Personal Selections No. 8- Fairuz and Halloumi Breakfast Sandwiches
Songs to make breakfast to
How does one write about song suggestions when genocide is actively happening, in which the American government is playing a crucial role? It’s the question that has stopped me every time I’ve sat down to write and then promptly shifted instead to sharing resources online to call on the US government to support a ceasefire, to stop cosigning everything Israel does without question.
The saying goes “existence is resistance,” and that especially applies to all the ways Palestine exists in a million wonderful ways, the music of Palestine being an example. So, fighting to hold onto hope, I have been compelled to go to the music and art of Palestine. In doing so, I have been reminded that we must be careful not to characterize people as one-dimensional, knowing them only for their suffering. Let’s also embrace, celebrate, and be reverent towards the very normal and very beautiful things that Palestinians hold dear and consider part of their identity.
In that spirit, I offer you selections inspired by Fairuz, and how her music introduced me to the idea of songs that are fit for making breakfast.
My first Arabic professor taught us about Fairuz in our first semester the way you might teach ESL students about icons in American pop culture like Elvis or Dolly Parton. Truthfully, there is no American equivalent in terms of not only how immediately recognizable her voice is, but also how universally loved she is in the Levant1. A Lebanese Christian, her career and popularity spans from the 1950s to today and she is still as iconic as ever, practically immortalized in Arab, and especially Levantine, culture.2
Playing her music in class, our professor explained to us how people especially love playing Fairuz in the morning, and that when he visited Palestine as a kid he would hear it pouring out of every window. Sitting in that classroom, listening to her songs that piqued my interest upon first listen, I was charmed and delighted by this idea of her voice mingling with the smell of breakfast in the air.
Fast forward to me, with this Fairuz education, living in Amman, Jordan. Someone gave me a coupon for a free halloumi McMuffin from McDonalds, and conveniently for me there was a McDonalds3 (or “Mac”, as cool and hip Jordanian young people would call it) right next to the building my classes were in. I got that first halloumi McMuffin for free, but boy did I spend a lot of money on that breakfast from then on. It consisted of a slice of halloumi, a kind of cheese with a high melting point, a slice of tomato, lettuce, and an english muffin toasted and drizzled with a little olive oil and sumac. It was so much better than any fast food breakfast item ever should be. On my last day in Jordan, you best believe I went to McDonalds that morning for one last perfect breakfast sandwich to-go.
All this to say: a) I’m often sad there is no where here in Buffalo, NY I can pick up a halloumi breakfast sandwich on the way to the office and b) I stumbled into frequenting McDonalds in the morning during the fall semester of my time in Jordan. But I digress.
I was delighted, on one of these mornings in line, when I recognized Fairuz’s voice playing over the speakers and thought “hey! Fairuz in the morning!” It was a charming song that certainly was a pleasant sonic experience to wake up to, bouncing with an accordion and her lilting voice that glided romantically even over the incessant beeping of a fast-food restaurant. I came to realize that this song played there at the same time every morning, so almost every time I went in for my breakfast sandwich before class I heard it. This experience solidified Fairuz as just the right voice to hear in the morning, and in an unfortunate Pavlovian way I crave this sandwich every time I listen to this song even now.
Yes’ed Sabahak x Fairuz
I learned first-hand the reason that Fairuz’s music has become synonymous for so many people with greeting a new day; her voice has an impossibly universal nostalgic quality, and the soft edges of it are reminiscent of your mom gently waking you up with the news that a stack of pancakes is already waiting for you. Until experiencing this association with Fairuz and this time of day, I don’t think I had ever consciously thought about certain music being particularly good listening in the morning.
As I have been listening to my favorite tracks of hers this week (of which I will likely share in the future, as there are several), I have been considering other songs that I might pair with pleasant mornings. What might other great tracks be for making breakfast in your own kitchen or for waiting to order it in a line on the way to class, depending on where you are in life?
Besame Mucho x Joao Gilberto
I discovered this song by way of the Rosalia’s Elle Song Association video, in which she gives a chill bump-inducing five second cover. Imagine, then, how tickled I was to find that the original rendition by legendary Brazilian bossa nova singer Joao Gilberto was just as intensely affective. The powerfully withholding nature of his singing followed by those growls is incomparable and practically makes me hold my breath getting lost in it.
With the title translating ineloquently to “kiss me a lot,” one may argue that this song is more suited for sunset than dawn. I say sometimes something a little sexy and coaxing and quiet is just what you need to get you out of bed. I submit this song for those mornings that you don’t want to talk to anyone nor do you want anyone talking to you, but, as an alternative, you are open to be seduced into starting the day with fantasies of standing on the porch of a villa with blue water somewhere.
How Deep is Your Love x PJ Morton and Yebba
File under: covers that place their own stake in the history of musical genius. Because of the way PJ Morton and Yebba sing the lyrics, I am able to understand and appreciate the poetry of this song in a way that I never did listening to the also brilliant original Beegees version. I believe this song was my introduction to Yebba, though it would still be a while before I dove into her LP. This recording so well captures that special, sacred energy of musical collaboration also evident in the video, reminding me of those Nusrat qawalis I’ve already written about.
I submit this song for those mornings that you’re excited about something planned later in the day, and you’re trying to use/pace all that happy energy. Warning: you will likely let out an involuntary “WHOO” after Yebba delivers that “I believe in you.” Sheeeeesh its good stuff.
Natural Woman x Carole King
Okay, I confess that in general I opt for Aretha Franklin’s rendition of this one because it goes. so. hard. But if we’re talking morning music, we need something that is going to ease us into being a person, for which Carole King’s version is more suitable, and undoubtedly iconic in its own right.
Full transparency: I knew I wanted to choose a song from her classic album Tapestry for this list, because the whole album is a good morning choice. I then narrowed it down to the more upbeat, happy ones, the vibes I want to wake up to. Ultimately, I chose this one for how fun it is to sing along to and how it builds so nicely, giving you that sunrise alarm clock4 sensibility in a song. The piano accompaniment on this record has an arc of its own that’s lovely to listen to on top of King’s earnest, intimate voice.
I submit this song for those mornings when you’re trying to start your day focusing on gratitude, be it while you’re scrambling eggs for one or on your commute to a less than ideal job. Based on personal experience, I encourage you to sing “I used to feel uninspired” and “it made me feel so tired” as if those are really woes of the past, but not today!
If you have any songs/artists/albums that you particularly enjoy in the morning, I’d love to hear in the comments!
To send a message to your representatives that you want an end to the genocide currently going on in Palestine, follow this link. It will take you less than one minute, and every voice truly counts.
May we all have songs that we associate with the joy of waking up slowly with people you love, and may we all one day wake up to a free Palestine.
Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, are a few countries considered part of the Levant region. The list includes more or less depending on who you ask.
But don’t go to McDonalds today wherever you are in the world- we’re boycotting them because of their support for Israel. For more information on the BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) movement, go here.
Do you know what I’m talking about, or do I have a niche interest in alarm clocks that wake you up by simulating the light of the rising sun in your room?