Rabat - His name is Ahmed Tayeb Laalej (1928- 2012) – arguably the most prolific artist of all time in Morocco, excelling as an actor, playwright, and lyricist.
In commemoration of his legacy, I will introduce and analyze his classic song Mana Illa Bashar (I Am No Exceptional Human) that has gained incomparable popularity all over the Arab world, despite the inherent complaints about the incomprehensibility of Moroccan Arabic.
Tayeb Laalej was endowed with a rare craft of expression that has earned him unanimous praise from Moroccans of all social classes. Moroccans have discovered in the style of his works a beautifully polished form of their vernacular. He managed to achieve recognition for Moroccan art in all its manifestations through prudent creativity that never defied the sense of decency within Moroccan families. He spoke of fervent love in many of his songs, but it was never beyond the norms of acceptability, and, as will be learned from the song under study, the lover’s principled description of his or her sincere feelings succeeds in arousing the interest and empathy of listeners that may even identify with that situation.
I will therefore present an account of the major themes discussed in the song, along with a systematic multilevel analysis of the various stylistic aspects that attest to Tayeb Laalej’s capability of building up meaning through a powerful style.
Thematic Analysis of the Song
The song could be read as a magnificent picture of true love and its tremendous impact on a lover. This passionate and sincere feeling causes the lover to marvel at the sophistication of God’s creation of such a hypnotizing beauty he cannot resist. It is a testimony to Tayeb Laalej’s shrewdness and unique poetic prowess that love for a woman triggers and mingles with love for the Creator. The picture we have is not of a passing infatuation or ephemeral sexual interest, but of a lifelong, heartfelt love that a lover is ready to incessantly fight for with all his might, not allowing himself to be discouraged by any plights as he is convinced that even his death would be that of a Shaheed (martyr). It certainly takes self-denial and sacrifice for one to be deserving of the love of the woman he cherishes:
A true lover feels no shame in soliciting his woman’s mercy and admitting his powerlessness before the beauty of her body and soul:
Equally fascinating is how even the little gestures of requited love can bring joy to the lover’s life:
The realization of all these meanings can also be traced at different levels of the song, as will be shown next.
Multilevel Stylistic Analysis of the Song:
Lexical Analysis
To serve the theme of the song in describing an ideal state of love, Tayeb Laalej selects from Moroccan Arabic vocabulary only the words most capable of vivid expression. As explained earlier, love is represented in this song as a noble, mixed feeling that entails all of the following:
Syntactic Analysis
In harmony with the romantic mood of this song, in which the lover is humbly soliciting requited love, Tayeb Laalej makes effective use of conditional sentences that help express the same idea, that the prospect of his woman’s sharing the same feeling through indicative little gestures such as glances and smiles has a most gratifying impact on him, and stimulates him to do whatever it takes to be deserving of her love. This is clearly manifested in the Moroccan Arabic version. The underlined ???? is the equivalent of the English “if” that may not appear as frequently in the adapted English translation, though the meaning is almost identical.
Dies he whoever cherishes beauty, enticing smile and seduction,
a death of honored martyr in supreme sacrifice
If the moon desired, so must then be its lingering sleepless night.
Worry not, in you unequaled splendor,
So charming that no word would dare describe
Dies he whoever cherishes beauty, enticing smile and seduction,
a death of honored martyr in supreme sacrifice
your talk is sugar sweet
your silence a charm
your smile at me worth the world
Semantic Analysis
A formidable characteristic of Ahmed Tayeb Laalej is undeniably his ability to create vivid images through the skillful manipulation of words in such a manner that invites readers to fully identify with the themes presented. This song is a living testimony. The following sample line shows the creative employment of a relevant figure of speech:
This line contains an example of smooth personification, whereby the world is represented as being turned into a smiling human in the event of a sign of requited love coming from the beloved.
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