Artist & Tune
Version by Fairuz
Version by Fairuz
About the Song
This is a song in Arabic by an anonymous author. It was popularized by the Lebanese popular singer, Fairuz.
It has become an anthem for many in the Palestinian Diaspora, expressing their longing for their lost homes, including this village that no longer exists in an area now part of Israel.
It was included in Rise Up Singing at the request of the folksinger Pete Seeger, as a small balance to the many Israeli songs in that collection.
Translation(s)
A long time ago we owned a beautiful orchard
A shady village in which April surrendered to sleep
The name of our village was Bisan
Take me to Bisan, to my winter village
There where tenderness thrives up to the grey edges
Take me to those long afternoons
To those peaceful naps against my door
Where I can hug the silence of the earth
I remember Bisan, a playground of innocence
humble dwellings, pastoral shadows
Everything we called home: our home, Bisan
Take me, take me with the songbirds
to those same shadows that now weep
Rows & rows of the Returning [from the Diaspora]
To a tenderness now reduced to words
Take me to Bisan.