Thread: Ozel Turkbas - Tin Tin: Safe to dance?

Ozel Turkbas' Tin Tin sounds like a very happy song - but I don't know what she sings - all I know is that the tune means Tiny Little Lady.

I googled for the lyrics without success, all I found out is that the lyrics are supposed to come in the CD booklet. Well, I bought my music from Emusic, and can't purchase the liner notes :-( I'd love to pay for that information, but nobody wants to take my money.

Anyways, safe to dance to that tune?

And, from the "Why you shouldn't sing along in another language" files: It was a beautiful sunny day today, I walked through the streets with that song on my iPod, happily dancing and, you know where that's going, singing along. People looked at me very funny. Later it dawned on me - I guess I must have expressed something like "tiny little weenie" - oy vey!

So, back on the Mastika thread I mentioned I didnt know what the song was about...it sounds like its Latin for chewing!!!

just checked my copy. my liner notes don't have lyrics, but they do have the most awesome vintage "how to belly dance" picture guide of ozel doing some basic moves.

reminds me of the "learning via print" thread. you could never actually learn to dance from the little booklet but its priceless vintage belly dance media. wish i had a working scanner so i could share pics.

you should ask dilek, she could probably translate it for you in 2 seconds.
DILEK, AUTHENTIC TURKISH BELLY DANCER from Istanbul and San Diego

if you get the translation, please share

şeftali ağaçları
türlü çiçek başları
yaktı yandırdı beni
yarin hilal kaşlan

tin tin tini mini hanım
seni seviyor canım

bahçelerde kereviz
biz kereviz yemeyiz
bize sinoplu derler
biz güzeli severiz

tin tin tini mini hanım
seni seviyor canım

bahçelerde ıtrışah
boyu uzun kendi şah
iki gönül bir olsa
ayıramaz padişah

tin tin tini mini hanım
seni seviyor canım


Sorry don't have a translation. Brothers of the Baladi do this one. Maybe you can ask them.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

just checked my copy. my liner notes don't have lyrics, but they do have the most awesome vintage "how to belly dance" picture guide of ozel doing some basic moves.

reminds me of the "learning via print" thread. you could never actually learn to dance from the little booklet but its priceless vintage belly dance media. wish i had a working scanner so i could share pics.

Boy, I sure wish Ozel had come out with an instructional video at some time. She can't be very young now, since she's been dancing since, oh, I think the 60's, but.

spiced

Originally Posted by anala

So, back on the Mastika thread I mentioned I didnt know what the song was about...it sounds like its Latin for chewing!!!

That one I know - Mastika is a drinking song, and the mastika in the song is a beverage, similar to raki or ouzo. The lyrics also mention something about Marlboro cigarettes. It's not about chewing gum, though. A musician friend told me that the lyrics are not very deep or meaningful (which I think she learned that in the Folktours camp a few years back), as one would expect from a good drinking song ;-)

Originally Posted by spicedjellybeans

Boy, I sure wish Ozel had come out with an instructional video at some time.

Spiced, as a matter of fact, she did come out with an instructional video. I haven't seen the video myself so I have no idea how good it is, but here is a link to a site that sells it: How to Belly Dance

Originally Posted by steffib

Ozel Turkbas' Tin Tin sounds like a very happy song - but I don't know what she sings - all I know is that the tune means Tiny Little Lady.

I googled for the lyrics without success, all I found out is that the lyrics are supposed to come in the CD booklet. Well, I bought my music from Emusic, and can't purchase the liner notes :-( I'd love to pay for that information, but nobody wants to take my money.

Anyways, safe to dance to that tune?

Ozel's How to Make Your Husband a Sultan doesn't have the lyrics, but Richard Hagopian's Kef Time does!
It says:
The peach trees and their beautiful blossoms
How they burned and burned me
My love's arched brows

Chorus:
Petite, tiny, my girl ever so small
My soul loves you
My soul wants you

In the garden are vegetables
She is tall and slender
If our two souls could be one
Even the sultan couldn't separate us

In the garden is celery
But I won't eat it
I'm known to be a boy from Sinop
And we love the beautiful ones

Hope it helps!

Woooheee! Thanks all so much - now I can sing along without saying not-so-suitable things, and I know what I sing. Double Yoi! to Bhuz!

But is there subtext about long thin vegetables? .w.:

What strange lines to put in a song...it's like, "I'll slip in a line about celery here and see if they notice."

Jewel's comment got me wondering whether there might be a Turkish saying involving love and celery. Didn't find one, but I did find this compilation of Turkish proverbs, more or less literally translated, and I just had to share:
Turkish Proverbs/Turk Atasozleri
Among my favorites -- and I think we can all relate to this on some level -- is "An ass does not appreciate fruit compote."

its generally a line dance but I have seen BD'ers that have danced it. it is pretty repetious dont you think?

Zombie thread time!

Tonight, I posted a translation of Tin Tin on my web site at Turkish Music: English Translation of Lyrics for Tin Tin Tini Mini Hanım, a Traditional Turkish Song

I found this thread when I was preparing the translation - I was looking to find out which artists have recordings of this song for my section at the bottom of the page. Anyway, I saw the thread and the question about the celery, so since I needed to email my translator about something, I decided to ask him Jewel's question about whether vegetables have any special significance. Here's his take on it:

To the best of my knowledge the celery in the subject verse is only literal, but I could be wrong about that. I just don't know, but I seriously doubt that it has any allegorical or symbolic significance. I think it was chosen only because kereviz (celery) rhymes with yemeyiz (we should eat).

I hope this helps!

Hey I'm glad this thread came back! This is a nice translation to have. I have How to Make Your Husband a Sultan on vinyl and it came with the big how-to-belly-dance booklet. I do have a (sometimes) working scanner so I'll try to post the images later on.

Oh, Leyla, that would be so lovely! I got the mp3s from emusic, and sadly, there is no "buy the booklet as pdf" option - I'd happily give them money for that if they took it ;-)

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

just checked my copy. my liner notes don't have lyrics, but they do have the most awesome vintage "how to belly dance" picture guide of ozel doing some basic moves.

reminds me of the "learning via print" thread. you could never actually learn to dance from the little booklet but its priceless vintage belly dance media.

Oh, forgive me for posting this again, but I just have to share it. Someone gave my studio an amazing stack of old bellydance LPs and one of them had one of these booklets. So I read the instructions out loud while my goofy daughter and a couple of other students pretended not to already know how to undulate....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4ASn3uqD7o]YouTube - Lost in Translation[/ame]

Originally Posted by patrisha

its generally a line dance but I have seen BD'ers that have danced it. it is pretty repetious dont you think?

Patrisha, I agree, it's repetitious.

I have used it for a choreography for my beginner-level students, and it was perfect for that purpose.

It could also be great for drills in class. My first exposure to the song was back in my first 8-week beginner class, when I saw the level 2 class doing warmups and drills to it, and I liked it.

And who knows, maybe someday I'll choreograph a comedy piece to it - at almost 6 feet tall, I am NOT a "tiny little lady" like the title says, and I think I could have great fun affecting a prissy mincing gait. Of course, I'd need to make sure I did this in an environment where I could have an announcer say a few well-chosen words about what the song lyrics mean so that people would understand the joke....

ohhh you reminded me one of my fav song I grow up listening, singing and dancing...
Socially we dance to this song in a group not necessarily like line dance or folk dance what we call in Turkish, but traditionally it is mostly danced in a group like in an example below in Folk format.
Since yes like Patrisha said, it has a lot repetitive beats to it (1, 2, 3, 4) easily choreographed in a line dance "folk" format, but it could be done as solo as dance but I would not dance belly dance to it. If I am dancing to this song when I hear I would use karsilama step, grape vine with left foot and right foot kick, I would not use typical belly dance moves. It also reminds me a lot Persian/Armenian style of dancing as well where you can use arms and feetwork.
Here is a famous singer on stage (in a movie)
Neriman Koksal singing on stage:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPeOFlxOd1M]YouTube - NERİMAN KÖKSAL - TİN TİN TİNİMİNİ HANIM[/ame]

It is done in a folk dance:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gDSHVRNzjw]YouTube - güneyce 23 nisan[/ame]

Sinop-where this Folk song originated from
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8mfpRQdsfI]YouTube - Sinop Türküleri - Tini Mini Hanım[/ame]

oh and for the translation you already have the literal translation and kereviz is the root of the celery, which is a common dish mostly eaten in that region (SINOP) of Black Sea...I love that dish, usually made with carrots and potatoes.
So he is being more macho man not eating that dish...
It is a love song with some sarcasm and analogy in it like any other Turkish song ;)