The title of the thread is a song by the late Egyptian singer Abdul Halim Hafez. It tells a story of two friends walking in some unknown street when a pretty girl happens to walk past and smile at them both. The narrator describes the scene, the girl and his feelings at that moment in time. It’s a story, in a song. There are lots of songs (or poems) in many languages and cultures that probably talk of similar stories of fleeting meetings or chance encounters (Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” is one of those). However, what attracted me to this song more than most are the actual atmosphere and time when it was performed. In the 40s and 50s of the last century, there was no such thing as MTV or music clips. Singers and performers used to arrange huge concerts that everyone who was anyone in the Arab world would try to book tickets for. Whenever any of these performers (Abdul Halim, Um Kalthum, Fareed Al Atrash or Abdul Wahab) had a new song to publicise they would arrange a concert and play the song at that venue. Most of these songs would last up to an hour each (and sometimes more). They lasted that long because the musical composition of each of these songs required an entire orchestra to play it and was lavishly full of tune and melody. At this point, you’re probably asking yourself why am I bothering to share this “Carab Naag” art with you! Well, it’s not the song that I am trying to share but rather the feelings and thoughts that such a thing conjures up. If you bear in mind that this was done at a time when people didn’t watch much TV and drama was only found in movies and theatres, you can then imagine how a song that tells a story would have felt to such people. In addition, the use of the orchestra, the dramatic music, strategic pauses and the performer’s acting added to the magical atmosphere such songs created. Now, as you read the lyrics of the song below try to put yourself in the shoes of the story-teller (singer) or, imagine being a member of the audience whilst picturing your own ebb and flow of orchestral sounds (or I’ll post a clip of the song if you like). Is it him she smiled at or was it his friend? Did she really smile at them or did he imagine it? How does the story end, do we find out? If you were a member of the audience, are you starting to tense up as you memorise the words so that you can go home and repeat them to everyone in your local maqaaxi ala “ way ag martay, markaasay o qososhay daeetana way garan waayeen ciday o qososhay.....”? Here are the words of the song (the repetition is to help the maqaaxi people to remember). She walked past us, walked past me and him. She smiled at us, smiled at me and him. I answered, and kept answering till she left Forgot myself, woke up, and she left with the sun. And I kept thinking, and before I thought too much I asked myself a question that puzzled me Why am I thinking? Why am I puzzled? How do I know that she wants me, not him? How do I know that the smile was for me, not him? And why me? Why me? Why not him? Another time, another coincidence I and he were on our way Another time, another coincidence I and he were on our way We saw a sweet walk coming, and a third shadow A third shadow, racing us, racing us I turned and it was her, I turned and it was her It's unbelievable, it was her, her. I started to listen, in my heart, in my heart to a melody of love, melody of love A melody of love that's new to me. I listened to a few words of hers Words she never said. But I felt, I felt, and for the first time, I did And for the first time, I live and feel. And found myself melting, melting in her whisper In her silent whisper. She smiled again, the same smile and she left Like life, comes once and leaves in a second. I looked at my friend, found him in another world. He wanted to say a word that my heart said. I wanted to ask him: did he feel her, did he think? Did he, too, feel her and did he think? Did he? And I said again.. I said again. Why am I thinking? Why am I puzzled? How do I know that she wants me, not him? How do I know that the smile was for me, not him? And why me? Why me? Why not him? I went home, went home. Went home, didn't know what's wrong. Didn't know what happened to me, what happened? I was happy, wanted to laugh. I was sad, wanted to cry. Happy, wanted to laugh.. Sad, wanted to cry. Can't reach my tears, can't reach my tears. Nor can I find a shoulder to cry on. I fell in love with her. Yes, I did. I can't forget her laugh. Could she be the joy of my life that I've finally found? Where has this day been? Where? God bless her and her laugh. Two days later, my heart woke up from joy Asked me: when can we see her & I ask where? The nights, they tortured me, my mind and thoughts. The ghost of jealousy was drawn before my eyes. Whenever I find my friend happy, I think: She must have met him. And if I see sorrow in his eyes, I think: She must have left him. I found no way to rest from the torture But to search and ask, and get an answer from her. And I found a way to her, I found one. I sent a couple of words.. Not more than two lines. Told her, have mercy, tell me, where am I? And I got the answer.. I got it. I got the answer, got it, found her waiting for me She said: I've been smiling at you, dark-skinned one, Oh, dark-skinned one! It's me, me, yeah me, me. Me me me not him.

Wyre, it's a type of papaya dee. او بالعربي: جوافا, زيتون ma wax kale baa? Che & Maaddey, I agree. I told her so when she said she was going on holiday.

The Zanzibari singer Bi Kidude (Kiswahili for "Little Granny"), who has died at the age of around 102, had a haunting voice and enigmatic stage presence. In the last 30 years she came to be widely recognised as one of the finest musicians from an island famous for spices and open to influences from the east. She grew up in the village of Mfagimaringo, where her father was a coconut seller: of her age, she said, "I cannot say that I know it myself, but my birth was at the time of the rupee." The Indian currency was used in east Africa up to the first world war, and a near-contemporary calculated that Bi Kidude was born around 1910. Along with the pioneering teenager Siti binti Saad (1880-1950), Bi Kidude was one of the first Zanzibari women to lift the veil and sing in public. This was a courageous move in a society where women were confined to purdah. The two were the first female communicators on the island and in mainland Tanzania, of which Zanzibar is now part. Their original music was dumbak, based on a drum rhythm and performed in small groups. This was blended with an early form of taarab, an Arab/Swahili fusion introduced to Zanzibar in the early 1900s. Taarab combines violins, flutes and Arabic instruments including the zither-like kanoon and the oud, the ancestor of the lute, with a variety of African drums. There are several taarab variants throughout Kiswahili-speaking east Africa. The Zanzibar style owes most to Egyptian firquah orchestras of the 1930s, but prior to that the Indian influence was more pronounced. The women's messages were provocative, often ridiculing men's sexual behaviour and sometimes decrying the abuse of women. In 1928, Saad travelled to Bombay to make some of the earliest recordings by an African artist. Bi Kidude set out in the other direction, starting a marathon tour of east Africa. She travelled to the mainland by dhow and moved around occasionally by train, but mostly on foot. Her repertoire was based on Saad's songs, adapted and embellished to fit her own purposes. Following this journey of personal liberation, Bi Kidude returned home. She married but was unable to conceive and was divorced by two husbands. Then she moved into a small clay house in the Shangani quarter of Zanzibar town. She went to small taarab social clubs, usually run by women and, most importantly, became involved in unyago, the initiation procedure for Swahili women. The ritual washing and the social and sexual education that follow a girl's first menstruation are accompanied by traditional songs, drumming and dancing. This drumming ceremony is one of the rare occasions where African women play instruments. The unyago women discuss with their charges many issues that are otherwise taboo in African society. The climax of unyago ritual is the wedding, a colourful event at which Bi Kidude and her friends would play their drums and sing provocative songs to an audience of hundreds of women. She helped initiate so many girls over the years that she acquired the nickname that became her trademark. Bi Kidude also made and applied wanja, a black cosmetic which, combined with henna, is used to paint elaborate designs on the arms and legs of young women. She was also a practitioner of herbal medicine, producing remedies on request for doctors at the local hospital. Her singing career lay dormant for almost 50 years, but in the 1980s there was a revival of interest in her music when she performed with the Sahib El-Ahri band. Later, she joined the Zanzibar-based group the Twinkling Stars and toured Germany, Scandinavia, Japan and the Gulf. In the early 1990s she was recruited as an occasional member of Shikamoo Jazz, a band of elderly musicians from Dar es Salaam who were sponsored by the British organisation HelpAge International. This collaboration created a unique development of pop/taarab which saw mixed couples dancing socially to what had been a formal and constrained music. A tour of Britain in 1995 took in the Womad festival at Reading, where Bi Kidude was a major attraction. Her deep, wailing voice expressed the raw emotion of a lifetime's experience. She never consciously composed new songs. All her material was based on a limited number of Saad's compositions, around which she improvised so liberally that they became her own. However, in later years she would confuse and combine the material, so that members of the band would need to skip adroitly from one tune to another at any moment. Though she made some recordings, her output was not great. A small, frail-looking woman, Bi Kidude had enormous stamina and a rugged sense of humour. In Zanzibar she lived in a modest breeze-block house with some of her "grandchildren" and their pigeons. Each Saturday she would perform with the Twinkling Stars at one of the luxury hotels. In 2005 she won a Womex (World Music Expo) award, and the following year the documentary As Old As My Tongue: The Myth and Life of Bi Kidude was released. She continued to perform until recently. • Bi Kidude (Fatuma binti Baraka), singer, born around 1910; died 17 April 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/apr/17/bi-kidude-dies

Sabaax al cambaruud. (first in?).

Relax Baashi, the title is a play on Shakespeare's famous line (I promise to forgive your haste there if you promise to give me your take on this "poker game").

^^ I buy the first but not the second. There is more to the constitution argument than simple timing.

^^ Ma balaan baa loo qaaday?

Horta bootada naga daaya ya shabab (from both sides) and lets try to work out what the Imam is up to here. Xiin, so are you saying that the Imam supports Jubbaland from a "federal" point of view and not for clannish reasons? You know, this actually makes more sense to me than the "tent" stuff. The Imam's history shows to him to be a man who does not get swayed by the love of his "kin". If there is nothing for him in Jubbaland, Axmad Madoobe's brotherly overtures would not have worked. But I still think there is something fishy about the constitution complaint. Surely a man who turned federalism into a kind of faith would have spotted and pointed out the changes long ago. What is he up to?

SLNT, should give a job to those rappers that Xaaji X showed us in that thread of his. They'll sure make a better video than this one (plus it'll give the useless kids a job).

Che -Guevara;944622 wrote: Norf. The man has legitimate concerns and shared what he disagrees with. The timing might be off but his concerns are valid. Ngonge. Are we talking his last minute declaration regarding the conference ( his approach might be wrong and timing off) or are we talking his concerns which I believe are valid? Lost in all of this are things they did agree on! What they agreed on surely can't bear any comparison to the three they didn't agree on, Che. Not going to London, falling out over Jubbaland and making bleated accusations about tampering with the constitution (which clearly implicate the speaker of parliment) are NOT small disagreements that can be brushed aside, saaxib. This is the nuclear option that I was joking to Xiin about yesterday. But why now?

^^ Can't see some pictures at work. What is it? N.O.R.F;944615 wrote: You're reading too much into it Ngonge. The Imam wants to feel important. He wants his ego stroked. So, once in a while, he throws his toys out. The Imam IS important, saaxib. He's been silent for a while and finally decided to start shooting his mouth. There must be a very good reason to get him to act in such a way.

^^ You're such a highly-strung nomad, saaxib. Read what I wrote again (spend a few mintues on the LAST two lines). Che, everything can be overcome. But what's that got to do with anything here?

^^ What did you expect them to do, Che? Fist fight in the press conference? They spoke nicely but the disagreements sound like BIG ones. Wax fahan.

The Imam is at it again and, this time, he’s going for broke. The last four months were beautiful and (comparatively) tranquil for Somali politics but then the Imam woke up and decided to shake things up a bit. What exactly is he up to though and why now? It’s very clear that he’s trying to put some pressure on the Hassan Sheikh government by hinting at not attending the London Conference but to what end? Of course, his attendance or absence from London is not likely to make any difference this time (it would have last year). Nonetheless, there must be some logic to such a decision. Is it to show the international community that Somalia is not what it seems and that the old divisions are resurfacing again? Fair enough, but wouldn’t that impact on PL in (more or less) the same way it would on the federal government? This leads me to believe that this is nothing but a ruse to spook Hassan Sheikh and make him blink first. The far reaching Imam has also decided to openly interfere in the Jubbaland problem. What does he hope to achieve here and why put his name and state at stake for such meagre gains? Of course, I followed and paid attention to some of the “big tent” arguments on this site. Yet, I also previously followed and heard of the deportations of ONLF operatives from PL and the bad blood that existed between PL and the big footed people. Surely the man that threw Khaatumo in the sea has not developed a clan conscious and is not suddenly full of love for his wider kin! So what’s in it for him? Talking of Khaatumo, has a secret deal been struck with that state? I only ask because this is the sole explanation I could find to the Imam’s fantastic accusations about a change in the federal constitution. The charge here is that the constitution that was presented to the Somali parliament was different to the one agreed upon by the roadmap signatories. The constitution was presented to Jawaari on the seventh of September 2012 a full three days before Hassan Sheikh was elected. This would mean that Hassan Sheikh had nothing to do with any changes (if ANY) that took place and cannot be accused of being the architect of such deceit. This only leaves Jawaari, who by the way was the former chairman of the Independent Federal Constitution Commission! Now, PL must have a reason for making such an accusation EIGHT MONTHS after the “crime” took place. Are they after a change of the constitution to benefit Jubbaland or are they after the removal of Jawaari (or both)? And, if Jawaari is removed, will this give Glayer a chance to contest the position? Could it be that PL have finally found a carrot to dangle his way? All these are farfetched suppositions that may or may not prove true. However, the one thing I’m certain of now is that Hassan Sheikh’s room for manoeuvre on the Jubbaland issue was much more powerful than we were led to believe.

He's fumbling again.

Tillamook;944584 wrote: ^The funny thing is that he admitted to the alteration and said he'd investigate how that happened. How dumb does he think we are when, the altered articles have his signature on them . This guy is beyond belief! They can't have his signature on them as he was not the president when this (allegedly) took place. Wax fahan.

Morning all. First (employed person) IN, again.

^^ It sounds like the Imam was keeping that ace under his sleeve and was going to use it as the nuclear option.

The Provisional Federal Constitution was then presented to the elected Federal Parliament chaired by Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari on September 7th 2012. The same copy Speaker Jawari – former chairman of the Independent Federal Constitution Commission that oversaw the drafting of the constitution – presented to the Federal Parliament contains 13 articles that were not agreed on by the Roadmap signatories nor was adopted by the NCA.

 Was everyone sleeping when this took place? And WHY NOW? :D

WW, if what you say is true (which I doubt), it'll be a strange conference next week when they meet in London.

^^ You're supposed to be the bright, educated and blaze trailing dhaqan celis who returned hom to educate the natives and improve their lives. How are you going to show that if you're only repeating the tired old ideas of my generation, adeer? Go for Kindles in a dimly lit sandaqaad and offer your clients coffee and cake on top.

^^ No. I was saying you can build a sandaqad full of kindles. Wax fahan.

Jacaylbaro;944306 wrote: We need a stock of this in a low cost so that people can afford to buy ..... that is a library itself I'm telling you Soo dhacayaay!

The Samatar in this link must hate the Samatar of our topic. http://www.newswise.com/articles/preclinical-study-indicates-potential-for-novel-inhibitor-to-overcome-drug-resistance-induced-by-raf-mek-inhibitors

^^ Give it time, saaxib. The penny will soon drop.