Erev Shel Shoshanim

 

“Evening of Roses”

This article is part of my series on common belly dance songs that appear under different titles.

To find more, or to suggest another many-named song, visit What’s In a Name?
 
 

Summary

“Erev Shel Shoshanim” is a classic choice for lyrical veil work.

It is a romantic, sensual Israeli love song.

It has also been recorded with Armenian lyrics under the titles “Yarus”, “Amen Aravod”, and “Varter”.
 

Various Names

 

“Erev Shel Shoshanim” (Israeli)

(Lyrics in Hebrew and English)

This is romantic love song is full of sensual, poetic images. Because of it’s theme of happy anticipation (nothing bittersweet here!), it is an excellent choice for a wedding performance for a Jewish or general audience. (In fact, it’s sometimes used for the bride’s entrance in Jewish weddings.)

The original version of this song was written by Yosef Hadar and Moshe Dor, and first recorded by Yafa Yarkoni in 1957. It is very famous, and has been recorded many times, even by Harry Belafonte!

Note: “Shoshanim” can mean either “roses” or “lilies”. More of the translations I found use “roses”, so rather than split hairs, I’m using that.
 

“Yarus”, “Amen Aravod”, or “Varter” (Armenian)

“Every morning at dawn”

(Lyrics in English or in Armenian)

This song has been translated into Armenian, and recorded many times. I’m told the translation was done by Robert Tashjian in the 1950s, but I don’t have separate confirmation of that.

The version titled “Varter” includes additional lyrics by Harry Saroyan.

Note: there are a lot of songs that SEEM to be related to this one, but are not. The word “Yarus” appears in the title of many other songs. And there is a completely different song called “Amen Aravot”!
 

Recordings

Important: many of the links below are affiliate links. That means that if you use them to buy, I’ll receive a small commission (usually a few cents). If you’re not comfortable with that, you can just search for the song title. That’s 100% okay by me.
 

• Erev Shel Shoshanim by the Feenjoon Group
• Erev Shel Shoshanim by Mary Ellen Donald and Mimi Spencer
• Yarus by the Oasis Middle Eastern Ensemble
• Varter by Harry Saroyan
• Amen Aravod by Mirage
• Yars by John Berberian

 

Your Turn

Have you danced to this song before?

Do you use the Israeli or Armenian version (or both)?

What’s your favorite recording of this song?
(Share a link if you have it, or the artist and/or album name.)

Do you know of any other names that this song goes by?

Do you know of any other songs with duplicate names that I should write about?
 

Share your thoughts in the comments.