Re: Tsena, Tsena

[Jacob and Nancy Bloom <bloom...>]

Sing Out included all three sets of lyrics.  Concerning the transliterations 
they said, "The transliterations reflect the sounds for American readers rather 
than customary spellings."

Zeina Zeina
Arabic

Zeina, zeina, zeina, zeina,
Makhad yuwkaf beini l'beina
Bleilet t'wa adna.
Yalla ma'ana na'ana yalla
Nydbek dabkih, nurkus hora
Ma'as adna.

Zeina, zeina,
Yalla ghrannu ma'ana
Ah'lan bikom ya
As'kha''a'a'ab.
Zeina, zeina,
Yalla rudu ma'ana
Yalla ya kul leil akhbab.

Zeina, zeina,
(Clap) Nurkus hora nydbek
Dabkiih, yalla
Khubi ad u'ma ba'adna.
Zeina, zeina,
(Clap) Ghrannu ma'ana, ghrannu
Ma'ana ghrannu,
Zeina, zeina, zeina!

Literal Translation

Beautiful, beautiful
Nothing can come between us.
We will dance the hora,
Dance the dabka.
Sing, dance, sing,
Beautiful, beautiful!

(Note that the English text which Sing Out presented as a literal translation 
of the Hebrew version had some minor errors in it, so this translation from the 
Arabic might as well.)

By the way, Sue L. mentioned that the Smothers Brothers recorded Tsena Tsena 
under the title "Swiss Christmas".  While I haven't heard that recording, I do 
know that the Smothers Brothers sometimes introduced Jewish songs as being 
something else in order to get a laugh when the music started and the audience 
recognized the music (such as saying that they were going to play the Mexican 
Hat Dance, then playing Hava Nagilah with a few "Oles" thrown in.)  I suspect 
that recording Tsena Tsena as "Swiss Christmas" was another version of the same 
joke.

Jacob
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: MaxwellSt (at) aol(dot)com 
  To: World music from a Jewish slant 
  Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2003 11:58 PM
  Subject: Re: Tsena, Tsena


  In a message dated 8/16/2003 9:14:44 PM Central Daylight Time, bloom (at) 
gis(dot)net writes:


    Arabic
    lyrics by Salman Natour.



  OK, does anyone have these?  What an oddity!
  Lori @ MAX