Thursday, October 24, 2013

Farid El Atrash-- Hebeena Hebeena




This is one of my favorite songs and videos ever. I love the dinner party-- the dancing, the food and guests all seem genuine and fun. I want to be there. Without knowing the lyrics, we know what this song is about. He's singing, "You are a super hot lady, and if I was a younger guy, I'd be flirting like crazy with you. Your boyfriend over there is a doofus for being angry and is totally missing the point of life." Then in the middle (03:54), the song changes and Farid does a serious and soulful breakdown. The song is now about every romance that has ever happened or will happen on the face of the earth. It is so beautiful Farid can barely stand it (05:22), but the dinner party crowd is drunk and luckily their cheering gets him out of that deliciously wistful serious place. 

The Arabic and English translations are below. 




Arabic Lyrics

English Translation

Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habbaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habbaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
W-kia'na bil houb w-kia'na w-a'ala darb el-houb bilhawa dhia'naaWe fell in love we fell, and the love road we got lost.
W-kia'na bil houb w-kia'na w-a'ala darb el-houb bilhawa dhia'naaWe fell in love we fell, and the love road we got lost.
W-kia'na bil houb w-kia'na w-a'ala darb el-houb bilhawa dhia'naaWe fell in love we fell, and the love road we got lost.
W-yama W-yama tlawaa'na w-yama waraki msheina.And how often we suffered and how often walked behind you.
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeenaIf we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeenaIf we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeenaIf we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
W-ihyatake min dhahhi el-rouhSwearing by your life, we sacrifice our soul.
Mish moumkain bilsirr inbouhWe can not tell about the secret
Matrah ma bidaik minrouhAny place you want we can go!
Matrah ma bidaik minrouhAny place you want we can go!
Matrah ma bidaik minrouhAny place you want we can go!
Wain ma biddaikAny place you want
Aah khoudina.Ahh take us!
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeenaIf we did not love your eyes. If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeenaIf we did not love your eyes. If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeenaIf we did not love your eyes. If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
W-hyatake min dhahhi el-rouh.For your life we sacrifice the soul.
Mish mimkain bilsirr nbouh.Never reveal the secret.
Matrah ma biddaik minrouh.Any place you want us to go, we will go.
Matrah ma biddaik minrouh.Any place you want us to go, we will go.
Wain mabiddaik, Aah khoudeena.Where do you want to take, Oh, take us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma Habbeinah a'youmaikIf we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
Ya lail ghanni, el-houb baa'douh B-Awallouh, Khalli el-habayeb yisaalou w-yitdallalouOh night, sing, love is still at its inception, Let lovers ask and flirt.
W-ya hilwait el-hilween, hibbi w-iss-hari, elhoub bayn el-naas, elhoub bayn el-naas Allah.(03:54) Oh you the prettiest among the pretty, fall in love and enjoy the evening, love between people, love between people God.
Allah M-hallalouh.God legitimize it.
Ya, Ya lail.Oh, Oh night.
Habainaki min zamaan, ya zahra a'ala ghousn el-baan.We loved you a long time ago, oh you flower on a branch.
Hinni a'al-kalbi el-walhaan.Have mercy on the madly in love heart.
Hinni a'al kalbi el-walhaan.Have mercy on the madly in love heart.
W-ya hilwa t-wassi beena.And oh you beautiful take care of us.
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
W-kia'na bil houb w-kia'na w-a'ala darb el-houb bilhawa dhia'naaWe fell in love, we fell, and on the love road we got lost.
W-kia'na bil houb w-kia'na w-a'ala darb el-houb bilhawa dhia'naaWe fell in love, we fell, and on the love road we got lost.
W-yama W-yama tla waa'na w-yama waraki msheinaAnd how often we suffered and how often walked behind you.
W-yama W-yama tla waa'na w-yama waraki msheinaAnd how often we suffered and how often walked behind you.
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.
W-ihyaat eltair elshaadi, elrouh bismake bitnaadiI swear by the singing bird, the soul is calling your name.
Hinni ya ghazaal el-waadi,Sympathize oh you deer of the valley,
Hinni ya ghazaal el-waadi,Sympathize oh you deer of the valley,
Jouwa kalbake khabbeena.Inside your heart hide us.
W-kia'na bil houb w-kia'na w-a'ala darb el-houb bilhawa dhia'naaWe fell in love, we fell, and on the love road we got lost.
W-yama W-yama tla waa'na w-yama waraki msheina.And how often we suffered and how often walked behind you.
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
Hibbeinah, hibbeinah, habaynaaki, hibbeinah?Love us, love us. We loved you, so love us?
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik,If we did not love your eyes.
La-Aou ma habbeinah a'youmaik, ma ta'azbnah w-la jeena.If we did not love your eyes, we will not suffer and will not come back to you.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Jerry Saltz on Art’s Insidious New Cliché: Neo-Mannerism


I feel like I've been saying this forever! Thank you, Jerry Saltz.
From: http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/jerry-saltz-on-arts-insidious-new-clich.html


William Powhida's good imitations of bad art, at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. He's right: Don't paint like that.


Call it Neo-Mannerism. We all know it. That ever-expanding assembly of anemically boring, totally safe artistic clichés squeezing the life out of the art world right now. Earlier this week, I called out one of them, in a review of the (very good) work of Bjarne Melgaard: bad-boy installations, reeking of transgression but not actually transgressing much. That got me thinking about a trend that's even more widespread and just as annoying.
Scads of artists are trying to be junior postmodernists. A phalanx of work has appeared that might be called "Modest Abstraction" or "MFA See, MFA Do." It's everywhere, and it all looks the same. In sculpture there's Anarchy Lite. Those post-minimalist formal arrangements of clunky stuff, sticks, planks, bent metal, wood boxes, fabric, old furniture, concrete things, and whatnot leaned, stacked, stuck, piled, or dispersed around a clean white gallery. There's usually a subtext about wastefulness, sustainability, politics, urbanism, or art history. That history is almost always straight out of sixties and seventies Artforum magazines or the syllabi of academic teachers who've scared their students into being pleasingly meek, imitative, and ordinary.
Looking at 2-D work, I'm this close to that old Carter-administration-era croak of "Painting is dead." Again. Nowadays we see endless arrays of decorous, medium-size, handsome, harmless paintings. It's rendered mainly in black, white, gray, or, more recently, violet or blue. Much of it entails transfer techniques, silkscreening, stenciling, assemblage, collage, a little spray painting or scraping and the like. There might be some smooshy blocks of color or stripes or other obvious open-form abstraction or geometric motif. A few painters are doing the same thing but with brighter colors, larger areas of paint, hints of gesture, or even drips. All this work has readymade references to preapproved, mostly male painters like Albert Oehlen, Christopher Wool, Michael Krebber, Wade Guyton, Laura Owens, and Sergej Jensen*, or to the Minimalism or Pop movements, and of course it all calls up Warhol, Richter, Kippenberger, or Prince.
Then there are all the fussy collages of cut-up porn, furniture catalogues, ads, Internet screen-grabs, modernist architecture, urban wastelands, endangered species, sixties protests, or (of course) art-historical jpegs. We also see small-scale, colored, neatly framed, or cut-up photographs about photography. All of this Neo-Mannerism is an art of infinite regress. Defensive. Predictable. Safe. Well-defended. Loved by brainy magazines, websites, and curators but so far up its own ass that it can't breathe.
If art comes from everywhere and everyone thinks differently, why does so much of what we see these days look the same? Reams of artists influenced by and using the same art-history, artists, styles, and stuff. You know what that leads to. As Keith Richards wrote of a former dope dealer of his who got addicted to his own stuff, "Brad's dead now. It was the usual old story. If you're dealing in this shit, don't dabble in it." Artists making this generic work are Brad.

It's spreading, too. Even our wonderful smaller galleries on the Lower East Side, in Bushwick, and the like are awash in it. All this art is dying to be understood. And it is, instantly, by everyone, in the exact same way. Never mind that Oscar Wilde said, "The moment you think you know a work of art, it is dead to you." It fills galleries and biennials and is already so dead-on-arrival it may as well put a gun to its own head. It's all intellectual wallpaper, pricey placeholders, ham-acting, and showbiz. I know artists are facing knotty times, and I say this with love, but: Enough.