Dr. Ramzi Salti (left) introduces Tenor Mate Tasin Turkish Opera singer Mete Tasin, whose repertoire has long included songs in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Persian, and Turkish, recently debuted an amazing rendition of the song "Lamma Bada Yatathanna" لما بدا يتثنى in Arabic. The song was introduced by Stanford Lecturer Dr. Ramzi Salti during Mete's concert at Angelica's in Redwood City on Saturday April 28, 2018 and left the audience cheering for more. You can watch Mete's performance below or at https://youtu.be/owP7nqpVMyM Lamma Bada Yatathanna is an ancient muwashshah, a genre of secular music from Al Andalus, Moorish Spain, which means it’s from some time before 1492. Here are the lyrics in Arabic and in English translation: لما بدا يتثـنى *** حبي جمـاله فتنــا أوما بلحظه أسرنا *** غصن سـنا حين مال وعدي ويا حيرتى *** من لي رحيم شكوتي في الحب من لوعتي ***إلا مليـك الجمــال When my beloved begins to sway, His/her beauty drives me t
A blog by Stanford Lecturer Dr. Ramzi Salti spotlighting his Arabology radio show/podcast + cultural productions from the Arab world.