It is no secret that
Palestine has faced devastating times of war, civil and occupational issues and
unfortunately, there is no end in sight.
The people of Gaza on the east bank are exceptionally energetic, passionate and
creative people with a relatively high morale for sustainability of life,
although the people of Gaza see little hope of further education and seeking a
better life away from all the nations troubles in pursuit of a better life for themselves.
Muhammed Assaf was born
and raised, living most of his whole life
in Gaza, only really living to compete
in the Arab Idol competition, Assaf had
no choice but to audition as part of the Egyptian audition group, making his name seem
very small amused the thousands of others form that region alone. He was a known
singer prior to this in and amongst the Palestinian
people, he was really a local brand to the people who lived in Gaza and the
people who lived abroad, his most famous
song ‘Kofia’ was written when he was only 10 years
old.
We know his music, that address is his country, speaks of the beauty of the
name of which
he dedicated an entire song too, he speaks
directly to the people of Gaza to the
west bank. Words of encouragement and patriotism.
This music gives people hope, the inspiration they
find little sources form/of.
Muhammed, why would
you choose to sing about your country?
I love Palestine, Gaza
is where I grew up, it is the only place I really
knew until my 20s when I left to compete in Arab Idol. Yes now I live in Dubai, I am very thankful for this opportunity, it is truly a blessing, although,
for a lot of people, there is very little to no hope. I sang about Gaza before, that was all I knew, now I have diversified my portfolio,
but I will never forget where I came from.
What do you talk about? What is the meaning behind your
work?
There is one song called ‘oh the kaffiyeh’ which is
purely about the name of Palestine, in Arabic each letter in the name has
attributes of the nation, aspects of strength and integrity, beauty and
culture.
There is another song called ‘shidi hail ya ballad’ where the essence of the song says pull
urself in Arabic, an inspirational song
of ambition and hope. Telling Palestine that this is not the end.
The meaning of everything I do it to emphasize people’s
ability to do more and I love that.
Your use of language, transitional words, they may be
lost in translation but, there is a lack of it?
You are putting me off guard here. There is a lot I can say if I were to use full sentences and nice long transitional phrases it would take me hours to sing a song. To be
quite frank, it would have to do with some social dialect choices as well, a lot of people who don’t come
with the same background as you and I would not understand some of the references I am making. Really for simplicity, I am communicating in the simplest way possible to my audience, a lot of
the references I make and shortcuts are received as second nature to you
and me, so I think that is all that really matters.
The last thing I want to ask Is about is the content,
where does it come from, I'm talking
about the words and the pure source of your ideas?
I may be getting repetitive here but, we have to remember, my audience loves the country, for a
lot of them the only place they know is Gaza. I am very saddened that for some kids,
as far as they know, this is how they think the world is. We tell each other as kids and adults alike is to
overcome and improve. We love this
message, it is what we talk about when it comes to anything, people are so patriotic
and love the name of the country, not because of some crazy dictatorship that
controls people to think a certain way, the
love of the integrity of the country through
all the political struggles is what keeps us together, stronger than ever.
I talked about this before, every letter in the name has
a clear word, an adjective about the people, we identify with these terms and
that inspires people to have that drive to do and achieve more.
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