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PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

From the Site

Arab Song Translations

By Lennie Clark

Lennie

From Lennie Clark's Web Site:

جفنه
Gafnouhou

(Her Eyelashes)

 

This page contains a translation into English of the lyrics to the classic Egyptian song "Gafnouhou", which was sung by Mohammed Abdel Wahab. This song was featured in Abdel Wahab's movie musical Al Warda Al Baida (The White Rose).

  • Gafnouhou (Her Eyelashes), 1933
  • Song Title in Arabic: جفنه علم الغزل
  • Appeared in the Movie Al Warda Al Baida (The White Rose)
  • Lyricist: Bishara el-Khouri
  • Composer: Mohammed Abdel Wahab
  • Original Artist: Mohamed Abdel Wahab

Song lyrics are provided for educational purposes. If you like the song, please purchase either the album or a download from an authorized source.

About Mohamed Abdel Wahab

Mohamed Abdel Wahab was a prolific Egyptian composer of the 20th century. He was born in 1902 in the Bab El-Shaariyah neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt, where a statue now stands to honor him. He became known as the "Musician of the Generations" because his career spanned over half a century, creating new hit songs for each successive generation to enjoy.

Abdel Wahab was one of the innovators who created the big-orchestra sound of classical Egyptian music of the 20th century. He was a pioneer of Egyptian cinema, featured in Al Warda Al Baida (The White Rose), which was the second Egyptian movie musical ever made (the first was Ounchoudat al-Fouad).

Abdel Wahab was the first to compose for the "Oriental orchestra" that consisted of instruments from both Europe and the Middle East. In 1954 he introduced the European waltz rhythm into his composition "Al Gondol", and in 1957 he introduced a rock & roll rhythm into the song "Ya Albi Ya Khali" that he composed for Abdel Halim Hafez.

Abdel Wahab was a mentor to Abdel Halim Hafez, and composed many of his hit songs. He also composed ten songs for Oum Kalthoum, including "Enta Omri". In 1976, he composed for Nagwa Fouad the first mejance, "Amar 14".

Some of his personal belongings are housed in a museum at the Music Institute in Cairo.

 

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Lyrics

Her eyelashes are teaching love and what is coming of knowledge
We put a magic on ourselves, a Hill of Kisses
And we grew up but we still dream of play, drink, and youth
Bring it up, bring it up, from a sweet hand
Who has charming eyes should not complain of thirst
Oh my lover, oh my lover
When we get close, our enemies light fire
And our fire goes in a smoke
Forgive us if we fall in love, for we have feelings

 

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Where to Get Recordings of this Song

Ya Tara Ya Nesma CD Cover

 

Artist: Mohammed Abdel Wahab
CD Title: Ya Tara Ya Nesma

Cairo Road CD Cover  

Artist: Various
CD Title: Cairo Road: Great Songs of the Arab World

Alli Garra CD Cover

 

Artist: Asala and Saber
CD Title: Alli Garra

 

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Translations of
Mohammed Abdel Wahab's Songs on this Site

Translations on this web site for songs performed by Mohamed Abdel Wahab include:

 

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Acknowledgements

About the Translator

Adel Abdallah is an Egyptian who resides in New Orleans, Louisiana. If you are traveling to that great city, he invites you to stop by the Cafe Picasso, located at 3401 Chartres (on the corner of Chartres and Desire, in the Bywater). The cafe serves delicious Middle Eastern food, and offers shiisha smoking. They are open daily except for Sundays, from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. (Deliveries until 10 P.M.) The phone number is (504) 948-6881.

The translation summary was done by Adel at Lennie Clark's request. Muchisimas gracias to Kruz, (whose Morocco to India ethnic boutique, located in the historic French Quarter, is not-to-be-missed) for suggesting Adel as a translator.

About the Source

This article originally appeared on Lennie Clark's web site, "Arabic Song Translations." Lennie created this web site in 2002 as a response to discussion on the Internet regarding incidents of dancers who performed inappropriate sensual dances to religious music. Lennie's web site resided on a free web hosting service known as Geocities.

When the planned October 2009 closure of the Geocities web hosting service was announced, Lennie and Shira agreed to move the contents of Lennie's site to Shira.net. To explore all the articles and song translations that once appeared on Lennie's Geocities site, visit Lennie's portal page here on Shira.net.

Lennie Clark

 

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