Superstition ain't the way | Salamitha Oum Hassan (1973)


Cover image not mine; I pulled this from Discogs

Ahmed Adaweya scores another monster hit in 1973 with "Salamitha Oum Hassan," or "Get Well, Mother of Hassan," about a woman who undergoes an unsuccessful zar. A zar ceremony is a form of de-spiriting someone possessed by jinn, or as Nicholas Mangialardi explains in this Smithsonian Folklife article:

When jinn inhabit people, they’re believed to remain with the hosts forever, inducing erratic behavior every few months or years. A zar exorcism is then held to treat the individual, and only by playing specific drum patterns or khuyut (literally “threads”) can the jinn be called forth and appeased.

In the song, Ahmed exhorts: "Get it together, Mother of Hassan, wake up ... the zar isn't working out." (Read two English translations of the lyrics here.)

The song is composed by accordion player and composer Farouk Salama with lyrics by Hassan Abu Itma, leading one to wonder just how self-referential these lyrics might be (Salama, Salamitha; Hassan, Hassan). 

(Listen to Farouk Salama's 1975 single
"Musiqaa Al-Ney Fi Baldi: 'Ana 'Uwmin Biallah")


(Listen to Badriyya Al Sayyid's 1968 single
"Halwin Earays Baladi" with lyrics by Hassan Abu Itma)

The lyrics are, in fact, quite self-referential, at least so far as their author goes.

In other words, Hassan is referring to himself. But Oum is not a reference to his birth mother; it's a reference to his country, Egypt, still reeling more than half a decade after its humiliating 1967 defeat. 

While this interpretation is generally understood and accepted today, it's worth asking: How savvy were Ahmed's listeners in real time? Did they pick up the uber-meaning of the song?

Like "El Sah El Dah Embo," "Salamitha Oum Hassan" enjoyed several editions, including a Lebanese release on the Arabic Records Label, or ARC, and France's Chandor, in addition to three on Sout El Hob.

It is unclear if Farouk Salama and Hassan Abu Itma also wrote the B-Side track, "Mawal Atchan," or "Thirsty Mawal." Interestingly, the Chandor release credits Ahmed himself for the music of both tracks. (Watch Ahmed lip-sync to "Mawal Atchan" in the 1974 film "Al-Fatina Wal-Sa'look")

(Listen to the Sout El Hob release of "Salamitha Oum Hassan")


(Listen to the Sout El Hob release of "Mawal Atchan")


(Listen to the Chandor release of "Salamitha Oum Hassan")



(Listen to Chandor release of "Mawal Atchaane")


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