05 January 2012

Music and Harraga Special: Ya rayah


We close our harraga music review of with an Algerian classic. This is an old track by Algerian singer Dahmane El Harrachi (1926-1980). In 1997 another Algerian singer, Rachid Taha (born in 1958), came out with a remake of it, a single that become a real cult, taken up again by Cheb Khaled and remixed well into the new millennium. The song is called Ya Rayah, You who leave. And it is a sort of invitation to stay or at least to return. It feels like the words are dedicated to all those who didn’t make it. Who are now prisoners of Fortress Europe. Without valid documents to work or travel, or perhaps detained in CIEs or held in prison for some minor offense. Perpetually torn between the longing for their country and their families, and the impossibility of returning without a success story and pockets full of money. Because in the rural areas of Morocco and Egypt, or in the working-class districts of Tunis and Annaba, the social imperative is very strong. You do not come back as a loser unless you want to face the shame of not having made it and of having needlessly wasted your youth far from home and loved ones. Dahmane El Harrachi already saw this back in the seventies with Algerians in France: "You who are leaving, where are you going? You'll end up coming back. How many naïve ones have repented before you and me ... And the days go by, and youth goes by, yours and mine". Below you will find all the lyrics translated into English.



Ya Rayah

Ya rayah win msafar
trouh taaya wa twali
Chhal nadmou laabad el ghaflin
qablak ou qabli
Ya rayah win msafar
trouh taaya wa twali
Chhal nadmou laabad el ghaflin
qablak ou qabli

Chhal cheft al bouldan laamrine
wa lber al khali
Chhal dhiyaat wqat
chhal tzid mazal
ou t'khali
Ya lghayeb fi bled ennas
chhal taaya ma tadjri
Tzid waad
el qoudra wala zmane
wenta ma tedri

Ya rayah win msafar
trouh taaya wa twali
Chhal nadmou laabad el ghaflin
qablak ou qabli
Ya rayah win msafar
trouh taaya wa twali
Chhal nadmou laabad el ghaflin
qablak ou qabli

Aalach qalbek hzine
waalach hakdha ki zawali
Matdoum achadda wila tzid
taalem ou tabni
maydoumou layyam walay doum
seghrek ou seghri
Ya hlilou meskine li ghab saadou
ki zahri

Ya msafer naatik oussaayti
addiha el bakri
Chouf ma yeslah bik
qbal ma tbia ou ma techri
Ya nnayem
djani khabrek
ma sgharek ma sghari
Hakdha rad el qalb bel djbine
sabhane el aali

Ya rayah win msafar
trouh taaya wa twali
Chhal nadmou laabad el ghaflin
qablak ou qabli
Ya rayah win msafar
trouh taaya wa twali
Chhal nadmou laabad el ghaflin
qablak ou qabli
You who are leaving

You who are leaving, where are you going?
You'll end up coming back.
How many naïve ones have repented
before you and me!
You who are leaving, where are you going?
You'll end up coming back.
How many naïve ones have repented
before you and me!

How many overcrowded countries have you seen and how many desert regions?
How much time have you wasted?
And how much more will you waste
before giving up?
Oh migrant you won’t stop running in others’ countries,
but how much longer will you have to run?
Fate and time follow their
course, but you ignore this

You who are leaving, where are you going?
You'll end up coming back.
How many naïve ones have repented
before you and me!
You who are leaving, where are you going?
You'll end up coming back.
How many naïve ones have repented
before you and me!

Why is your heart is so sad?
Why do you sit there so luckless?
Difficulties pass, this way you will neither build nor learn anything
And the days pass, as does youth,
yours and mine.
Oh, unfortunate is he who has lost his fortune, like me

Oh traveler, here is some advice
to follow soon
See what suits you
before selling or buying
Oh you who are asleep
I have received news of you
what happened to me has happened to you
And so the heart returns
To its creator up high

You who are leaving, where are you going?
You'll end up coming back.
How many naïve ones have repented
before you and me!
You who are leaving, where are you going?
You'll end up coming back.
How many naïve ones have repented
before you and me!