“Helwa, Ya Baladi”

My wife and I spent our first four married years living in greater Cairo, Egypt, and we have many happy memories of the place.  We’ve been back several times, but, until today, hadn’t returned for a few years.  (Hosni Mubarak was still the president when we last visited, and he was plainly grooming his son to succeed him as president.)

This morning, we left Jerusalem, traveled to Ben Gurion Airport, and flew into Cairo.

It still amazes me that an Egyptian airliner, with an Egyptian crew, brought us from the neighborhood of Tel Aviv.  Many years ago, while we were living in Cairo, my wife and I went to Israel to visit my friend, current BYU department colleague, and former Swiss Mission companion Stephen Ricks, who was studying then at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  We were obliged to fly from Egypt to Athens, and from Athens to Israel.  It was an amazing day, something of a compendium of the roots of western civilization.  (We saw the Great Pyramid in the morning, walked on the Acropolis of Athens during a long layover in the afternoon, and slept that night within walking distance of the site of Solomon’s and Herod’s temples.)  But it wasn’t the most convenient travel arrangement.  Now, though, the flight is direct and short.  And the Cairo Airport, which was nightmarish when I first came here in 1978, is spectacular.  Even nicer than the last time we flew in.

Anyway, we’re staying out in an area of the desert west of Cairo that is entirely new to us, newly developed, in a very nice hotel.  It’s good to be here.  Egypt is, in some ways, a difficult place, and it’s going through difficult times.  (The currency is at an all-time low, I think.  The prices for Americans are insanely cheap, but I can easily imagine that many Egyptian businesses — and many Egyptians — are finding this very challenging.)  Still, my wife and I love this place.

During the time we lived here, the Franco-Italian singer Dalida, who was born and raised in Egypt (and who had been “Miss Egypt” for 1954), recorded a piece entitled “Helwa, Ya Baladi” that became extraordinarily popular here.  I’ve had it going through my head over and over again today.  Here’s a recording of it:

And here are the lyrics (my apologies for the ugly Arabic script that always appears in my published blog entries, which isn’t the one that I see when I write them), with a somewhat loose English translation:

كلمة حلوة وكلمتين
حلوة يابلدي
غنوة حلوة وغنوتين
حلوة يابلدي
أملي دايماً كان يابلدي .. إني أرجعلك يابلدي
وافضل دايماً جنبك .. على طول

ذكريات كل اللي فات … خضرا يابلدي
قلبي مليان في حكايات … خضرا يابلدي
أول حب كان في بلدي … مش ممكن أنساه يابلدي
فين أيام زمان …. قبل الوداع
كـنـّـا منقول إن الفراق ده مستحيل
وكلّ دمعة على الخدّين كانت بتسيل
مليانة بأمل إن احنا نبقى موجودين … في بحر الحبّ .. على الشطين

كلمة حلوة وكلمتين …حلوة يابلدي
غنوة حلوة غنوتين … حلوة يابلدي
فين حبيب القلب يابلدي .. كان بعيد عني .. يابلدي
وكل مابغني .. بفكّر فيه
قول يا حبيبي انت سايبني ورايح فين
أجمل لحن ده ح نغنيه أحنا التنين
يا محلا كلمة بلدي في غنوة بين سطرين
ياليل يا عين … يا عين ياليل
ياليل ياليلي ليلي

كلمة حلوة وكلمتين
حلوة يابلدي
غنوة حلوة غنوتين
حلوة يابلدي
أملي دايماً كان يابلدي .. إني أرجعلك يابلدي
وافضل دايماً جنبك .. على طول
قمر يابلدي … حلوة يا بلدي

A few beautiful words
You’re beautiful, my country
A few beautiful songs
You’re beautiful, my country
I always hoped to return to you, my country
And stay beside you always and forever

Memories of everything that has passed
You’re green, my country
My heart is full of stories
You’re green, my country
My first love was in my country
I’ll never forget him, my country
Where are the times of old, before we parted ways
We were saying that this separation was impossible
And every tear running down my cheek
Was full of hope that we would remain there
In the sea of love, on the shores

A few beautiful words
You’re beautiful, my country
A few beautiful songs
You’re beautiful, my country
Where is my sweetheart, my country
He was so far from me, my country
And whenever I sing, I think of him
Tell me my darling, where have you gone and left me?
We’ll both sing this most beautiful tune
The words “my country” are so beautiful in a song between two lines
La la la oh oh oh la la oh oh oh

A few beautiful words
You’re beautiful, my country
A few beautiful songs
You’re beautiful, my country
I always hoped to return to you, my country
And stay beside you always and forever
You’re a moon (meaning “you’re beautiful), my country
You’re beautiful, my country

Posted from Cairo, Egypt