Friday, April 8, 2011

The Lebanese Influence on Jazz!

Check This Out!!

   An american Jazz singer called Slim Gaillard lived in detroit through the 40s. He was apparently influenced by the well-known Arabic community that exists in detroit and wrote a couple of songs that have almost all arabic lyrics.

This one is called Yep-roc heresay. It's made up of food lyrics! Now all you arabs out there know that yabra2, or in the lebanese dialect wara2 3areesh, is stuffed grape leaves. Also, harissi is a meal made in special occasions in villages across lebanon and several other arab countries. It is made with wheat, chicken, and meat cooked slowly over long hours.

From what I've read so far, He was once broke and owners of an armenian restaurant took him in. So that's how he got the food lyrics from. He used many words but the ones I understood were: "kibbi b soniyi" (kebbe in a tray), la7me meshwi (ٌRoasted meat), Banadora (tomatoes), borghol, etc... The funny part is, The song was actually "banned on at least two Los Angeles radio stations for its suspicious lyric references to drug and crime"!! Now ain't that something... Yabra refers to drugs!! Well to be fair it is stuffed and rolled just like a joint... And harissi is cooked for long hours just like meth...

Now I cant get my hand on the second one but I've heard it before and it says "Sa3idi, kif l sa7a" which basically means "Good morning, how are you?" in the lebanese dialect... So if anyone finds it, please post it in a comment or e-mail it to me so I can add it here.




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