Written specifically as a response to the upcoming novel "Home is Not a Country", by Safia Elhillo, this song is a celebration of nostalgia and diaspora. In the novel the lead character, Nima, has a special love for old Egyptian movies which connect her to a past she doesn't know or understand fully. I imagined this song to be coming out of a scene in old Cairo at a cabaret, performed by a Nubian singer who is the first in her family to be born in the big city after the high dam was built. She is displaced and experiences a feeling of diaspora within her country. She is torn between the past world of her family and their stories of home and her new home in the cosmopolitan center that is Cairo. She feels the longing yet doesn't know what it is she exactly longs for because all she knows are bits of stories. I wanted to create a song that reflected that sentiment. So I went to Cairo and produced this song there with some of my favorite musicians out there in order to fully capture the atmosphere I was seeking.

Buy the song - https://alsarah.bandcamp.com/track/yo...​

Buy the book - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...​

Song Title: Your love is Home / حبك وطن

Lead Vocals, Lyrics and Melody: Alsarah

Qanoon + Keys: Fady Badr

Accordion: Wael ElSayed

Bass: Ahmed Omar

Percussion: Rami ElAasser 

Backing Vocals: Nahid

Produced: Alsarah

Recording Engineer: Muhammed Hassan El Bossiley at 14th st Maadi, Cairo

Mixing and Mastering Engineering: Kamilo Kratc at Soundworks Recording Studios, Queens NY


من طمي النيل معجون بهواك اه اه

لابس الصوميت معقود بحجاب اه اه 

حبك بلاد بدون حدود اه اه 

مكان ميعادنا بين الصخور اه اه

والريح يغني للنخيل اه اه

يوم الفراق مكتوب مصير 


تحت الشباك مريت يا فلان اه اه

وانا خلف الشيش عيوني متابعاك اه اه

شايل معاك الاماني والآمال اه اه

ماشي سواح ولا العوده ما لها ميعاد؟ 


زي البحر عمق الآهات اه اه 

وفي المنام اسمك يقال آه آه 

يتردد بين الأمواج اه اه 

والحور يغني عن الفراق اه اه 


من طمي النيل النيل النيل 


حبك بلاد بدون حدود اه اه 

مكان ميعادنا بين الصخور اه اه 

والريح يغني للنخيل اه اه 

والحور يغني عن الفراق 

يوم الفراق مكتوب مصير اه اه 

يوم الفراق مكتوب مصير اه آه 

يوم الفراق مكتوب مصير آه آه 

ليه الفراق مكتوب مصير 

A rough translation-


From the silt of the Nile you are molded , I love you /long for you

Wearing someet knotted w a protection amulet 

Your love is a country with no borders 

Our meeting place between the boulders

And the wind sings to the palm trees, 

the day of parting is written destiney 


Under the window, you passed ya fulan*

And I'm behind the shutters my eyes following you 

Carrying with you hopes and dreams

are you going a tourist or does the return have no date?


Like the sea so is the depth of my wails 

And in slumber your name is called, echoing between the waves 

And the sirens sing about the parting 


From the silt of the Nile the Nile the Nile 


Your love is a country with no borders 

Our meeting place between the boulders 

And the wind sings to the palm trees

And the sirens sing about the parting 

The day of parting is written destiny 

The day of parting is written destiny

The day of parting is written destiny 

Why is the parting written destiny 


photo by Wael Gzoly. // Video and Graphics by Rana Jubara

حبك وطن // Your love is home

Written, Recorded, Produced by: Alsarah
Album: Soul Sudani - EP


Jamilla

Cover/Remix by Alsarah
[original: 1980s Sudanese Public School Assembly line Anthem]
Vocals: Alsarah, Nahid
Lyrics: Alsarah
Produced by Alsarah
Album: Soul Sudani ~ EP

Fi Himaka Rabna Ft. Nahid

Garrib Ley by Alsarah

Alsarah & The Nubatones - Nuba Noutou. ونوبة نوتو

الزول صديقى - سلالم (live)

Indian vocals over synthesiser trance and drums

Channelling

Jamal Porto - Gamar Badawi قمر بيضوي - جمال بورتو

Afta'h Albab - Rasha Sheikh El - Din | رشا شيخ الدين - أفتح الباب

Ahmed AbaYazid (Vocals)
Hussein Gamal (Guitars/MusicProduction)
Bahir Gamal (Keyboard/Composer)
Mohamed Sawwah (Trumpet)
Rima El-Sharkawy (BackingVocal)
Rozza (Diz/Duf)
Shams (Drums/Duf)
Azeema (Req/Duf)

Lyrics: Mohamed Abdallah 
Sound Engineer: Sherif Galal 
Recorded at Prism Entertainment

حبك وطن // Your love is home

Alsarah 5000

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