South X Lullaby: A-WA
We first fell in love with A-WA in a badass video for their party song "Habib Galbi," complete with tasseled snapbacks on track-suited dancers. But at midnight during the SXSW music festival, the Israeli sister trio sang us a quiet lullaby in All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen's hotel room.
Accompanied by an electric guitarist and seated on the side of the bed, "Ya Shaifin Al Malih" is a Yemeni folk song about a love that hurts. The sisters, who pull from their Yemeni Jewish roots, told us that it wasn't originally written as a ballad, but after explaining its meaning, how could it not be?
"There's an enjoyable love and there's a love that gives you heartache," they said. "There's a strong love that no doctor can cure." You can hear that heartache in the gorgeous and haunting three-part harmony that ties a yearning soul in knots, as they sing (translated from Yemeni Arabic), "Have you seen my love / Tell him that he's my heart and my soul / Because I've been looking for him day and night."
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