يا حلالي يا مالي

Arab Idol Mohammed Assaf’s new song, “Ya Halali Ya Mali,” has almost 2 million views on youtube–even though it was just released last week. The video, which was filmed in the same refugee camp in Beirut where I taught yoga, features dabke dance moves and spirited lyrics about good fortune. On May 11th, Mohammad Assaf is scheduled to perform in Virginia with Lebanese vocalist and Arab Idol finalist Ziad Khoury. Whether his concert in Nazareth will go ahead as planned, however, is an entirely different story…