“Saafi”: A Catchy Example of Darija

This week in my Darija class we listened to a new song by Moroccan pop star Asma Lmnawar called “Saafi.” It was a great way to hone our listening chops with Moroccan Darija, because it really is distinctive and quite difficult to understand at first when compared to the standardized Fusha most students study in the US. It also happens to be a great example of how much French language has influenced Darija. Finally, it’s just an absurdly catchy pop song–and one with clear influence from Bollywood; the opening choral section reminds me in particular of the main theme from the 1997 film “Dil To Pagal Hai” (“The Heart is Crazy”) starring Shahrukh Khan, which I happened to watch a few months ago.

You can listen to “Saafi” below. There are two things I want to point out here, although I’m sure there are plenty more interesting aspects of Darija to outline in the song that I simply can’t pick up on at this point. First, there’s the title: “saafi” is in some ways synonymous with another Arabic expression, “khalaas,” which in this context of a gushy pop tune might be interpreted as “salvation,” “[good] riddance,” or “it’s over.” But “saafi” and “khalaas” don’t really sound alike, and of course that’s important from a songwriting perspective. What’s interesting about “saafi” is that its origins in French are really easy to identify: it basically means the same thing as “c’est fin” (“it’s over”).

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xQt9iEBQWg