Friday, April 17, 2009

Ma Jen

One night I went to a mad inn
I saw a huge tit old maiden
She was like wine 1944 made in
She took my mind and dissolved it in her glass


Al Abouthi'ya is a type of Iraqi poetry written in our slang language which is a mixture of Arabic, ruminants of old languages, and words from different civilizations that lived once, or invaded once, in Iraq like Persian, Turkish, and England. Some few other origins of words also exist like the word "Timman" which we use in Iraq to describe rice and it is of Chinese origin.
Al Abouthi'ya may have its origins from the Sumerian poetry which sometimes use a similar technique. The technique is to use four lines, the first three end in the same word sound which would have a different meaning each time. The last line usually ends more freely and uniting the above three lines in a meaning.

Al Maw'wal, is a way of singing. It is a slow recitation of an Abouthi'ya with the aid of usually only one instrument.
Ya beh…..
Aakh ya ya beh….
Yuba ma jen…..
Ya heefi i3la lyali ib3idan ma jen,
El hamid lallah bjifak el 3akil ma jen
Ana bicheet u min dumo3i jbal ma jen
3ala wlifi il misha w ib3ad 3alaya
Shoon bi'ya…



Oh father,
Oh brother,
Father MA JEN (a word that was used in the poem to denote three different meanings: didn't come, didn't become crazy, and surged)
What a lost the nights went away and didn't return
Thanks God the mind didn't go away with you
Because of my tears, mountains started surging
Crying on my love who went and left me alone
What to do with myself?

7 comments:

Touta said...

wow.

its very very beautiful.

:)

saminkie said...

Glad you like it Touta.

:)

Touta said...

I don't just like it, I love it, i just wish it was longer.

I was quite sad it finished. Short and sweet as they say.

:)

saminkie said...

Thank you Touta. The Mawal is performed by Yas Khidir. I didn't like his voice before, but I don't know what happened that turned his voice in my ear into a magically wonderful voice. Can you see how he can control it? He is great.

The picture of the lady is taken from an internet site that i forgot its adress.

:)

Anonymous said...

Sami
Nice one
The first time I "got" the concept my response was "sweet for my sweet, sugar for my honey" much to my "tutor's" surprise :)

Touta said...

What's so good about his voice, is it feels like he is even controlling his own emotions, and his voice changes to suit the word which he says.
I love how the light hits the old woman's face, like its bringing a ray of hope in the darkness.

:)

saminkie said...

Yes Touta he seems to control his voice and emotions very efficiently. He is really a professional singer. We should be more proud of him.

Photography is also an important art that captures moments of our life. We got many professional Iraqi photographers but we don't know them. It was a huge mistake by me that I didn't refere to the name of the photographer who took that wonderful picture for that beautiful Iraqi lady.

Hope in the future I will be more attentive to mention the names of the photographers that I like. I forgot the site that I took this picture from.

:)