Fatet Ganbena (; "She Passed By Us") is an Arabic song performed by Abdel Halim Hafez written by Hussein El Sayed and composed by Mohammed Abdel Wahab.
The song was debuted by Hafez in 1974 at a Sham Ennessim festival concert in the Grand Celebrations Hall of Cairo University and was broadcast via TV and radio. It was since performed outside Egypt in the Arab World and at Hafez's 1974 Paris concert at the Palais des congrès de Paris.
Fatet Ganbena was the first Abdel Halim Hafez song since 1969's Ya Khaley El Alb to be composed by Mohammed Abdel Wahab and the last to be written by Hussein El Sayed.
Lyrics
The song recounts a couple of chance encounters between two friends, including the singer's character, with a woman they both become interested in, with the singer questioning whether her smile was directed towards him or his friend, asking, “أعرف منين إنها قاصدانى أنا مش هو” (“How can I know that she meant me and not him?”). Following this, the lyrics depict a progression of the singer's emotional states: confusion at the sudden intensity of his feelings, joy after falling in love with the woman, then anxiety and jealousy as uncertainty sets in. The conclusion of the song has the singer reach out to the woman to determine her intentions with her confirming her smiles were always directed towards him: "وقالت لي أنا من الأول بضحك لك يا اسمراني" ("And she told me, "I've been smiling at you from the beginning, oh dark-skinned one").
According to the songwriter's daughter, Hamida Hussein El Sayed, the song's original story ended with the woman favoring the singer's friend rather than the singer. The ending was revised to what it currently is after Mohammed Abdel Wahab persuaded Hussein El Sayed to change it.
References