Very popular contemporary
Arabic song. It was released by
Egyptian crooner
Amr Diab in
1996 on his album
Ya Nour El-Ain and won the 'Arabic Song Of The Year' award for that year.
People may recognize this up-tempo piece as the 'falafel song,' and indeed this is how I became acquainted with it. It is a ubiquitous part of the soundtrack on the stereos that always play in Middle Eastern food establishments, and any aficionado of that cuisine will have its catchy strains running through his or her head whether they recognize it or not. The music features an upbeat rhythm on synthy Middle Eastern drums and melodic Levantine string loops, along with a bass accompaniment. It has that distinctive 'world beat' feel.
After years of hearing this song, I wanted to find out what it meant. The lyrics in Arabic (transliterated, of course) are:
Habibi ya nour el-ain
Ya sakin khayali
A'ashek bakali sneen wala ghayrak bibali
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Ya sakin khayali
Agmal a'ouyoun filkone ana shiftaha ...
Allah a'alake allah a'la sihraha
A'oyonak maa'aya ...
A'oyonak kifaya ...
Tinawar layali
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Ya sakin khayali
Kalbak nadani wkal bithibini
Allah a'alake allah
Tamentini
Maa'ak elbidaya ...
Wkoul elhikaya ...
Maa'ak lilnihaya
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Aah ... Habibi ... Habibi ... aah
Translated into English this would be:
My darling, you are the glow in my eyes
You live in my imagination
I adored you for years. No one else is in my mind
My darling , my darling, my darling
glow in my eyes, aah
My darling, my darling, my darling glow in my eyes
You live in my imagination
The most beautiful eyes I ever saw in this universe.
God be with you ... what magic eyes
Your eyes are with me ...
That is enough ...
They light the nights
My darling, my darling, my darling glow in my eye
My darling, my darling, my darling glow in my eye
You live in my imagination
Your heart called me and told me you love me
God be with you
You reassured me.
You have the beginning ...
And all the story ...
I will be with you to the end.
My darling, my darling, my darling glow in my eye
My darling, my darling, my darling glow in my eye
ah ... my darling ... my darling ... aah
lyrics from http://www.shira.net/nourelain.htm