I want to try to translate this song by one of my favorite Egyptian groups, Eskenderella (no relation
). I wish we had an Egyptian on the forum who would check my translation as there's parts I wasn't so sure about... The lyrics are by the Egyptian poet Amin Haddad. I found this
online Egyptian Arabic dictionary to be an invaluable resource for many of the words I didn't know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Re_apgGOLMيحكى أنَ، أنَ إيه
سرقوا بلادنا ولاد الإيه
يحكى أنَ، كان يا ما كان
سرقوا بلادنا الأمريكان
It's said that, what happened
Those guys stole our countries
It's said that, once upon a time
The Americans stole our countries
يحكى أنَ، جيل ورا جيل
سرقوا فلسطين إسرائيل
يحكى أنَ، يا أحفاد
امريكا دخلت بغداد
It's said that, generation after generation
Israel stole Palestine
It's said that, O grandchildren
America entered Baghdad
يحكى أنَ، يا حلاوه
أمريكا بتضرب بغباوه
راح يدخلوا بغداد العصر
و المغرب راح يدخلوا مصر
It's said that, how sweet it is
America is pummeling like a brute
They are going to enter the Baghdad of the era
And Morocco is going to enter Egypt
يحكى أنَ، انعقدت قمَه
ما بتعرفش تقول و لا كلمه
يحكى أنَ، الظلم استشرى
و الدم مطرطش فى النشره
It's said that, a summit was held
You don't know a single word to say
It's said that, oppression spread
And the blood is splattered on the announcement
يحكى أنَ، ان احنا سكتنا
نام ياحبيبي وسيب دنيتنا الليل خيم على سكتنا
و الغولة تنيم همتنا، على أنغام أوهام الفتنة
و النور طفى ف قلب بيوت، و الأحلام ف عيوننا تموت
توتة توتة خلصت حكايتنا والديب نام شبعان مبسوط
بس سكوتنا ماكانش سكوت ومفيش امة تعيش وتموت
It's said that, we kept quiet
Sleep, my dear, and leave our world, the night settled over our silence
And the ghoul puts our ambition to sleep, to the tune of illusions of sedition
And the light turned off deep inside homes, and the dreams in our eyes die
Our story's come to an end, the wolf slept happily through the month of Sha'baan
But our silence wasn't a silence and there's no ummah that lives and dies
يحكى أن أن إيه، شعبنا مسك النور بأيديه
يحكى أن كان يا ما كان، اللى أرادوا شعبنا كان
يحكى أن جيل ورا جيل، مصر أتولدت فى التحرير
يحكى أن يا أبناء، شمس الثورة من الشهداء
It's said that, our people caught the light with their hands
It's said that, once upon a time, what they wanted was our people
It's said that, generation after generation, Egypt was born in Tahrir [square]
It's said that, O [my] sons, the sun of the revolution is from the martyrs
يحكى أن يا حرية، ثورتنا ثورة عربية
فجر وصبح وظهر وعصر، تونس ليبيا سوريا مصر
يُحكي أنّ ستُعقد قمة، فيها العدل وفيها الهمة
يُحكي أنّ فجرنا طالع، والورد بيطرح في الشارع
يُحكي أنّ النور أقدامنا
It's said that, O freedom, our revolution is an Arab revolution
Dawn and morning and noon and afternoon, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt
It's said that a summit will be held, in it, there will be justice and there will be ambition
It's said that our dawn is breaking, and flowers are blooming in the street
It's said that the light is ahead of us..
New vocabيُحكى أنَ it's said that (equivalent to كان يا ما كان, once upon a time)
ولاد الإيه those guys
غباوة stupidity; resorting to force out of social incompetence
استشرى to spread
مطرطش splattered (from طرطش to splash, to splatter)
نشرة proclamation, announcement
ساب \ يسيب to leave (something where it is)
خيّم علی to settle over
انغام pl. of نغم rhythm
طفی to turn off
X توتة توتة خلصت (ending to children's stories eg. توتة توتة خلصت الحدوتة)
ديب wolf
مسك to catch, arrest
طرح to bear fruit, blossom