Thread: Min Feegis = Inta Omri, right???

George Abdo's Min Feegis sounds exactly like the introduction to the Om Kalsoum live version of Inta Omri. Right? Or am I hallucinating? This is driving me crazy. Please confirm or deny. Thank you!!

You aren't hallucinating. The beginning of Min Feegis is Inta Omri. The rest of it is a Greek song. There is even a blurb about in the brochure that comes with the Best of George Abdo CD.

Thanks!!!!!!

I don't have that CD and I thought I had them all. Hmmm.


One thing I don't like about buying music downloads is you don't get the liner notes. I know for Hossam Ramzy's cds, the liner notes can be very valuable. I guess I'll have to get this one. THANKS Norma!!!

IIRC, George's recording of "Ta Mavra Matia Sou" is also based on "Nebtidi Mini el Hikaya," another famous Arabic song.

It seems that he liked to do that - Raks Averof is more commonly known as Hijaz Dolap.

It's funny, I first started dancing to George Abdo's music. I can't dance to most of it anymore. It's too simplistic for me. But I recommend the CD for the brochure alone. It gives a nice little history for anyone interested in belly dancing in that era.

Can anyone tell me the name of the song in this video? It's the same as George Abdo's Raks Gamal.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjcXUHntyzc&feature=related]YouTube - ‫شبيه اصاله شابه يمنيه‬‎[/ame]

That is Nassam Aleyna. In my Abdo collection, that tune is not labeled as Raks Gamal, it is under the correct title, but I know that there is somewhere (including in iTunes) a mess-up of Abdo's song names.

I love Fairuz' Nassam Aleyna.

Wow, steffi, that was fast! I just posted it 1o minutes ago, if that.
Ty. I knew Raks Gamal didn't sound right for this tune. I guess when I finally get around getting all of his tunes from an MP3 store, I'll have to make sure they're labeled properly. One more thing to worry about with making sure the site has the right to sell them to begin with

Plus, now I must look for Fairuz's version! I love her any way.

Hehe, I was just chilling out over Bhuz w/ a glass of wine when I saw this, you have good timing ;-)

I am not aware of labeling problems with downloaded mp3s other than George Abdo, so you should be quite safe.

You'll love Fairuz' version! The song title of what I got (from emusic, as I recall) is spelled "Nassam Alaynal Hawa".

I am highly irritated by music albums in which the real names of the traditional and classic songs have been arbitrarily changed by the cover musician. The Asena series (I think) on emusic is like this.

Stupid western dancers won't know the difference anyway, right? Plus the album will sell better if we make up cheesey names like 'move your pelvis' and 'harem delight'.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

IIRC, George's recording of "Ta Mavra Matia Sou" is also based on "Nebtidi Mini el Hikaya," another famous Arabic song.

Turns out that "Ta Mavra Matia Sou" is an arabic tune which made its way to Greece and was embraced by the Greeks.

Originally Posted by norma

You aren't hallucinating. The beginning of Min Feegis is Inta Omri. The rest of it is a Greek song. There is even a blurb about in the brochure that comes with the Best of George Abdo CD.

Can anyone tell me where to find a recording of "Inta Omri" by Om Kalthoum where I can hear this? None of the ones I've found so far sound like "Min Feegis".

Originally Posted by spicedjellybeans

Can anyone tell me where to find a recording of "Inta Omri" by Om Kalthoum where I can hear this? None of the ones I've found so far sound like "Min Feegis".

All of my recordings of Inta Omri by UK have that part. It is the intro to the song, before she even starts singing. Listen to Abdo's Min Fengis after the intial innuendo, but before he sings and a bit into his singing - that's the part. Starting at 35 seconds into George's song, and about 2 minutes+change into the 59 minutes version of Oum Kalthoum.

Originally Posted by steffib

All of my recordings of Inta Omri by UK have that part. It is the intro to the song, before she even starts singing. Listen to Abdo's Min Fengis after the intial innuendo, but before he sings and a bit into his singing - that's the part. Starting at 35 seconds into George's song, and about 2 minutes+change into the 59 minutes version of Oum Kalthoum.

Right. The Inta Omri part is only in the very beginning. The rest of the song Min Feegis is based off of a Greek Folk song.

To quote the booklet that came with the Best of George Abdo CD:
Min Feegis (Don't Leave Me)

"Recycling tunes is a hallmark of this gener of Middle Eastern music. We recognize this introduction to this supposedly Greek song as the beginning of the famous song "Inte Omri" composed by Muhammad Abd al Wahhab and made famous by the singer Umm Kulthum, also from Egypt. Here it is used as introductory material and the interlude of the Greek tune "Min Feegis" with little variation from the original."

Here's the Fairuz version of Nassem

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUbQcxsJwWQ]YouTube - Fairouz - Nassam Alayna Al Hawa[/ame]

I like the Elissa version too.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRzW4Up9ONs&feature=related"]YouTube - Elissa - Nassam 3alayna el hawa[/ame]

Originally Posted by steffib

All of my recordings of Inta Omri by UK have that part. It is the intro to the song, before she even starts singing. Listen to Abdo's Min Fengis after the intial innuendo, but before he sings and a bit into his singing - that's the part. Starting at 35 seconds into George's song, and about 2 minutes+change into the 59 minutes version of Oum Kalthoum.

Thank you steffi for taking the trouble to get the times for me. Yes, now I can hear it. It was hard because "Min Feegis" is so much faster than "Inta Omri".

Originally Posted by spicedjellybeans

Turns out that "Ta Mavra Matia Sou" is an arabic tune which made its way to Greece and was embraced by the Greeks.

I was told there is a LOT of that in the Mediterranean -- one tune, completely different lyrics and subject for different cultures. I've seen folk dances from different areas with the exact same music, but totally different music. I guess that area is as big a melting pot as the US.

One of my Greek-born students tells me her mother used to sing her Ya Moustafa, while a Turkish girl I met in Atl swore up and down that was a Turkish folk song.

Now I just say "Mediterranean" when I introduce a song. That covers me for pretty much anything except the Balkans. :)

Heyyyyy the greek is back lol (me he he)

So the songs that are from George Abdo, was first used in Greece (ofcourse a copy of many arabic songs) by Manolis Aggelopoulos

The song "my fygeis" we call it in greek "ta filia sou einai fotia" = your kisses are fire.

And here is the song:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9qJ5aQ4V9I]YouTube - Manolis Aggelopoulos - Ta filia sou fwtia[/ame]

..g.:

Oh Maria! Thanks for posting this! I love this version!

I've noticed over the years that many songs are used in Arabic/Turkish/Greek cultures, it's no different than American songs being adapted for Latin music or vice versa.

One of my Turkish dancer friends always says, this song is Turkish, they stole it! So the question always becomes who did the song first, of course both camps like to claim they were the first!! ..l;,

Here is my most recent adventure in finding the roots of a song, which left me quite surprised and excited: There is the documentary "Whose song is it" about Uskudara. A woman travels around Turkey/Greece/the Balkans to find out where that song comes from. She doesn't really come up w/ a good answer - everybody claimed it is "their song". Now, recently, I found a recording of "Fel Sharah", labeled as coming from the Sephardic Jews in Egypt - and yep, it is Uskudara! So, sometimes the answer may be a complete surprise ;-)

When I lived in Japan, some of the "Walk/Don't Walk" signals in my city played the melody of a traditional Japanese folk song for crossing one street and "(When a Body Meets a Body) Comin' Through the Rye" for crossing the other. It was explained to me quite seriously by a number of Japanese people that both tunes were from very, very old Japanese songs. Universal phenomenon?