“We’ll Spin a Garment of Joy”: Ala Hesb Wedad
Abdel Halim Hafez
Ala Hesb Wedad, originally sung by Abdel Halim Hafez, is one of those songs that I feel like I have known forever, but I always tuned it out as soon as I heard it start and wasn’t very interested in it, and I’m really not sure why. In May 2020 I had the opportunity to work deeply on this song as part of an assignment during Karen Barbee’s Project Band performance improvisation program. It was an exercise in in working with music I wasn’t particularly in love with and was selected because the song has some interesting timing. After that experience of getting to know the song inside and out, I certainly discovered its charm. In 2023, I was preparing a presentation on this song as part of a workshop series on Arabic songs and then I really had a chance to investigate it even more deeply.
Videos are one of my favorite tools for bringing a song to life in a workshop, especially live performance recordings that allow us a close look at the singers and musicians, and I like to use them whenever possible. While preparing this workshop I found a video from a 1964 Abdel Halim concert, which includes five songs (Ba’d Eh, Sawwah, Kamel El Awsaf, La Tekzebi, along with Ala Hisb Wedad, which starts at 16:37 and ends at 28:52) from two different concerts (obvious from what the musicians are wearing). Of all the videos I found of him singing this song in concert, this was the best one in terms of clarity and having a lot of close-ups so we can see his expression while he’s singing. It’s well worth the twelve minutes of your time to watch it.
But this one from a concert in Tunisia in 1968, although it is more grainy, has a lot of charm and interesting elements to note, especially at the start of the third “section” of the song at 7:48. There is a phrase for the nai (16 counts total) at 8:00 that in some recordings is only played the one time- but here, Abdel Halim keeps starting the section over again, and he even gives a “one more time” gesture at times but obviously the band is following him closely (especially the nai player, the legendary Mahmoud Effat) and it repeats five times. To me watching this demonstrates so much- the way the singer and ensemble work as a unit, mutually attentive to one another, the way that a singer can decide in the moment based on his mood and the mood of the crowd to repeat a musical or vocal section, and the extent to which feelings and joy can be conveyed even when not a note is being sung, simply through, gestures, facial expressions, and body language.
My husband Yasser pointed me to an interview with Abdel Halim where he related the story that “Wedad” (also a girl’s name) was a ghazeyya/dancer in Upper Egypt that a rich guy was in love with, and that the song was about her. That sounded rather apocryphal to me, though I did find some other mentions of this story in other articles, so I reached out to my friend Ayman Helmy to try and verify this. Ayman is not only a composer and musician in his own right, but he is also a songwriter, translator, and all-around wordsmith, so he can answer a lot of music and language related questions. He said that the ghazeyya named Wedad story was nonsense. He had another, even more interesting angle on the song- according to him, at this time (the song was released in 1964) Abdel Halim and Mohamed Fawzy were in a bit of a competition- Fawzy had released some songs inspired by folkloric elements and so Abdel Halim was one-upping him with this song.
Structurally this song is fairly straightforward. After he sings the first vocal section a chorus repeats that section, and this recurs throughout the song to punctuate the end of each of the four different vocal sections. Each of these sections has a completely different mood, emotionally and musically.
Finally, I worked on a translation that I could share as part of looking at the song’s structure. Although most lines were relatively straightforward, I struggled with other lines, including the very first one. Because sometimes translating word for word might cause me to miss the “global” meaning, and that is why after I have done my best on my own, I enlist a native speaker to do a final review and talk through how to most accurately express the meaning of the spots that have given me trouble.
My version here is certainly not perfect but I am very sure that it is an improvement over others that I found out there online. But as it is said, “الكمال لله وحده” (god alone is perfect) so I will just go ahead and share it. Special thanks to those who reviewed it.
Ala Hesb Wedad, 1964, lyrics by Salah Abu Salem, composed by Beligh Hamdi
‘Ala hesb wedad galbi ya abouya
As much love/desire as my heart has for her
على حسب وداد قلبي يابوي
Rah a’oul lil zein salamat,
I’ll go and greet the beautiful one
راح أقول للزين سلامات
Salamat salamat, salamat
سلامات سلامات سلامات
‘Ala hesb wedad galbi ya abouya
على حسب وداد قلبي يابوي
Dhayy’at aleih el ‘omr ya abouya
I wasted my life on her
ضيعت عليه العمر يابوي
Ana leyya ma’a hikayat,
I have so many stories with her
دنا ليا معاه حكايات
Hikayat hikayat, hikayat
So many stories
حكايات حكايات حكايات
‘Ala hesb wedad galbi ya abouya
على حسب وداد قلبي يابوي
(chorus repeats this )
Mawwal, mawwal el sabr aho dab
My “song of patience” is over
موال الصبر أهو داب
min youm el hob ma ghab
Since the day my love disappeared
من يوم الحب ما غاب
Wala ‘omri ya ain, ya leili
ولا عمري ياعيني ياليلي
Never, in my life
Ya leil, ya leil, ya aini
Did singing this mawwal
ياليلي ياعيني ياليلي
Ma t’arrab lina ahbab
Bring the loved one close to me
متقرب لينا أحباب
Wa ana saber ala el maq’soum
I’m patient with my fate
وأنا صابر عالمقسوم
Yimken yerga’li fi youm
Maybe she will come back one day
يمكن يرجع لي في يوم
Wa tekoun li ma’a tani ya abouya
And I’ll have with her with me once again
وتكون لي معاه تاني يابوي
Ayam helwa wa hikayat,
Beautiful days and stories
يام حلوة وحكايات
Hikayat hikayat, hikayat
So many stories
حكايات حكايات حكايات
‘Ala hesb wedad galbi ya abouya
على حسب وداد قلبي يابوي
(chorus repeats first part again)
Ala hesb el rih ma yewwadi el rih
According to how the wind blows, wherever it takes me
على حسب الريح ما يودي الريح
Ma yewaddi el rih, ma yewaddi
Wherever the wind takes me
ما يودي الريح ما يودي
Wayya ana mashi mashi mashi wala beyaddi
I’ll just keep on going and it’s not in my hands
وياه أنا ماشي ماشي ولا بيدي
Ma’arafsh in kunt mrawwah
I don’t know if it will take me home
معرفش إن كنت مروح
Wala emta el hawa hayehaddi
Or when the wind will calm down
ولا إمتى الهوى حيهدي
Wa heyya el dunya tela’ab bina
This world is just playing around with us
واهي دنيا بتلعب بينا
Yimken terga’a ghanawina
Maybe we will get back to our old songs
يمكن ترجع غناوينا
Wa tekoun li ma’a tani ya abouya
And I’ll have her with me once again
وتكون لي معاه تاني يابوي
Ayam helwa wa hikayat,
Beautiful days, and stories
أيام حلوة وحكايات
Hikayat hikayat, hikayat
So many stories
حكايات حكايات حكايات
‘Ala hesb wedad galbi ya abouya
على حسب وداد قلبي يابوي
(chorus repeats first part again)
La hasellem bil maktoub
I won’t accept my fate
لا هاسلم بالمكتوب
Wala harda abat maghloub
Or accept defeat (go to sleep defeated)
ولا هارضى أبات مغلوب
Wa ha’oul lil dunya ya dunya
And I’ll tell the whole world
وحاقول للدنيا يا دنيا
Ana rega’a, ana rega’a, ana rega’a, lil mahboub
I’m going back to my beloved
أنا راجع أنا راجع للمحبوب
Wa nghanni aghani gedida, malyana hakawi saeeda
And we will sing new songs, full of happy stories
ونغنى أغانى جديدة مليانه حكاوى سعيدة
Wa haneghzel toub el farha ya abouya wa ha’oul li habibi salamat
We’ll spin a garment of joy, and I’ll greet my love
وهانغزل توب الفرحة يا بويا وهاقول يا حبيبي سلامات
Salamat salamat, salamat
سلامات سلامات سلامات
‘Ala hesb wedad galbi ya abouya
على حسب وداد قلبي يابوي
(chorus repeats first part again)