These range from "Ya Quds" (O Jerusalem), sung by an Iraqi heart-throb, Kazem al-Saher, to "Ala Bab al Quds" (At the Doors of Jerusalem), crooned by Egypt's Hani Shaker, to a hit single by two Egyptian starlets who berate Arabs for failing to match words of support for the intifada with deeds.
The "head grandfather" of the Bektashis, Baba Edmond Brahimaj, read from a text naming the Bektashi luminaries who preceded him, punctuated with repetition of the formula, "Ya Hussein!" (O Hussein!), recited on Ashura by millions of Shiites around the world.
And O Ya and Ubuntu are examples of that.
You stay until she makes you go. 1. O YA 9 East Street, Boston; (617) 617-9900.
The desserts at O Ya don't live up to what precedes them.
There was no way I was leaving O Ya with the memory of just one.
At O Ya Tim and Nancy Cushman successfully divvy up the emotional impact they want their restaurant to have on you.
The two remaining contenders in my Top 10 Countdown of new restaurants around the country (excepting New York) are O Ya in Boston and Ubuntu in Napa, Calif.
Mr. Cushman's idea of what belongs on a pedestal of rice isn't limited to salmon, tuna, eel and uni, though O Ya has all of that.
GUY SAVOY (Las Vegas) MICHAEL'S GENUINE FOOD & DRINK (Miami) O YA (Boston) TILTH (Seattle) UBUNTU (Napa, Calif .. They're a diverse lot, difficult to compare with one another.
O Ya doesn't use actual play lists, or so I learned in talking to its owners, Tim and Nancy Cushman, on the phone after my visit to the restaurant.
