One of my favorite songs, “Yardili” (يردلي) which is most widely translated to “My Love” or “My Heart” is a popular old folklore song sang throughout Iraq and the surrounding regions to the North. It is mostly believed to have originated in Iraqi city of Mosul, whilst there are some narrations which state the song originated in neighbouring Qamishli in North-eastern Syria, or Mardin in Turkey. All in all, it is known to have originated in the region which was historically referred as “الجزيرة الفراتية”, before modern nation-state borders were erupted. Translated to “The Island of the Euphrates”, in reference to the regions being surrounded by the Northern part of the Euphrates River, one of the two major rivers thet make up Mesopotamia. In English the region is synonymous with the term “Upper Mesopotamia”. This region, compromising North (and parts of Eastern) Iraq, Northeastern Syria, Northwestern Iran, and Southeastern Turkey, is particularly known for being one of the most multiethnic and multicultural regions in the Middle East. It’s inhabitants include ethnic Assyrians/Chaldeans, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Shabaks, Yazidis, Armenians, (previously Jews) and others. The religious affiliations of the ethnic groups is mainly Islam, Christianity, Yazidism and other indigenous religions, and the various languages spoken include Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish, Armenian and Turkish. The Al-Jazirah province in Syria was named after this historical region, and some people from there still refer to the region as such.
The song is about a love story occurring around the end of the 1900′s, between an Arab Muslim man, and an Assyrian Christian woman. The girl was from a rich and wealthy Assyrian family from Mosul in Iraq, whose father was a chief member of the community at the time. Some stories note that the boy was a poor Arab orphan who was adopted by the Assyrian family and grew up with the girl, eventually falling in love with her, while others do not mention it and just mention that it was between a poor Arab man and a rich Assyrian woman. The song describes the man’s affection of this girl, who in the song he refers to as “Samra” which translates to “brown (girl)”, a word used in the Arabic language to refer to a person who has a beautiful brown skin complexion. The man told the girl’s father of his affection for his daughter, which did not please him due to their religious and ethnic differences. The most popular version of the story states that the couple did end up getting married in the end, and the song is a description of the man’s love for the girl and her beauty, and of the girl on the wedding day. The origin of the word Yardili is unknown and contested; some think it is the name of the woman the man fell in love with. Others claim it is rooted in the Turkish words “yar” meaning young female and “deli” meaning pampered.
The song is remembered as a unifying and joyful force for the people when sung, reminding them of their culturally diverse homeland, and is sung by Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds and others alike. Whenever an instance of an inter-ethnic love affair arises between two people from different backgrounds, it is sometimes referred to as a “Story of Yardili” (قصة ياردلي). There have been many versions of the songs created, with influences taken from the various languages spoken in the region.
Some of the lyrics of the song translate to:
My love (Yardili), my love (Yardili), Samra (brown girl), you have killed me! Fear the God of the Sky and never leave me! You with your religion, and me with mine (there’s no need to renounce our identities)
…
And your eyelashes, they are so beautiful! [Your beauty and love] has caused there to be knives in my heart!
This version of the song is by sang by Syrian singers, Arî Jan and Sarah Darwish. Other versions include an old Iraqi version, and other famous modern versions sung by Iraqi singers, Kadhim Al Saher, Shatha Hasoon, and Sawsan Najar. Another popular version I found online is a cover by a Syrian singer on youtube Maya Ghaly.
