It's Me ! ... Singing ! ... In Arabic !

I don't usually post videos (especially not of me singing!), so when I posted this one on my social media accounts a couple days ago, I was really shocked and surprised at the overwhelming reception it got. In less than two days on Twitter alone, my little video of me singing a snippet of a popular love song in Arabic was "trending" and was viewed more than 50 thousand times! I certainly didn't expect that.

And then this morning, someone messaged me that my video had been on Saudi TV!!!

I first learned this song more than 40 years ago shortly after I met my husband in Arizona. The original hit song was composed and sung by beloved Saudi singer, the late Talal Maddah. The lyrics come from a poem written by Prince Badr ibn Abdulmohsin Al Saud, one of the most famous poets of Saudi Arabia. The name of the song is "Zaman As Samt," which means "Time of Silence." To hear the song in its entirety sung  by Talal Maddah (with English translation), CLICK HERE.  

For those of you interested in what the lyrics of the song actually mean, such beautiful haunting poetry often doesn't translate well from Arabic to English.  So just the lines that I sing here say something like this -

My lover, oh, my lover
I have engraved your name on my voice
I have engraved it on the wall of time
On the color of the tranquil sky, on the valley
On my death and on my birth
On the color of the tranquil sky
My lover, oh, my lover
I shall spend my life waiting for you
Do not deprive me of your presence
For my life is yours
And so it departs

FYI - I've only ever posted one other video of myself in all these years, and that one was of me explaining why I wasn't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, back before women finally achieved that right in June 2018.

Linking to -  OUR WORLD TUESDAY   and  My Corner of the World 

FACES OF ARABIA 4

A DESERT BEAUTY

MUSICIAN

VENDOR WITH A SMILE

LINKING TO - THROUGH MY LENS

TUESDAY'S TREASURES

A big thank you to my friend, tour guide Mohammed at Najran Tours, for allowing me to showcase these photos for today's post.  Visit his Instagram page  @NajranTours

https://www.instagram.com/najrantours/

https://www.facebook.com/najran.tours

Tantora's "Persian Nights" #MusicWithoutBorders

The Winter at Tantora Festival in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia, featured world class artists and entertainers from around the globe, including Andrea Bocelli, Kool and the Gang, Yanni, Enrique Iglesias, Lionel Richey, Il Divo, Jose Carreras, and more!

The concert on the evening I attended was a historic event called "Persian Nights," which highlighted four different fantastic musical groups featuring popular older Persian singers, all but one of whom were in their 60s and 70s, proving that they've still got what it takes to bring the house down.

There were even female musicians in the bands and one female Persian singer, Leila Forouhar. While these popular vocalists are banned from performing in their own country of Iran, their talents were celebrated at the Winter at Tantora Festival in Saudi Arabia

Inside the beautiful Miraya Concert Hall, a state of the art facility built just over a year ago, the laser lights flashed and flickered, changing colors with the beat of the music - and history was made in Saudi Arabia as the country welcomed these beloved Iranian performers to the stage.

Censorship in Saudi Arabia: Taylor Swift

Censorship in Saudi Arabia is often accomplished by someone taking a marking pen to women's skin if the person doing the censoring thinks too much of it is showing.  Taylor Swift's bright yellow strapless dress looks rather awkward with the skin of her arms, legs, and shoulders marked out in blue marker. Sometimes skin is marked out with scribbles, and times like these, great care is taken to color within the lines.

Below is what the CD sold in the rest of the world looks like...

Oud

This stringed musical instrument is popular in the Middle East and in Middle Eastern music. I wrote a more detailed post with more photos of the oud on my other blog, Susie's Big Adventure. If you are interested in reading more about the oud and hearing its sound, please click here.