Star Sparkle Blog

It's been a long time since I've written a post sharing Arabic music (apart from Weekly Music Videos). The last one was Turkish and Arabic Songs back in 2017! So today I'm sharing some newer Arabic songs, from the past couple of years.  :) I've actually had this in mind for several months but taken a while to get round to it, lol. I went to my belly dance's group hafl a (dance party) last month which partly inspired me to start it, but it still took me a while to finish the post!   Jhoome Jo Pathan Arabic Version (Pathaan) I shared this last year, in my New Music for 2023- Various post. It's an Arabic version of the original Hindi song Jhoome Jo Pathaan from the Bollywood film Pathaan , which was released in January 2023.  For more on the movie and to watch the music video for the original song, visit my New Music for 2023- Bollywood post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/01/new-music-for-2023-bollywoodasian.html The Arabic version is sung by Moroccan sin...

This week's video is Kef Halak by Romanian singer Stefania and Kosovar-Albanian singer Dhurata Dora . It was released in August. Kef Halak is an upbeat pop song with Arabic influences. I think the title translates as "How are you?" in English and the first line, "Kef halak, mi habibi?" is something like "How are you, my love/my baby?".  As with Stefania's song with Australian singer Faydee (see below), it's a multilingual song. The lyrics are a mix of Arabic, English and Albanian.    Stefania fan? Check out these links:  Music video for Ma bebe with Faydee (released in April(:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/09/weekly-music-video_18.html   Her new single Dis Moi (reeased on 4th October):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faBr-Vd7w78   Or want more Dhurata?  Visit these links: GADJE, her 2022 single with Elvana Gjata (plus links to more music): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2024/03/weekly-music-video.html Official visualiser for N...

Today's video is Ma bebe by STEFANIA X FAYDEE . Stefania is a Romanian singer and Faydee is Australian. Stefania's full name is Cristina Stefania. She was born in Galati, Romania and studied at the Dimitrie Cuclin High School of Arts, before moving to Bucharest in 2015, to pursue her passion for dancing. She kicked off her music career by releasing a cover of the song Nentori by Albanian singer Arilena Ara . (For more on Stefania's journey, check out her YouTube bio .) Random fact: Arilena was set to be Albania's entry in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest , before it was cancelled due to the pandemic . Arilena discovered Stefania's cover and decided to promote her. Stefania then made her Romanian musical debut with the single Drinking About You in September 2017. She released her first album ALPHA in September 2022. Stefania's other singles/songs include Prea Tarziu, Bad Boy, Anni mei, Te sun eu and How I Love It with Romanian musician Cezar Guna . Her most rec...

This week's music video is Wallah Habibi from the recent Bollywood film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan . The title translates as "Big Master Little Master" in English. It's an action and sci-fi thriller about ex-soldiers Captain Firoz/Freddy (played by star actor Akshay Kumar ) and Captain Rakesh/Rocky (played by Tiger Shroff , son of veteran actor Jackie Shroff and film producer and former model and actress Ayesha Dutt ), aka Bade Miyan and Chote Miyan, who are called back to duty.  They were previously court martialled and have been labelled "psychos", but they must now team up to recover a stolen weapon and defeat a mysterious masked enemy, who wants to destroy India. The idea is that when dealing with a psychopath, even bigger psychos are needed! Freddy and Rocky are aided in their mission by Captain Misha ( Manushi Chhillar ) and IT specialist Pam ( Alaya F ). Interesting info: Both Akshay and Tiger have studied martial arts. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan was releas...

This week's video is AL SHAM by Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna . It's her latest single and is a tribute to her Levantine heritage. Elyanna describes it as an ode to the late singers Sabah Fakhri (Syrian) and Cheika Rimitti (Algerian rai singer). Al Sham is an Arabic language song (with a couple of English lines) which is influenced by Dabke (an Arabic folk dance) and rai (Algerian music). It also has modern electronic elements. The video was directed by Elyanna's brother Fairdose and came out in January. See the description box on YouTube for an English translation of the lyrics. :)   Want more Arabic music?   Check out these posts : Turkish and Arabic Songs:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/09/turkish-and-arabic-songs.html Elyanna's 2020 single Ana Lahale feat. Massari: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/12/weekly-music-video.html NEJ'- Inta Habibi (Arabic/French):  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/weekly-music-video_17.html   P....

This week's video is Habibi by Hazzar and Archer Dcosta. Archer is a record and music producer based in Mumbai, India, who creates jingles for TV adverts and trailers (including an Indian one for the revamped Supermarket Sweep !), music for film soundtracks and makes his own original music.  He also does remixes for other artists.  I can't find much info for the singer and rapper Hazzar, but I think his real name is Tausif Husain. Habibi is an Arabic phrase (a term of endearment) which translates as "beloved" , "darling" or "dear" in English. The song is a Hindi language one though. The female vocals are sung by Lynn D'souza. As well as Hazzar, the music video stars Moroccan/French model and TV star Soundous Moufakir , who belly dances (although it's more like a fusion dance, in my opinion). :) It was uploaded to Zee Music's official YouTube channel in May.  Follow Hazzar on Instagram:  https://instagram.com/taus1000sain And for more on...

Today's video is Inta Habibi by French singer NEJ' . She is from Toulouse and started singing when she was young, after being inspired by American singer Mary J. Blige . She moved to Paris at 18 to pursue her music career.  NEJ' released her debut album Enchantee (French for "Nice to meet you") in 2019 and the deluxe edition Enchantee (Black Edition) the following year. To date she has brought out three more albums- SOS (Chapitre 1) in 2021 and the follow-ups, SOS (Chapitre 2) and SOS (Chapitre 3), both released last year. Her singles include Petit Chat (Little Cat), Paro, Ma Colombe, Je t'a(b)ime and Inta Habibi. NEJ' started out on the French urban music scene and her current music is a mixture of French urban/American R'n'B and North African.  Inta Habibi is a an Arabic and French language song. The Arabic title translates as "You Are My Love" or something similar in English. "Habibi" is a term of endearment that means "...

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest  is tonight, so here is the second of my annual posts! I also wrote two "mini countdown" posts this year. Here is the first post, another round-up of my Eurovision posts  (I did the first one back in 2017): Eurovision Round-up 2:  https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/05/eurovision-round-up-2.html   I watched some of the 1st semi-final on Tuesday but not all of it, because I find that if it's more interesting if I haven't seen all the acts first. So I tend to watch the semi-final that the UK can vote in and then I catch up on the acts that didn't get through online later. This year it was the 2nd one on Thursday that we could vote in, so I watched all of that. Here are my favourites from this year's contest. :) Brunette - Future Lover (Armenia) I voted for Armenia in the 2nd semi-final. Their entry is Future Lover by Brunette .  She got through and will be competing in the final.  Brunette's real name is El...

Last week I shared some new music for the new year, specifically Bollywood/Asian music. You can see the post here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/01/new-music-for-2023-bollywoodasian.html This week I'm featuring some more new music, this time in various genres. :)   Gen Neo feat. DeVita- Like California This past week's music video was Like California, the new single by Singaporean singer Gen Neo and featuring Korean singer DeVita. It came out on 10th January. See the post here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/01/weekly-music-video_18.html   Jhoome Jo Pathaan Arabic Version (Pathaan) Next up is the Arabic version of Jhoome Jo Pathan, from the upcoming Bollywood film Pathaan (starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham). I featured the original Hindi version of Jhoome Jo Pathaan (and wrote more about the movie) in last week's New Music post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2023/01/new-music-for-2023-bollywoodasian.html The Arabic version is s...

This week's video is Gas Me Up by Shaima. She is a singer-songwriter from London who is half English and half Asian. Her music explores her mixed background and she describes it as "pop with some chilli powder on it!". Shaima started out in the music industry aged 14. Her favourite types of music are pop, hip hop and R'n'B and she also uses traditional like the sitar , Arabic flute and tabla (Indian drums). Her other songs include Outsider and Rocky Road, and her debut EP UNVEILED is out now. I see on Shaima's social media that she just had a baby two months ago. Congratulations! 💓 Gas Me Up is an upbeat pop song with some Indian and Arabic beats. The video came out last September.   Stream and download UNVEILED here: https://shaima.lnk.to/UNVEILED   And for more on Shaima visit these links: Official site: https://www.shaimamusic.com/ FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ShaimaMusic/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaima/

In the past couple of years or so I've come across several Bollywood songs that have been remade and given a modern spin, so I'm featuring a few covers today. :)  Dilbar (Sirf Tum/Satyameva Jayate) Dilbar Dilbar is a song that originally featured in the 1999 romantic drama Sirf Tum (translated in English as "Only You") in English, which starred Sanjay Kapoor (brother of Anil Kapoor ), Priya Gill and Sushmita Sen . The film was also a remake, based on the 1996 Kollywood (Tamil language) movie Kadhal Kottai . The playback singer was the popular Alka Yagnik . In 2018 Dilbar (which is translates as "Beloved") was remade for the film Satyameve Jayate , with singers Neha Kakkar , Dhvani Bhanushali and Ikka . The second "Dilbar" in the title was dropped. The hit music video features Moroccan-Canadian dancer and actress Nora Fatehi , who is known for her work in Indian film industries, including Bollywood (Hindi language) and Tollywood (Telugu). Here i...

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week, been a bit of a busy weekend! :)   Time for my first general dance video post of the year! :) I previously wrote a post featuring C-pop in Public dances (Chinese pop dances performed in public) in January, which you can see here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/01/c-pop-in-public-dances.html   TENI- JO (AFRO IN HEELS) by Patience J First up is an Afro pop dance to the 2020 single Jo by Nigerian singer Teni (sister of Niniola ). It's choreographed by Patience J, a dancer, choreographer, actress and teacher from the UK. She has worked for several African and Western artists, including Mr Eazi , Burna Boy , Pet Shop Boys and David Guetta . In this video (posted last June) Patience and her students perform an Afro in heels   choreo to Jo.  Watch the music video for Jo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwh_omgOQ1o And follow Patience at these links:  Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn0Pokj...

Today's music video is Ana Lahale by Palestinian singer Elyanna. She is half Palestinian and half Chilean and was born in Nazareth, Palestine. These days she is based in America. Elyanna started out by sharing her songs on Soundcloud. Her singles include Oululee Leh, Enta Eh and Ta Ta. She mostly sings in Arabic and has been nicknamed the "Arab Rihanna", due to sounding like Bajan singer Rihanna !  Ana Lahale was released in March and features Lebanese Canadian singer Massari . It's from Elyanna's self-titled debut EP. For more on Elyanna visit these links:  Milleworld feature: https://www.milleworld.com/elyanna-palestinian-singer-music/ Official FB: https://www.facebook.com/AnaElyanna Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/elyanna/ YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbeHNZoEPDo   Want more Arabic music? Check out these posts:   Turkish and Arabic Songs: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/09/turkish-and-arabic-songs.html Hindi and Ar...

This week's video is The Naari Naari Song from the 2019 Bollywood film Made in China. The movie is based on the book of the same name is about Gujurati businessman Raghuvir (Raghu) Mehta (played by Rajkummar Rao ) who is not doing well in his career. He plans to try his luck by doing business in China. The Naari Naari Song is a new Hindi verson of the 90s Arabic and Hindi song Habibi/Habiby Dah (Nari Narain) by Egyptian singer Hisham Abbas   and Indian singer Jayashri . The original title translates in English something like "That's My Love (My Fire is Two Fire)" and on YouTube the translation for Naari Naari is "The fire is doubled". I have heard Habibi Dah before, probably danced to it at some point! It seems to be a popular belly dance song. :) The playback singers are Vishal Dadlani , Jonita Gandi and music composer duo Sachin-Jigar . The video stars Raghu and his wife Rukhmini ( Mouni Roy ). Click "Subtitles/closed captions" while watching ...

With recent events and a lot of division and unrest in the world, I think we could all do with some relaxation! Several years ago I did a post on my other blog Falling Petals called Alternatives to Meditation and included some relaxing songs I liked, but I don't think I've ever done a post grouping them all together on Star Sparkle. So today I'm sharing some "chillout" songs. Years ago I made a playlist of relaxing songs for myself, so I'll share some of those, plus some newer music. Maybe not all of these are strictly in the chillout genre, but they do have calming vibes. Hope it helps you to relax, even if only for a little while. :) Ivo Sedlacek- Dance of Autumn Lights I don't listen to much classical music, but one of my favourite pieces in that genre is Dance of Autumn Lights by Ivo Sedlack . It's long at around 16 minutes but great if you just want to relax for a while, or maybe use it for meditation! I featured it as a Weekly Music Video back...

 Hope your year and decade is going well so far! :)  The other week I did a post featuring new music for 2020. You can view that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/01/new-music-for-2020-part-1.html Now here is Part 2 with more new music for the start of the year! :) Alina Baraz- Trust First  of all here is Trust, a new song by American singer Alina Baraz . It's an audio and was uploaded on 20th January. If you watch the video on YouTube you can see the lyrics in the description. :) Lolo Zouai- Desert Rose (Official video) Next is the official video for French/Algerian American singer Lolo Zouai's single Desert Rose. The song was originally released (or at least uploaded online) in 2018 and I first heard it last year. You can listen to the audio and read more about the story behind the song here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/04/weekly-music-video_17.html Desert Rose (which is from Lolo's 2019 album High Highs to High Lows) has now been ...

This week's video is Desert Rose by Lolo Zouai . She's a French American singer who was born in Paris and grew up in San Francisco, California. Her breakout song was 2017's High Highs to Low Lows which was very popular on music sites such as Spotify and Soundcloud. Lolo's latest single is Ride and her debut album High Highs to High Lows is due out on Friday (19th April). Desert Rose was uploaded to YouTube last May but I only came across it in March and featured it in that month's New Music/Videos post . It's a very personal song about bridging divides and acceptance. Lolo is half Algerian and says growing up in America has created cultural and religious divide between her father's family and herself. In the song, which is written in a mixture of English, French and Arabic, she asks her dad's family to accept and love her as she is. This is the official audio. Find the lyrics here: https://genius.com/Lolo-zouai-desert-rose-lyrics And watch th...