Finding Ya Mustafa, 62 years later

Almost exactly one year ago on April 10 the Mumbai police band better known as Khaki Studio posted a catchy instrumental on their YouTube page The song called Ya Mustafa sounded instantly familiar In a few bars I was right back in 1960 a skinny stripling of eightWe were a band of prepubescent buddies in New Delhirsquos Karol Bagh Every evening wersquod gather at Kannarsquos house about which my main memory is a massive record player then known as a radiogramFrom this emanated the latest and the greatest in the world of songs This was where I met music for the first timeBerlin Melody by Billy Vaughan and his orchestra Lipstick on your collar Connie Francis Technique Pat Boone Multiplication Bobby Darin The Shadows with their electrifying guitar instrumentals with exotic names like Apache Fandango and KonTikiThen there were unforgettable songs with incomprehensible words in strange languages like Tintarella di Luna something Italian about starlight and loveAlso Read Letrsquos not be birdbrains while bird watchingThus finally we come to a capricious Egyptian melody starting with a weaving chorus singing words probably Arabic that sounded to my green ears like mdashTeri sesame sheri sesamo O mora chacha de pomelo Sheer gobbledygook right But sense doesnrsquot matter when yoursquore eight The tune was magical instantly addictive And as the memories drifted back like cirrus clouds I remembered that there had been English words woven between the ArabicAllamahebak means lsquoI love you sorsquoI never want to let you goAnd later in what must have been happen days in both cities mdashFrom Damascus to Tehran like a camel I have runThe song was Ya Mustafa composed by Mohamed Fawzi and featured in the 1961 Egyptian film El Hob Keda Thatrsquos Love httpscuttlyP7eah5XAnd it was the very melody the boys of Mumbairsquos Khaki Studio had posted on YouTubeSuddenly I wanted to find out everything about itMustafa for those not in the know is one of the many names of the prophet Muhammad and means ldquothe Chosen Onerdquo If you search for it on Google YouTube or Spotify yoursquoll be inundated with hits I have gamely ploughed through them all to track down the specific one that had enlivened my boyhoodBe warned songs about Mustafa rule in the desert kingdoms The most haunting version with the same title by Sami Yusuf has a different melody and is a prayer to the divine The tune and tempo I sought showed up first in a release by George Abdo titled Raks Mustafa and even featuring a live belly dancer in the throbbing video version httpscuttlyP7wHM4aA slicker punchier rendering came from Mezdeh still exclusively in Arabic but titled Ruh Rahleh It awaits you at httpscuttlyS7wYYZp It is about a man called Mustafa we are told who has been away too long they are begging him to come homeAt this point the world discovers Ya Mustafa and everyone goes bananas Everything is up for grabs starting with its words Suddenly everyone was doing their own covers of the song with their own insane lyricsOne Magnifico releases a greasy version httpscuttlyC7wJx8b with these raunchy lines mdashYou like it when I tickle you with my moustacheAnd I like it when you say to me hush hushEgyptrsquos Bob Azzam introduced silly French lyrics and the song became Europersquos 1 hit Other languages quickly followed Maltese Flemish English German Yoursquoll find versions in jazz the lsquo60s surf sound raiuml and even fusion with a sitarTurkeyrsquos cover by Dario Moreno has a young woman telling her boyfriend ldquoLetrsquos get married and put an end to this I have a child in my bellyrdquoIn 1994 Bollywood discovered and instantly plagiarised Ya Mustafa in the film Aatish with a nolongeryouthful Sanjay Dutt mouthing the lyricsThe last nail in the coffin comes from British singer Clinton Ford disguised as Sheik Ben Dhown and crooningJust like a match you set my heart on fireBut why oh why you leave me now with my desireIt is my misfortune that I still havenrsquot found my Ya Mustafa the one in which a besotted Arab Romeo runs like a camel from Damascus to Tehran It must be out there somewhere in that great vinyl beyond Perhaps yoursquoll send me the linkI confess with some regret that last week 62 years later I did finally find the actual lyrics for nonsense Arabic that start the song Turns out they are entirely French and entirely loony A frisky Arabian playboy is singing to his paramour under a studio moon and plywood props yigal in hand trying to tell her how much he loves her Here are the French words that I had once mistaken for ArabicCherie je trsquoaime cherie je trsquoadoreComo la salsa de pomodoroThe first line is easy enough Darling I love you darling I adore youBut how much does the Sheikh love her Like a rose Like the light of a thousand suns Like the first bloom of springAlas no as the second line ceremoniously revealsI love you like tomato ketchupYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper