An impossible love
- By: Abdul Aziz Ali Omer
Before writing an elegy devoted to the late Palestinian muscian Elham Farah, assasinated by an Isreali sniper. Sophie Ramsay, one of my friends said ” To lose one human is to lose a part of the tissue that our universe is made of Yes, all lives matter and deserve being respected and protected ” As she recalled her, she mentioned that Elham in her life-time played on the Accordion numerous melodies including El Bint El Shalabiya ” It’s a song about an impossible love.-a boy meets an almond eyed girl under the pomegranate tree, but they can’t be together. Fairuz sings it most famously. It’s a song that perfectly encapsulates heartbreak.” Sophie wrote in the social media.
Dina Franji , another friend explained that ” Shelabi” and Shalabyie ” in Palestinian and Levant dialect means beautiful , pretty or handsome. Here are the lyrics of the song as translated by Dina Franji:
“…The beautiful girl
Her eyes are almond-shaped
I love you from my heart
Oh, my heart, you are my eyes*
I love you from my heart
Oh, my heart, you are my eyes
Under the arches
My love is waiting for me It wasn’t easy for me to let you down, my love
You appear in the distance and my heart is wounded
And I reminisce about days past
Under the pomegranate tree
My love spoke to me
Sang me songs
Oh my eyes*
And flirted with me”. Such a song for any one living in the diaspora is emblematic of lost home and missing loved ones.It”s yearning for reunion and the old good days. It’s the fantasy of the east and the beauty of other shores doesn’t rival the splendour of ElBint ALShalabiya” which will remain as a memento of first love. Shalabiya is a belonging to the earth,an emotional alliegence to the land on which grew the promegranate tree that woud l remain for lovers as street to meet even it disappeared under the wreckage and rubble during the tempest that is hostile to the love of Eve and the return of Adam to Shalabiya. If ” Elbint Alshalbiya”
– the pretty girl transformed into ” Elbint AlSarkha”- the girl/ the scream as it had been imagined by the poet Mahmoud Darwish, the solace for “Elbint Alshalabiya woud lie in that “” hazy hand, some sort of a divine hand that helps her”” My love and best wishes to every “Shalabiya” in the world. My condolences to the family of the artist Elham Farah whose voice was unjustly silenced after charmingly performing the song of ” Elbint Ashalabiya”. I hope that in Gaza , Khartoum, and other cities of the two friendly countries, members of two fratenal nations will stay safe amidst the turbulence.