Ya Mahmud / Ya Mustafa

I quite like this music album on Bandcamp:
Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-69)

Padang Moonrise is the story of modern Indonesian music that emerged underneath the volcanoes of Java and Sumatra. Java, the most populous island in the archipelago of over 17,000 islands and 1300 distinct ethnic groups, and its capital city Jakarta, was where most of the post-colonial national identity, politics, administration and music production was centred.

Traditional songs from Java, Sumatra, Bali and beyond were re-imagined by a small group of state-sponsored musicians that also composed and arranged new music. These songs aimed at consolidating a geographically disparate country with a new language and new ideas of national character. This compilation brings together a handful of these recordings that combine elements of regional popular music, Islamic Gambus, Javanese & Balinese Gamelan and Kroncong, with jazz, Afro-latin music & instrumentation, and vocal harmonies influenced by banned American doo-wop and rock & roll.

Song #7 on the album is "Ya Mahmud" by "Orkes Kelana Ria". Most of the lyrics on the album are not English. So it was a surprise in the middle of the song to suddenly hear "I love you, Mister Mahmud; Come to me, Mister Mahmud!", especially as it was sung by a masculine voice. Intrigued, I tried to find a translation of the rest of the lyrics.

The Jakarta Post has an article on the band, Orkes Melayu (Malay Orchestra) Kelana Ria.

Between 1961 and 1964, Kelana Ria recorded 48 songs that were spread over four records, Kafilah, Yam El Shamah, Ya Mahmud and Ya Hamidah. The four recordings changed the trajectory of Indonesian popular music. Songs like "Termenung," written and performed by Ellya Khadam became an instant hit and were staples on the playlist of state-run broadcaster RRI. ...The album also turned Munif – who composed and sung a number of songs on the four records, including two with Arabic lyrics – into a superstar and his name will forever be associated with the mix of Arabic, Indian and Latin music that Kelana Ria popularized.

The "Ya Mahmud" song is mentioned in this book by Andrew Weintraub:
DANGDUT STORIES: A Social and Musical History of Indonesia’s Most Popular Music

Munif Bahasuan brought a cosmopolitan flavor to the music. One of his first recordings was a version of the international hit “Ya Mustafa,” originally recorded in 1958 by Lebanese singer Bob Azam, who also recorded a version in French. The text includes the humorous bilingual opening line in French and Italian: “Chérie je t’aime, chéri je t’adore—como la salsa del pomodoro” (“Darling, I love you, darling, I adore you—like tomato sauce”). The song became such a hit for Munif that he recorded several more songs with “Ya” in the title (“Ya Mahmud” and “Ya Hamidah”). In “Ya Mahmud,” he sings in English: “I love you Mr. Mahmud, Come to me Mr. Mahmud.” There is also a section in Arabic.

Wikipedia has a page on the famous Ya Mustafa song. After listening to it, I realized I even have an instrumental version of it in my music collection!

Here is a video of Bob Azzam's version of the song, showing the lyrics in English (if you click to view it on YouTube):

Watch on YouTube

Video title: Egyptian Arabic+French+Spanish: Bob Azzam - Ya Mustafa with Lyrics -
Posted by: Language Context
Date posted: Nov 9, 2019


LyricsTranslate has some details on the lyrics and on why the song was initially banned in Egypt.