| Helwa ya baladi|i=no | |
| Cover: | Helwa ya baladi.jpeg |
| Border: | yes |
| Caption: | Cover of single |
| Artist: | Dalida |
| Recorded: | 1979 |
| Studio: | CBE |
| Length: | 3:33 |
| Label: | International Shows |
| Lyricist: | Marwan Saada |
| Producer: | Orlando |
"'''Helwa ya baladi'''|i=no" (arz|حلوة يا بلدي, pronounced as /arz/; "Oh Sweet, My Homeland") is an Egyptian Arabic song by Dalida from 1979,[1] enjoying great popularity in the Middle East and the Arab diaspora.[2] [3] [4] The song is an homage to Egypt, Dalida's birthplace, and is considered representative of the nationalistic pride felt by many Egyptians.[5] [6] [7]
The song is composed in the key of C minor. A sequence of chords, based on a cycle of fifths (F minor - B-flat - E-flat), leads each strophe of the song away from the minor and into the relative major, E-flat major. Then, an applied dominant chord (D major) interrupts the sequence leading to the dominant (music) chord of G7 which brings each strophe home to the original tonality of C minor.
"Helwa ya baladi|i=no" was the second song in Arabic language for Dalida after her hit "[[Salma Ya Salama (song)|Salma Ya Salama]]|i=no". She sang it during French television broadcasts.
It was sung by tens to hundreds of thousands of Egyptians who demonstrated in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.[8]
The song was also registered in French as "French: Comment l'oublier|i=no" in 1981, in Spanish (despite the Italian title) as "Italian: Io t'amerò|i=no" in 1984 and remixed in Spanish for the album French: Le rêve oriental in 1998.
The song has been covered many times notably by French-Israeli singer Ishtar in 2005 in the album French: Je sais d'où je viens in Arabic and Spanish. It was also recorded by the Lebanese singer Elissa in 2014 in her album Halet Hob.