From Eskendrella’s Concert

ده بأف مين
كلمات بديع خيري و تلحين سيد درويش

ده بأف مين اللي يألس 

على بنت مصر بأنهي وش

و النبي يجري يتليس

ماطلع كلامه طظ! فش!

النوه النووه

هي هي هيه

شغل البكش ده يا أختي

مابقاش ينفعنا دلوقتي

دي المصرية كتّر خيرها

في التربية سبقت غيرها

يا سيدي إنت

البنت تفضل محبوسة

قال جوه بيتها يكون أظبط

لحد ما تبقى عروسة

بدال ما تفضل تتنطط

العفو العفو

يا سلام

يا سلام يا إخوانا دي العبرة

ماهيش في جوة و لا برّة

عمر الحرة ما تبقى عرّة

عمر العرّة ما تبقى حرة

يا سيدي إنت

باردون يا فندي بالذمة

إيه بس عيب المصرية

الدنيا ضاقت بيك لما

ماتاخدش غير الأفرنجية

إفهم

و إعقل

يا أهبااال

يا أهبل ليه غيرنا يفارقنا

ماتخلي زيتنا في دقيقنا

دي المصرية تبيض وشك

الأفرنجية عينها في قرشك

يا سيدي إنت

اللي ماتكتبش و تقرا

الدجالين قالعين عنها

وتو ما تقع البقرة

مالحق ما تكتر سكاكينها
إخه إخيه ..إخييييه

تفوا عالجهل ميت تفة

يالا نكسر وراه شقفة

من تعليمنا أهلنا خايفة

واقعين ليه من قعر القفة

يا سيدي إنت

خليها دي حلقة في ودنك

من قبل ما تقري الفتحة

أول كلام تقوليه لابنك

وطنك مافيش زيه دحه

م النيل إمبوه

حبووووه

حبه يا نونو بالأكتر

من بابا و ماما والسكر

منه الـتسة و منه المما

إوعك تنسى فرض الأمة

يا جدع إنت

It was my first time to hear this song last night @ the concert…Samia Jahin and Aya Hmeida’s performance for the song was extraordinary kaman.

* Read Omar’s interview with Eskendrella and listen to the song here

Starry, starry night…although it is 10 am

751px-VanGogh-starry_night

Originally uploaded by nerro285.

Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and grey

Look out on a summer’s day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills

Sketch the trees and daffodils

Catch the breeze and the winter chills

In colours on the snowy linen land

Now I understand

What you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity

And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen

They did not know how

Perhaps they’ll listen now

Starry, starry night

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze

Swirling clouds and violet haze

Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue

Colours changing hue

Morning fields of amber grain

Weathered faces lined in pain

Are soothed beneath the artists’ loving hand

Now I understand

What you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity

And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen

They did not know how

Perhaps they’ll listen now

For they could not love you

But still your love was true

And when no hope was left inside

On that starry, starry night

You took your life as lovers often do

But I could have told you Vincent

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Like the strangers that you’ve met

The ragged men in ragged clothes

The silver thorn of bloody rose

Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know

What you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity

And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen

They’re not listening still

Perhaps they never will

Don McLean’s song Starry, Starry night, based on Vincent Van Gogh painting Starry Night which has been painted in 1889.

The Hakeh Niswan Debate

After watching Eve Ensler’s “The vagina Monologue” on stage…Lina Khoury the director and playwright of Hikah Niswan or Women’s talk decided to shock the arab world with her own version..

Ready to take the heat….armed with enough guts, patience, and persistence…she worked on it….….”After five drafts and as many trips to the censors, Khoury finally got approval — but after months of seeing paragraphs scrapped because of subject matter and language”

SURPRISE…SURPRISE!!!!

Hakeh Niswan” was scheduled to run for five nights. There was no advertisement or marketing — just word of mouth. It played to sold-out audiences through those five nights. Then another five nights. It is still playing, and Khoury is hoping the run will last all summer.

Talk about oppression…

TBC…or…I think it deserves a separate post!!

Aurora…legends, Mythology, and Art

Aurora or Northern Lights
In Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, and other places close to the North Pole the night brings a wavy curtain of green, blue, red and other colored lights stretching across the sky. As evening passes to midnight and on to dawn, the folds of the curtain make fantastic decorations over the heavens, forming arcs, rays, and wreaths.

Legends!!
These are some of the many legends concerning Aurora, which still exist in various parts of the world:
- Ancient peoples of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland believe that the Aurora is the fire of torches lighting the way to heaven for the spirits of the dead. The beautiful pink rays, which sometimes appear, are thought to be the color of blood shed in the struggles between the spirits.

- In Japan, an entry in the ancient Nihon Shoki “Chronicles of Japan is an epical monument of Japanese literature, a cycle of myths and historical legends written in 720A.D.” is thought to refer to the aurora.

- In China many sketches resembling the aurora remain. The dark red aurora was considered to be an omen of ill fortune.

In Roman Mythology
Eos, Goddess of the dawn, was known as Aurora and was the sister of Helios, the Sun. Every morning she would rise from her bed and drive Helios into the sky. Four of her sons are the four winds (north, south, east, and west). According to one myth, her tears cause the dew as she flies across the sky weeping for one of her sons, who was killed by Achilles during the Trojan war. Among the handsome young men whom she carried off as lovers were Orion and Tithonus. Eos asked Zeus to give Tithonus immortality but forgot to include ?everlasting youth? with her request.

In Greek Mythology
She is Eos Goddess of the dawn, the daughter of the Hyperion and Theia and the sister of Helios (sun) and Selene (moon). She was the mother of the four winds: Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus, and Notus; and also of Heosphorus and the Stars. She was depicted as a goddess whose rosy fingers opened the gates of heaven to the chariot of the Sun. Her legend consists almost entirely of her intrigues. She first slept with Ares; this earned her the wrath of Aphrodite who punished her by changing her into a nymph.

In Art and Literature
- In the 17th century Aurora the goddess of dawn became a popular figure in Baroque decorations, where she appeared in a chariot driven by the winged horse Pegasus. She often spread flowers while passing by.

- Shakespeare referred to her in his famous play Romeo and Juliet

- Giuseppe Ungaretti, once wrote this epic verse: “Aurora, of the rosy fingers?”. This he recited at the start of a movie on the Homer poem “The Odyssey”. Heard this verse and was touched by its descriptive image and immediately saw in his own mind this mythological figure crossing in the sky at dawn.
In October 1994 he started to work on Aurora. His initial difficulty was to avoid the figure becoming too heavy and massive. He avoided this by giving to the piece an incline that creates an ethereal perspective and weightless atmosphere. He also used a two wheeled chariot instead of a four wheeled one, as more commonly represented in the past.

Finally here is a poem “Goddess of The Dawn” From Aurora Threat’s Behind the Line

As fascinating as the northern lights
To which many are drawn
Luminous in the nights
The Goddess of the dawn
It took some years
For me to understand
The many spears
I’ve had to withstand
I am like the borealis
A beautiful arch of light
While my address is not a palace
I am rich in delight
I am like the sunlit sky
Upon my face a bright smile
Radiant, without a try
Unique, savvy and not hostile
Like a clothing brand name
You try to give me a tag
To lower my head in shame
With gossip and gag
But I am like a twinkling star
When you raise your eyes above
You’ll see me dazzling from afar
Sparkling and overflowing with love