اعظم علی (Romanization: Azam Ali) was born in Iran but spent most of her ea… Read Full Bio ↴اعظم علی (Romanization: Azam Ali) was born in Iran but spent most of her early years in India before moving to the US in the mid eighties. She is a vocalist of astonishing diversity with a range covering music from the mediaeval European to the classical Eastern - Persian, Lebanese and Indian.

In November 1995, along with Greg Ellis, Ali formed Vas, producing four albums: Sunyata (1997), Offerings (1998), In the Garden of Souls (2000), and Feast of Silence (2004).

In 2002 she released her first solo album, Portals of Grace, which saw her expand her repertoire even farther and prove her to be equally as adept in singing in 13th century French-Provençal, Galician and Ladino as she is in Arabic.

In 2005, Ali worked on a new project called Niyaz with solo artist Carmen Rizzo and Axiom of Choice member Loga Ramin Torkian. Its self-titled album, Niyaz features Ali's vocals sung in Urdu and Farsi, backed up by more electronica-style music.

In June 2006, Ali released another latest solo album, Elysium for the Brave, where she includes English singing in her repertoire.

Azam Ali collaborated with Keyavash Nourai and Shahrokh Yadegari on the album Green Memories, released in September of 2008.

In 2011, the latest album, From Night to the Edge of Day was released. It features Ali's unique take on traditional Middle Eastern songs and lullabies.

El Rey De Francia
Azam Ali Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

El Rey de Franzia
Tres hijas tenía
La una lavrava
La otra kuzía

La mas chika de eyas
Bastidor hazía
Lavrando lavrando

Sueno le kaía

Su madre ke la vía
Aharvar la kería
`No m'aharvesh mi madre
Ni m'aharvaríash

Un suenyo me sonyava
Bien y alegría'
`Suenyo vos sonyavash
Yo vo' lo soltaría'

`M'aparí a la puerta
Vide la luna entera
M'aparí a la ventana
Vide la estreya Diana

M'aparí al pozo
Vide un pilar d'oro
Kon tres pasharikos
Pikando el oro'

`La luna entera
Es la tu suegra
La estreya Diana
Es la tu kunyada

Los tres pasharikos
Son tus kunyadikos

Y el pilar d'oro
El hijo del Rey, tu novio.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Azam Ali's "El Rey De Francia" tell the story of three daughters of a king. The youngest of the three spends her time embroidering in a world of her own, lost in her thoughts and dreams. Her mother tries to draw her away from her reverie and asks her to stop daydreaming, but the girl insists that she had a dream that made her happy. She explains her dream, where she saw the moon at the door, the stars in the window, and a golden pillar with three birds pecking at it.

The girl's mother interprets her dream and says that the moon is her mother-in-law, the stars are her sisters-in-law, and the three birds are her brothers-in-law. She also tells her that the golden pillar represents her royal fiancé. The song is a beautiful rendition of traditional Spanish folk music with Arabic influences, and the lyrics reflect the customs, traditions, and superstitions of the era.

The song's lyrics evoke a sense of the supernatural and the mystical, and the use of motifs like the moon, stars, and golden pillar add to the dreamlike quality of the narrative. The imagery used in the song is evocative and adds a layer of meaning to the story. Azam Ali's vocal performance adds to the magical quality of the song, making it an enchanting and otherworldly experience.

Line by Line Meaning

El Rey de Franzia
There was a King in France.

Tres hijas tenía
The King had three daughters.

La una lavrava
One of them worked as a washerwoman.

La otra kuzía
The other worked as a seamstress.

La mas chika de eyas
The youngest of them.

Bastidor hazía
She used to make a frame.

Lavrando lavrando
Working, working tirelessly.

Sueno le kaía
She used to dream while working.

Su madre ke la vía
Her mother saw her.

Aharvar la kería
Her mother wanted her to stop and go to sleep.

`No m'aharvesh mi madre
Don't stop me, my mother.