mosh aader a'ala boa'dak .
Wa la a'aref biyoum ansa iw la a'ayez habeeb baa'dak.
Ana a'ayesh iw mosh a'ayesh iw mosh aader a'ala boa'dak .
Wa la a'aref biyoum ansa iw la a'ayez habeeb baa'dak.
Translation:
I'm restless every night
And I can never forget you
And I can't find an ending
And even if I'm far away
I'm with you
But you're not with me
I'm alive but not living
And I can't stand you being so far
I can never forget
And I don't want any lover after you
I ask and my heart dreams of the day
it will feel relief from the pain
The nights we spent together
Will they come back or are they gone?
I'm alive but not living
And I can't stand you being so far
I can never forget
And I don't want any lover after you
I loved only you
Now what do I do with my love and longing?
Day and night I think of you.
Enough! Come back!
I'm alive but not living
And I can't stand you being so far
I can never forget
And I don't want any lover after you.
