"Ya Mustafa" also spelled "Ya Mustapha" (in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

يا مصطفى), is a well-known

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

song from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, composed by famous Egyptian Musician

Mohamed Fawzi Mohamed Fawzi may refer to: *Mohamed Fawzi (general) (1915–2000), Egyptian general * Mohamed Fawzi (artist) (1918–1966), Egyptian composer and singer * Mohamed Fawzi (footballer) (born 1990), Emirati football player See also *Mahmoud Fawzi (190 ...

to feature in the Egyptian movie That's What Love Is (1961), in which Azzam appeared in cameo appearance as a singer while singing the song alongside leading actors

Salah Zulfikar Salah El Din Ahmed Mourad Zulfikar ( ar, صلاح ذو الفقار; ; 18 January 1926 – 22 December 1993) was an Egyptian actor and film producer. He started his career as a police officer in the Egyptian National Police, before becoming an ac ...

and

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

, and which has then been recorded in many different languages for its unique and catchy tunes. Several different versions, including parodies, have been recorded. The song first became popular in Europe with the help of singer Bob Azzam, who released it in 1960 in France.

Versions

The song has been performed in many different versions by many different singers worldwide, including Greek ("Μουσταφά"),

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and Serbian ("Mustafa") languages, where they are very popular in the respective countries. There was also a

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

version used in the soundtrack of a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film. The music of the song is influenced by

Greek music The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its History of Greece, history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek folk music, Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originat ...

. The song was very popular in the 1950s and early 1960s, but its popularity is revived with newer versions of the song. *In Europe the song became popular with the help of the Egyptian-born singer

Bob Azzam Wadie George Azzam, better known by his stage name Bob Azzam, (24 October 1925 in Alexandria – 24 July 2004 in Monaco) was an Egyptian singer. With his hit song " Mustapha", created and composed by Egyptian musician Mohamed Fawzi for the E ...

, who released it in 1960 in France. Azzam's version was also a hit on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, where it spent 14 weeks and peaked at number 23. *One of the singers to record this song (in 1962) was the Jewish–Turkish-French singer

Darío Moreno David Arugete (3 April 1921 – 1 December 1968), commonly known under his stage name Darío Moreno, was a Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer, an accomplished composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He attained fame and made a remarkable career centred ...

. *In Spain, in 1960, the song reached #1 in the charts in two versions sung by

and by

José Guardiola José Guardiola Díaz de Rada, (22 October 1930 – 9 April 2012) was a Spanish singer of popular music who sang in Spanish and Catalan. Guardiola was born in Barcelona. He performed and recorded mostly Spanish versions of foreign songs and re ...

. * In Kosovo, the song was made in Albanian by

Muharrem Qena Muharrem Qena (22 June 1930 – 25 September 2006) was a Kosovo Albanian actor, director, writer and singer. He went to high school in Prishtina, and he completed film school in Belgrade. He is among the noted directors who staged their works at th ...

. *

Bruno Gigliotti Orlando Productions is a French record label, owned by Bruno Gigliotti, brother of Egyptian-Italian then French singer Dalida, for whom he used to be the manager. In the late 1960s, he founded the Orlando label as a vehicle to release and to co ...

(also known as Orlando), the brother of the famous Egyptian-Italian then French singer

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...

and founder of the Orlando record label, covered the song. Dalida herself did it in 1984. *

Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan father, Lee Kip Lee, (who wrote for ''The Straits Times'') and his wife , Elizabeth Tan. He was th ...

also has a version of this song (retitled "Mustapha"), sung in English and several Singaporean dialects. *

Kyu Sakamoto was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number ...

also sang a version of this song in Japanese. *In 1975, the

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

actress and singer

Nil Burak Pembe Nihal Munsif (born 27 April 1948), better known as Nil Burak, is a Turkish Cypriot pop singer and actress who is famous in Turkey and Cyprus. Biography She was born in Lefka, Cyprus in 1948. She is best known for her hit song '' Sen de B ...

sang "Ya Mustafa". *The music was adapted by the Indian composers Nadeem-Shravan and appeared in the film ''Aatish'' starring Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Pancholi, Raveena Tandon, Karisma Kapoor. The vocals of

Jolly Mukherjee Jolly Mukherjee is an Indian singer. Known as India's "King of Strings", Mukherjee specializes specifically in the music of Bollywood, or the Indian film industry. He started his career as a backup singer for commercials, then moving on to writin ...

Mukul Aggarwal Mukul is an Indian/South-Asian given name, which means " blossoming". Mukul may refer to: Given name *Mukul Sharma, Sydney based hotelier, hospitality professional * Mukul Chadda, Indian actor * Mukul Chowdhury, Bangladeshi lyricist and musical a ...

and

Alka Yagnik Alka, AlkA or ALKA may refer to: People * Alka Ajith (born c. 1997), Indian multilingual playback singer * Alka Amin (active from 2011), Indian television actress * Alka Balram Kshatriya, Indian politician, Member of the Parliament of India repr ...

were used for the song. *The American singer and actress

Angélica María Angélica María Hartman Ortiz (born September 27, 1944), known professionally as La novia de Mexico (Mexico's sweetheart), is an American-Mexican actress and singer-songwriter. Her songs El hombre de mi vida (The man of my life) peaked at No. ...

made a recording in her album ''La Magia de Angélica María''. *The Lebanese singer Reeda Boutros has also interpreted the song. *Catalan trumpeter

Rudy Ventura Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch polit ...

covered the song in the early 1960s as "Mustafà català". * Carles Belda performed "Mustafà català" in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

in Barcelona in 2008. *The influential British folk-blues guitarist

Davy Graham David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham (originally spelled Davy Graham) (26 November 1940 – 15 December 2008) was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners ...

did his own instrumental jazzy version of the song on his album

Folk, Blues and Beyond ''Folk, Blues and Beyond'' is the second studio album by British musician Davey Graham, originally released in 1965. It has been considered Graham's most groundbreaking and consistent work and a defining record of the 20th century. It has also be ...

(1964, bonus track re-issued 2002). A short version of this was played live by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page in a BBC session, called "White Summer/Black Mountainside" (Led Zeppelin Remasters 1). Page's recording and acoustic style generally was heavily influenced by

's work. *Performed by

Lola Novaković Zorana "Lola" Novaković (25 April 1935 – 3 April 2016) was a Serbian singer, hugely popular during the 1960s and to a lesser degree the 1970s. She was born in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. She represented FPR Yugoslavia at the Eurovision ...

in Serbian in 1960. *Performed by Yugoslavian singer Djordje Marjanovic in Serbian in 1961. *Performed by Serbian vocalist Nenad Jovanovic in Serbian in 1977. * A Danish version appeared in the 1960 movie "Soldaterkammerater på vagt" (Operation Camel). In this version the song is addressed to Mustafa, a laze camel. Performed by the actors. *In Indonesia, this song is used as the yell of the

Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

, which is popular with the lyrics ''Sudah lama tidak minum Jamu, Jamu-Jamu dari Daun Nangka. Sudah lama tidak ketemu, ketemu dengan Pramuka.'' (It's been a long time to not drinking herbal drinks, herbal drinks from jackfruit leaves. It's been a long time not to meet again, meet again with the Scouts.) *A German language version by Greek singer

Leo Leandros Leo Leandros (born 23 August 1926) is a Greek musician, composer and producer. Born in Astakos, Greece, Leandros left in the 1950s for Germany to pursue a career in singing and composing. He had some success, but shifted his focus to his daught ...

reached number 2 on the German charts in 1960. *Slovenian singer

Magnifico (musician) Robert Pešut (born 1 December 1965), known as Magnifico, is a Slovenian singer of Slovene and Serbian descent. Biography His mother originates from White Carniola, which is a small traditional region in South-Eastern Slovenia. His father is ...

covered the song in the album Charlatan de Balkan in 2016

Appearances

The song is featured in a number of Egyptian movies, including one starring the Egyptian actor Ismail Yassin in the 1950s, and another featuring

in the 1961 film That's What Love Is. It is also used in the Indian film ''Aatish''. The comedy troupe

Warkop Warkop (an abbreviation of Warung Kopi, meaning "coffee stall") were an Indonesian comedy troupe that enjoyed success in radio, films and television over the 1980s and 1990s. Assembled in Jakarta on 1976 under Prambors management, they initiall ...

made a parody of this song in their 1979 film debut, Mana Tahan. The rhythm and melody of the song inspired many popular Egyptian chants, particularly related to

Egyptian football Football is the most popular sport in Egypt, many Egyptians gather around to watch various Egyptian clubs and the Egyptian national football team play on an almost daily basis. Al Ahly and Zamalek are amongst the most popular in the country, both ...

. It is the most popular chant of Ahly (Cairo) fans, and is many directed at their most popular rivals

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east an ...

, they have used it to dis their rivals for more than 30 years. The Ahly chant has different lyrics and begins with a popular Egyptian folk term originally belonging to working farmers while digging the

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...

Canal, ( arz, Hela Hela .. Hela Hela ..Ho) meaning "''hey hey, COME ON! (for enthusiasm)''", and is then followed by ( arz, El Zamalek k*** ommo) meaning "''F*** the mothers of Zamalek''" and vise versa It is the most popular chant of Zamalek (Cairo) fans, and is many directed at their most popular rivals Ahly, Zamalek fans chant ( arz, Hela Hela .. Hela Hela ..Ho) meaning "''hey hey, COME ON! (for enthusiasm)''", and is then followed by ( arz, El Ahly k*** ommo) meaning "''F*** the mothers of Ahly''". In 2019, the most popular chant for anti-government Lebanese protesters (particularly during the earliest protests) targeted their Caretaker Foreign Minister

Gebran Bassil Gebran Gerge Bassil ( ar, جبران جرجي باسيل; born 21 June 1970) is a Lebanese politician who is the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement since 2015. A Maronite Christian, he is the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, and has bee ...

, began with the famous Ahly chant against their rivals Zamalek, "Hela hela, hela hela ho", then followed by "Gebran Bassil k**s emmo," which figuratively translates to "Hela hela, hela hela ho, f*** Gebran Bassil," but literally insults his mother's genitalia. The

Free Patriotic Movement The Free Patriotic Movement ( ar, التيار الوطني الحر, ) is a Lebanese political party. Founded by Michel Aoun in 2005, the party is currently led by Aoun son-in-law Gebran Bassil since 2015. Ideology The Free Patriotic movement ...

, which Bassil leads, created an alternative version which failed to achieve popularity: "Hela hela, hela hela ho, Gebran Bassil mnħebbo," meaning "we love him." Meanwhile, feminist activists in Beirut coined an alternative pro-revolution chant: "Hela hela, hela hela ho, ay*i bi Gebran wa bi 'ammo." This slogan, meaning "...f*** Gebran and his father-in-law." This revision more directly insults Bassil, rather than his mother, and includes the

President of Lebanon The President of the Lebanese Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية اللبنانية, rayiys aljumhuriat allubnania; french: Président de la République Libanaise) is the head of state of Lebanon. The president is elected by the parliame ...

Michel Aoun Michel Naim Aoun ( ar, ميشال نعيم عون ; born 30 September 1933) is a Lebanese politician and former military general who served as the President of Lebanon from 31 October 2016 until 30 October 2022. Born in Haret Hreik to a Mar ...

References

{{Authority control Egyptian songs Songs about Egypt Alexandria in popular culture Macaronic songs