سيد درويش: الأغاني (1)

As I said in the only just published Episode 25 (on the life of Egyptian composer and singer Sayyed Darwish), I have now launched Bilmasri on YouTube, and I think this episode in particular is worth watching on there. That's not to say you should abandon the podcast!! But because this episode is about extracts of Sayyed Darwish songs, having the songs, the lyrics and the explanations all in one place in the video clip is particularly convenient, in my opinon. In this episode, I play extracts from some of my favourite Sayyed Darwish songs, which are songs which he sings from the perspective of a working man - here, a builder and a waiter - addressing other workers and society in general. I find these songs and their lyrics quite exquisite. All three songs I picked for this episode (الحلوة دي, شد الحزام and الجرسونات were written by Badie Khairy. As I said in the previous blogpost, this is probably the first of two such episodes, and in the next one, I intend to focus on some of Sayyed Darwish's love songs and patriotic songs. As this is a new format, I look forward to hearing from you what you thought of it, and if you have any feedback or suggestions I can take on board for the next similar episodes. Should I do more song episodes? Let me know! Download pdf here

Om Podcasten

Bilmasri is a podcast and blog (www.bilmasri.com) dedicated to the Egyptian dialect. It is for learners of Arabic (ideally anywhere between lower intermediate to advanced level) who have so far been focusing on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), who may or may not have some knowledge of another Arabic dialect, and who would like to understand how the Egyptian dialect works. The starting point of most blog posts and podcast episodes is a text in Modern Standard Arabic – a news story, an excerpt from a work of fiction, or another form of text – which has been adapted into Egyptian Arabic. In the first part of each podcast episode, I will slowly read out the Egyptian version of the text. In the second part, I will take you through (in English) one or more aspects of the language just heard: this could be the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, idioms, etc., with a particular focus on the differences and similarities between Egyptian and MSA. The blog post will contain both Egyptian Arabic and MSA versions of the text, followed by a brief summary of the podcast discussion. The blog’s tags will help you find any language-related topics you’re looking for, and the episodes they’re discussed in.