زياد الرحباني – Ziad Rahbani: translating some of his untranslated songs

Ziad Rahbani has composed hundreds of songs, only a handful of which are translated online. Here are some of my …

ابن زيدون – Ibn Zaydun, the ‘nice guy’ from the 11th century

My interest in Ibn Zaydun was born from this epic performance by the el-Arabi ensemble of a duet between a …

لما بدا يتثنى – Lamma Bada, the enduring voice of the love-stricken poet

Henri Regnault, Hassan et Namouna. Selected for the female ‘oud player and the passive male object of desire. Lamma Bada is …

أبو نواس Abu Nuwas on the Pleasure and Remorse of Wine

  لا تَبْكِ ليلى ، ولا تطْرَبْ إلى هندِ I first discovered Abu Nuwas (756–814) in a (somewhat prude) monograph …

الخنساء, Al-Khansa, elegiacal poetess from the time of Mohammed

أعينيّ جودا ولا تجمُدا ألا تبكيانِ لصخرِ النّدى ؟ This is the first of a poetry series I intend to …