Bassa and Sababa are Israeli slang terms both originating in Arabic, and they have opposite meanings.
“Bassa” is the bad
feeling you get when something annoying or
disappointing happened. It’s very close in meaning to the word “bummer” in English slang.
“Sababa” means “great!”, and is also used to describe feeling great or happy, feeling “sababa”.
Both words usually describe a casual, light feeling, but can also imply a stronger feeling, depending on context.
There is a Hebrew saying “Lakahat et ha-bassa be-sababa”, which
literally translates as – to take the bad stuff (the bassa) positively (with sababa). To stay positive even when bad things happen.
Netta seeks to send a message to everyone who suffers from bullying or other bad stuff – to ignore the bad stuff, pick themselves up and just carry on. Feeling “bassa”? Try to go “sababa”. Sababa is the answer.
A normal day scene:
Yossi: I
learned so much for this test and yet I failed it :(
Netta: Oh! bassa
scence day #2:
Yossi: Netta u won the
Eurovision! How do you feel about it?
Netta: sababa
Yossi: How do you feel about
the crushing loss of the Cypriot singer in front of you?
Netta: bassa sababa
