| "Sidi Mansour" | |
| Type: | Traditional Tunisia folk song |
| Native Name: | سيدي منصور |
| Language: | Tunisian |
"Sidi Mansour" (in Tunisian dialect "سيدي منصور") is a popular folkloric song from Tunisia.
Over the past few decades, various renditions of the song have been created. The song was made famous in 2000 when the Tunisian artist Saber Rebaï (in Tunisian صابر الرباعي) released his version. Since then, "Sidi Mansour" has been subject to many covers in Arabic and many other languages. In 2021, Enisa Nikaj, a Brooklyn-born American singer of Albanian descent, released the song "Count My Blessings", inspired by the song. Boney M.'s "Ma Baker" was also inspired by the folk song.
Rebaï's "Sidi Mansour" song should not, however, be confused with the unrelated "Sidi Mansour" by Algerian raï artist Cheikha Rimitti.
Numerous variants of the song exist with similar lyrics dating back hundreds of years.[1] The song is dedicated to the Tunisian Sufi saint Sidi Mansour, whose name was Mansour Ghulam, and lived prior to the 15th century.[2] He was a native of the city Sfax, where his tomb is. The city quarter is also named after him.[3]
The song was recorded by Mohammed Jarrari (in Arabic محمّد الجراري) in his audio cassette Folklore tunisien (in Arabic فولكلور تونسي) as "Sidi Mansour Baba Bahri" (in Arabic سيدي منصور بابا بحري).
A version was recorded in 1975 by Mohamed Hanesh[4] (in Arabic محمد الحنش).
| سيدي منصور | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Saber Rebaï |
| Album: | Sidi Mansour |
| Language: | Arabic |
| English Title: | "Sidi Mansour" |
| Released: | 2000 |
| Recorded: | 2000 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Composer: | Tunisian folk music |
| Lyricist: | Sameh al Ajamai |
| Producer: | Hamid al Sha'iri |
The song was made famous by Saber Rebaï when he recorded it for his album of the same name, released in 2000. Based on the traditional Tunisian folkloric song, the lyrics were written by Sameh al Ajami and the record was produced by Hamid al Sha'iri. The popular music video was directed by Fadi Kenaan. The song is also known as "Allah Allah, ya baba", "Sidi Mansour (ya baba)", expressions used many times in the lyrics.
| Σε πήρα σοβαρά | |
| Cover: | Se-pira-sovara-by-sarbel.JPG |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Sarbel |
| Album: | Parakseno sinesthima (Παράξενο συναίσθημα) |
| Language: | Greek, Arabic |
| English Title: | "Se pira sovara" |
| Released: | 2004 |
| Recorded: | 2004 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Next Title: | Sokolata |
| Next Year: | 2005 |
"Se Pira Sovara" (Greek: Σε πήρα σοβαρά, meaning "I took you seriously") is the debut single by British-Cypriot singer Sarbel, released in 2004 from his debut album Parakseno sinesthima (Παράξενο συναίσθημα). It is based on Tunisian singer Saber Rebaï's Arabic song "Sidi Mansour". "Se Pira Sovara" is a bilingual song in Greek and Arabic and became highly successful in Greece and Cyprus.
The song features Greek singer Irini Merkouri, who first introduced the young singer Sarbel to fans in Greece, but also across the Middle East.[5] A music video was also shot for the song.
The album also contains a remixed version titled "Se pira sovara (Diva) (Sidi Mansour) - Sfera Mix" by Nikos Nikolakopoulos.
| Ya Baba | |
| Cover: | Ya-Baba-Zack-Knight-feat-Rami-Beatz.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Zack Knight featuring Rami Beatz |
| Language: | Arabic, English |
| Released: | 2016 |
| Recorded: | 2016 |
| Genre: | Pakistani pop |
| Label: | Zack Knight |
| Composer: | Tunisian folk music |
| Lyricist: | Zack Knight |
| Producer: | Rami Beatz, Dot Da Genius |
"Ya Baba" is a 2016 bilingual song in English and Arabic by Pakistani British artist Zack Knight featuring Rami Beatz. It is largely based on Tunisian singer Saber Rebaï's Arabic song "Sidi Mansour" in which it samples. Zack Knight wrote the additional lyrics. It was produced by Rami Beatz and Dot Da Genius and copyrighted to Quantize Music LLC. The song was highly successful on the UK's Official Asian Download Chart Top 40 published by The Official Charts, reaching number 2. It stayed 13 weeks on that chart. The song also received heavy airplay in South Asian venues as well as radio stations throughout the Middle East. An Arab-themed music video was also released.
The song has been subject to a huge number of interpretations by Arab and international artists and remixes by many DJs in original Arabic version and in other languages.
Most notably, it became the basis for the Boney M. hit "Ma Baker" in 1977 largely based on the 1975 hit by Mohamed Hanesh.
Parts of the song have also been sampled many times in other released songs in Arabic and other languages.