souad massi is an algerian living in exile in france. her songs protest against the loss of connection with the traditional values of her homeland.
this song ‘raoui’ (storyteller) also features in the film ‘le soleil assassiné’, set in algiers during the political turmoil which made it impossible for souad massi to continue her career in algeria. and she has the most fantastic voice!
the lyrics of the song are:
Oh storyteller tell us a story
Make it a tale
Tell me about the people of old
Tell me about 1001 Nights
And about Lunja daughter of the Ghoul
And about the son of the Sultan
I’m about to tell a story
We’ll be far from this world
I’m about to tell a story
Everyone of us has a story in his heart
Narrate and forget we’re adults
In your mind we’re young
Tell us about heaven and hell
About the bird that never flew in his life
Make us understand the meaning of the world
Oh storyteller tell it just as they told you
Don’t add anything, don’t leave anything out
We could see into your mind
Narrate to make us forget this time
Leave us at once upon a time
this song features in the soundtrack of the film ‘le soleil assassiné’.
i came across this on a support forum. i wouldn’t care to be the one responding to this call for help:
I believe that if, the problem is that my computer on this days has a beast crash and I believe that in this crash also was to me some mail (the mail in my system does not exist).
why the tagline ’strange fruit’ in this weblog’s banner?
’strange fruit’ is the title of a protest song first recorded in 1939 by billie holiday, setting a poem by lewis allen (aka abel meeropol):
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
the song’s been recorded by other artists, but not, to my mind, so movingly as by billie holiday.
the poem refers to the lynching of blacks in the USA.
the wonderful image of the crowd of buddhas which i’ve used in the banner of my weblog seems to me to represent the polar opposite of the mind-set which leads to lynching.
but more poignantly … karmic fruits are the strangest of all.
