A traditional folk song in Turkish from Anatolia. Recorded for the album " Do what you love" released in 2008.

Mavilim

Cover of a song by Song by Fikret Kızılok recorded around 2003 with the Country and Eastern Band. Recorded in MAnchester at the house of  Una Baines ex-Fall member. Pascal Paschalis played bouzouki.

Yeter ki-band

Bugun bize pir geldi

Memleket derdine

Ormiye - paula darwish - do what you love

I am Island by Paula Darwish and The Country and Eastern Band, recorded in Manchester in the early 2000s at the house of Una Baines, ex-Fall member.

I Am An Island

Early recording from the Country and Eastern Band 2004. I wrote it in 2002 , one of the driest Septembers on record in England. I was out walking when the first rain came down and soaked me to the skin. I was madly in love and madly happy.

First Rain Of September - Paula Darwish Country And Eastern Band - Autumn Sessions

One of my oldest songs. Written around 2001. Here are the lyrics:

The more  I live the more I learn
The more I see the more I yearn
I take the apple bite it hard
And hold the future in my heart
They say that life is like a journey
They say you reap what you sow
I’ve been doing all the right things
But I’m going nowhere real slow
They say save up for the future
They don’t know what it’s like today
They can sell you something to believe in
But they don’t give you time to pray
From inside their corporations
They decide the price of life
You must have heard all the excuses
The lies that lie inside the lies
But there’s no price tag on my conscience
Cos I was born into these times
They tell me that I should be sorry
But I’m not ashamed to be alive
The papers tell us all the meaning
Of being born into this land
But the sand runs through our fingers
When we hold out our caring hand
So take a look at the position
From inside these ivory towers
Cos there’s no logic in the order
And there’s no justice in their power
The more  I live the more I learn
The more I see the more I yearn
I take the apple bite it hard
And hold the future in my heart

Yearn

One of the first songs I ever wrote in the late nineties. I wrote it on the piano when I was in my early twenties, already feeling nostalgic about the innocence of youth. The blissful magic of youthful summers seems hard to recapture after a certain age. Here are the lyrics:
Flashback to the summer
Stirrings of a trace
Must be something in the air
Must be something about this place

Walking by the river
Takes me back to a time
When nothing seemed to matter
Just living life

Now it seems a different world
How could it be
Days and nights of oblivion
We were so carefree

And still summer reminds me of you
Summer reminds me of you

Hazy days, drunken nights
Staying up til the morning light
Swapping lifestyles, matching dreams
Mapping out our histories

How the world seems darker now
But our hearts are wise
But I’m left with no regret
Just a feeling of happiness

And still summer reminds me of you
Summer reminds me of you

Whatever roads I choose to cross
Whatever paths I take
I know somewhere along the way
I’ll be taken back to that place

Summer Reminds Me of You

I wrote this in the late nineties and recorded it at Pete William's Ardwick studio in 2001 when I first moved to Manchester. Tom Knott helped with the sound engineering. Chris Williams played incredible kemençe and Chris Layhe ex-Icicle Works.
 put down the bass. Here are the lyrics:

Catch the sun in your mind, learn to fly
Without wings
Feel your heart beat in the sky
See your dream as if real in neon lights
Feel the one that you miss
Is by your side

All these things I can do
When I just want to be with you
 But  I’m lost in this life
Always swimming against the tide
 And I just wish that you were here with me tonight

When you’re here the future’s far away
Just to live, just to love
Fills all the days
But when you go
I feel tired and I don’t know
If I feel good if I feel bad, if I’m high or low

Will somebody give me an answer
Give me a sign
Lost in this life
Always swimming against the tide
And I just wish that you were here with me tonight

Now I don’t write this down to cry
I’m not trying to say goodbye
I’m not searching for sympathy
Or a quiet place to bleed
No I just want to speak my mind

All the things that we seek
We’ll never find
But some of the things that we want
May come in time

Are we just ships in the night passing
Lost in this life
Always swimming against the tide
And I just wish that you were here with me tonight

Catch the Sun

The first version of the River Lea recorded in 2001 at Pete William's studio in Ardwick with the help of Tom Knott. Chris Williams played kemençe and lavta and Chris Layhe, ex Icicle Works played bass. I wrote the song in the late nineties.

River Lea

I wrote this song in 2008. Lou Armer and I recorded a demo on the eve of Manchester Pride 2009 so we could sell it at our gig there. I had a bad back and a stinking cold so it was a long night, but we managed to get down 4 tracks.

Save Me (demo Version)- Paula Darwish And Lou Armer

I wrote this song in 2008. Lou Armer and I recorded a demo on the eve of Manchester Pride 2009 so we could sell it at our gig there. I had a bad back and a stinking cold so it was a long night, but we managed to get down 4 tracks. Here are the lyrics:

Silver Sailor, night on fire
Lunar landscape of desire
Stars above I hope you always shine over me
 
When my armour's wearing thin
You're still  there to let me in
Stars above I hope you always 
Shine over me

Fill my heart and make me strong
I've been waiting for so long
And right now I feel this journey
Just goes on and on
 
I can climb the extra mile
When I dream about your smile
And I know your love
Is lifting me to higher ground
 
There's a world that I can see
With a little place for me
Where  the  moon and stars
And you are shining over  me

Silver Sailor - Paula Darwish And Lou Armer - Manchester Pride 2009

Original Song: Zülfü Livaneli 

Recorded  with the Country and Eastern Band in 2005 in a studio in Stockport. I wasn't happy with the recording at the time so it was never released.

Kardesin Duymaz

Recorded in 2001 at Pete Williams' Ardwick studio when I first moved to Manchester. Tom Knott helped with the sound engineering. Chris Williams played  kemençe and lavta. I wrote it in 2000 when I came back from a trip to  Istanbul.  I had intended to stay and start a band there but ran out of money so I had to come back to England to get a day job. It was  my first experiment with using eastern instruments on my songs.

City

Anglo-Arab singer songwriter, arranger and performer of Turkish and Kurdish folk music. Former member of the Country and Eastern Band and United Nomads of Dance. Currently performing with Paula Darwish Anatolian Folk Trio.

Paula Darwish

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