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

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

Out NOW on LP, Digital, CD and Tape! Purchase from our Bandcamp http://wonderwheelrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/silt

Wonderwheel Recordings is proud to present the debut album, Silt, from Sudanese singer Alsarah and her band the Nubatones. Called “The New Star Of Nubian Pop” by The Guardian, the album was produced solely by Alsarah who describes the sound of Silt as “East African Retro Pop” - it’s music that harkens back to the hazy sounds of 1960s and 70s Nubian music with it’s Eastern instrumentation, soaring vocal melodies, and pentatonic arrangements. 

The album has it’s musical roots in the Nubian “Songs of Return” that began to spring up after mass displacement and resettlement of hundreds of thousands in a region of lower Nubia that went under water after Egypt built Aswan High Dam to control the flooding of the Nile in 1970. The focus of these songs, both thematically and lyrically is about a return to home and the beauty of home and embodies a certain kind of saudade – a nostalgic longing for a place that no longer exists. The album encompasses Alsarah and her band’s musical curiosities in the concept of migration and Silt is their take on this mixed with the musical fusion happening in 1970s Khartoum, along with Arabic and North African influences appearing in the mix. 

Alsarah, is a Sudanese born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Born in the capital city of Khartoum, where she spent the first 8 years of her life, she relocated to Taez, Yemen with her family to escape the ever stifling regime in her native country. She abruptly moved to the US in 1994, when a brief civil war broke out in Yemen. Now residing in Brooklyn, NY, she is a self-proclaimed practitioner of East-African retro-pop. Working on various projects, she most recently has been working with The Nile Project and was featured on their debut release, Aswan (named 1 of the Top 5 “Must Hear” international albums by NPR). She has also collaborated with French producer Débruit on the album Aljwal, released this past November via Soundway Records UK. 

The Nubatones started out as dinner conversation between Alsarah and percussionist Rami El Aasser in his living room, digging thru archives of old music from North Africa, and reading about migration patterns in modern day Nubia, Soon the conversation opened into a musical one and spread to include master Oud player and Luthier Haig Manoukian and bass player Mawuena Kodjovi. With a collective love for pentatonic music and a common understanding of what it means to be an immigrant, the group went on to perform both nationally and internationally at prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center, The Apollo Music Cafe, Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park, The World Music festival in Chicago, and the Festival du Mond Arab in Montreal just to name a few. 



Silt

Rennat

Artist: Amira Kheir 
Title: Alsahraa
Cat.No: STCD1122
Label:  Sterns Music
Digital release: 24th February, 2014
CD release: 17th March, 2014

Backed by double bass, acoustic guitar and percussion, and with only the lightest of touches from other guest musicians, Amira Kheir could hardly be accused of over-producing her latest album, Alsahraa. No, rather in the spirt of the album's title, “the desert”, her sound is clear and ascetic, and recorded in the acoustically beautiful space of the Union Chapel, London, it is a true and honest reflection of Amira's own compelling live performances. 

Since the release of her debut album View From Somewhere in 2011, Amira has continued to develop and refine her unique interpretation of the Sudanese tradition. This she achieves by combining it with original material in a contemporary acoustic setting, and while on Alsahraa she confines herself to just two languages, Arabic and Italian, her voice explores this repertoire with the ease and passion that only a true tri-lingual singer can. Born in Italy of Sudanese parents, Amira has now made London her home. 

Relaxed yet alert and articulate, Amira is no stranger to the BBC and other broadcasters' studios, nor indeed, to some of the world's most prestigious stages and festivals including the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Festival Of The Desert in Mali. But it would be wrong to paint Amira as some globe-trotting world music wanna-be star. Her music might be set in the wide open spaces of Alsahraa, but its impact is intimate and personal.  

Tracklisting:

1.Ya Gadir 2'36
2.Alsahraa 5'08 
3.Habibi Ta'al 6'10
4.Ya Mara 4'30
5.Luna 5'27
6.Sera 4'01
7.Kasr Almiraya 4'58
8.Ma'assalama Rafiqi 6'20
9.Fil Teyf 6'42
10.Khallooni 6'01

Some previous press:
	
“charming performer who's captured her live acoustic sound well … comfortable with both high drama and intimate balladry.” The Independent
	
“it (Amira's debut album) is both beautiful and fearless.” Songlines

www.sternsmusic.com

Amira @ Sterns

Amira Kheir - Ya Gadir (excerpt) / Ya Mara (excerpt): from 'Alsahraa'

Babylone Mnam

من التراث البور سعيدي .. قراءة جديدة 

يومًا تعاتبنا - Hamza Namira \ Ramon Ruiz \ Manuet da la Nina

ستنيتك-ياسر جرادي

X Elsat7 Live music album "Mazeek band"

Mixed and mastered: Khaled Elgabry
Sound Engineer: Mohamed Hasan

x elsat7 live concert

Hasna

Ay Yetma

Une heure de hip-hop africain cueilli à la main par le Grigri !

Tracklist
Flippter – Blue_ A colors Sudan Show (Soudan)
Bizzle Barry X BM Jaay- Def Sunyu Def (Gambie/Sénégal)
Naira Marley X Zlatan Ibile – Am I a Yahoo Boy (Nigéria)
Octopizzo- Kanye (Kenya)
Rayvanny feat Phyno- Slow
Beyoncé feat Tekno/ Yemi Alade/ Mr. Eazi- Don’t Jealous Me (Nigéria)
DJ Amaroula- Likolo (Congo)
Ko C feat Fanicko – Sango (Cameroun)
Gaz Mawete –Nguebe (Congo)
Tekno X Zlatan Ibile- Agege (Nigéria)
Wegz – El Zar (Egypte)
West- Grave Remix (Maroc)
Dip Doundou Guiss feat Bass Thioung- LNN (Sénégal)

www.le-grigri.com
www.facebook.com/legrigriradio
www.instagram.com/legrigriradio
twitter.com/legrigriradio
@le-grigri-radio

African hip-hop | Mix 006

Live Performance in Aswan, Egypt January 2013
Written by Alsarah, featuring The Nile Project Orchestra.
Buy it here - http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thenileproject


Salaam Nubia ft. the Nile Project

TIWIZA c'est une fusion réussie de riffs chaâbi (populaire), de mélodies berbères et d’esprit rock’n’roll. Une musique populaire, profondément enracinée en terre africaine qui amalgame tradition et modernité.

Ay Yetma

Tiwiza

Related tracks