Thread: abdel Halim Hafez

By any chance, would somebody know the translation for the song: Nebditi menin Hikaya of Hafez?
Does anybody have an idea of what it is about? I really love that music but would like also to know what are the lyrics about.
Thank you,
Fayza

I always check this site first: Arabic Song Lyrics and Translation

They have it!
Arabic Song Lyrics and Translation: Abdel Halim Hafez - Where Do We Begin the Story From?<br>عبد الØ*ليم Ø*اÙ�ظ - نبتدى منين الØ*كاية ؟<br>Nebteda Minen al Hekaya

I've found so much on this site that I've donated to it through their PayPal link.

I love that song too. In fact, I just finished teaching my beginning students a choreography that goes with the second instrumental interlude of the song, using the version on Gems of the Middle East.

There's an excellent 15-minute version of the song on one of the Jalilah Raqs Sharqi CD's.

How funny, I'm just listening to the original Abdel Halim version as I am typing.
Yes Jalilah's Stars of the Casino Opera has a beautiful version. I have at least 7 versions of this song.

And of course that music was used in the Greek version Ta Mavra Matia Sou. Your black eyes.

This translation used to be on the Romany Saad web site, which sadly now appears to be defunct:

“If we were to tell the story, where would we begin? The story of our love has much more than a beginning. To escape from all grief and live forever in love, and embrace our joy together, and let our love stay young. And we met, you and I, in our journey, many things that wounded others. Jealousy and its worries and what happens as a result. The day it came close to us, it was driven away by our love. And we met the evil eyes, and they saw us, and never once did they think to let us alone. And they talked about us, my how they talked about us, but our love never changed at all. And you’d travel, and I’d travel, many times, we would travel, and our hearts would meet with every rising of the moon. And if our paths drove us apart, the beauty of love would bring us together. Who can make us argue? Who can break us apart? Between our hearts there’s a meeting every moment. Come on, let’s go, to tell everyone, you and I, how we were able to escape from all grief and live forever in love.”

Originally Posted by norma

And of course that music was used in the Greek version Ta Mavra Matia Sou. Your black eyes.

Love that one--I often use it for sets at Greek gigs b/c it works well for a more dramatic/raqs sharki feeling piece within the set, but is still Greek language! ..g.:

This is one of my favorite belly dance songs, but, except for Ta Mavra Matia Sou, all I've ever heard are instrumental versions. Anyone know of any CDs that have a version with the original Arabic lyrics?

Thank You so much! I am delighted! I am keeping this beb site on my favorites, for sure

Originally Posted by Zamira

This is one of my favorite belly dance songs, but, except for Ta Mavra Matia Sou, all I've ever heard are instrumental versions. Anyone know of any CDs that have a version with the original Arabic lyrics?

I doubt there is such a thing other than the original version by Abdel Halim. There are 3 instrumental sections in the song that are suitable for dancing. The Neptidi that we are referring to is in the very beginning. There are no lyrics. We wouldn't want to dance to the parts where there are lyrics.

Most of the famous "belly dance" songs of Abdel Halim and Oum Khoulsoum are like that. We dance to the instrumental bridges in between the verses of the song.

A slight digression... The dancer Orit from Israel has a couple of instructional DVD's, and one of those uses the opening instrumental from Nibtidi for its choreography. She was selling these when she was in Canada recently, and one of the members of the Belly Dance Videos group on Yahoo coordinated an opportunity for those of us who couldn't attend her workshop to buy them. I'm eagerly waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail!

Zamira, to your question, there are web sites that sell a recording of Abdel Halim Hafez himself singing this song. Try maqam.com or rashid.com .

Another slight digression!

Originally Posted by norma

Most of the famous "belly dance" songs of Abdel Halim and Oum Khoulsoum are like that. We dance to the instrumental bridges in between the verses of the song.

Yes and no. For example, most cuts from Enta Omri that dancers use are from portions of the song that had lyrics. On the other hand, the sections of El Hobbi Kollou that most dancers use are from instrumental portions. It's always a safer bet to go back to the original and listen to the song in its entirety in order to get a sense of which section of the song we're dancing to and where it fits in the story and/or emotional progression of the piece.

Nisaa

In fact, norma, I was aware ot that, but, knowing the lyrics gives a good idea of the modd and the purpose of that particular song and so... the dancing, the emotion that would fit in.
Fayza

Yes that is true about Inta Omri. In fact I'm in the process of learning the Arabic words to that song so I'm listening to it over and over again. The most famous part is the opening instrumental but many versions include the singing portion.

I do like listening to the original to get the context.