Top 50/5 Enta Omri انت عمري
“I’ve now just begun to love my life
I’ve now begun to fear for the passing of my lifetime
Every joy that I longed for before you was fantasy
My heart and mind meet find it in the light of your eyes
Oh life of my heart, oh you who is more precious than my life
Why didn’t I meet your love, my darling, sooner?”
Egypt gets a bad rap on Passover – whether the Exodus is fact or fiction, Pharoah and his enslaving oppressors have a place of dishonor in Jewish history. Growing up in Israel did not add to the positive Egyptian PR, no matter how cool King Tut was. But then President Anwar Sadat came over to Jerusalem in the 1970’s and Begin went to Cairo, and my father was involved in the Camp David talks, and there was a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. I was 8. And then a few years later I discovered Um Kulthum, the ‘Fourth Pyramid of Egypt’, the ‘Star of the East’, the formidable diva whose legacy on world music is undeniable. She was a complicated, likely a closeted Lesbian, def. anti-zionist, super diva, but when I heard ‘Enta Omri’ for the first time, on the radio, I was hooked. Everything I was taught (Colonialism) about Arabic music, culture any history was flipped, and opened up for personal
Exploration and admiration.
Enta Omri – You Are My Life, is her grand classic and one of my all time favorite. Jut the opening music waiting for her arrival is worth the wait.. Composed byMohammed Abdel Wahab with lyrics by Ahmad Sahafiq Kamel, this love song tugs at every string there is and then some.
Happy Passover ya’ll. Almost over, freedom and peace to all. And Love. Supersize.
– Amichai
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