Nov
1
2022
David Byrne Presents: The Heart of Arabia
By Todomundo
Apple Music: Click Here
Spotify Music: Click Here
This is far from exhaustive, or even completely representative - but here’s a playlist of passionate, innovative and rhythmic Arabic music from all over. It includes music from Iran, Lebanon, Sengal, Italy (!), France, Turkey and more! Most are from the past 10 years. Tucked in amongst the love songs and dance songs are a few recent Iranian/Persian protest songs that have become viral during the recent women’s protests.
The song Bella Ciao, performed by the Bolouri sisters is a beautiful and perennial protest anthem. Mostly associated with the anti fascist resistance in Italy, it has been used in India by the occupy movement, and now in Iran by the women’s movement there. It was composed for the resistance during World War II (taken from a thread under a Goran B video). It talks about a partisan that is going to defend his country from the invaders, so he asks the woman he loves "If I die as a partisan, bury me in the mountain under the shadow of a flower". So, he says, everyone that will see the flower will say "What a beautiful flower"; the flower of the partisan who died for freedom.
Here are the lyrics to another one of those songs- Baraye (there are both Farsi and English versions of this in the playlist)
"Baraye" By Shervin Hajipour
["Baraye" means "For" or "Because of" in Persian]
For dancing in the alleys
For the fear when kissing
For my sister, your sister, our sisters
For changing rusted minds
For the shame of poverty
For the regret of living an ordinary life
For the dumpster-diving children and their wishes
For this dictatorial economy
For this polluted air
For Valiasr and its worn-out trees
For Pirooz and the possibility of his extinction
For the innocent banned stray dogs
For the unstoppable tears
For the scene of repeating this moment
For the smiling faces
For students and their future
For this forced heaven
For the imprisoned elite students
For the Afghan kids
For all these “for”s that are beyond repetition
For all of these meaningless slogans
For the collapse of fake buildings
For the feeling of peace
For the sun after these long nights
For anxiety and sleeping pills
For men, homeland, prosperity
For the girl who wished to be a boy
For women, life, freedom
For freedom
For freedom
For freedom
Hope you enjoy this playlist- I listened to it last night while going over the Brooklyn bridge and it’s now one of my favorites!
-David Byrne
Nov
1
2022
David Byrne Presents: The Heart of Arabia
By Todomundo