Music and cross-border infiltrations..

Welcome to the age of globalization.. Where anything can get anywhere at any time. The age that marks (as Bah'ais believe) a transition from separate individualized communities into a one world just community. A world beyond physical boundaries were distinct cultures disfigure into blurry mixtures of one another. A world were music could retain or regain its' distinctiveness even among contrasting cultures. A world were Zehava Ben, an Israeli Moroccan, sings Umm Kulthum for an Arab crowd. A world were the rap experiences are tailored to fit the Arabic language. A world were Jewish reggae-- is good reggae.

Welcome to the 21st century...

Coffee in Jerusalem

Take a trip back in time to the late 1800s, to the days of the Ottoman empire. A trip back to Jerusalem, into Abu-Rashad's qahweh (cafe) past the neighborhood khodarjee (grocer) -where the men's harra (neighborhood) crowded every Friday for entertainment. Where Saleem, the local singer, strummed his 'ud at the corner of the store, down under the majestic chandelier.

The scence above vividly sprung across my imagination as I read into Salim Tamari's article "Popular Music and Early Modernity in Jerusalem". Salim describes the story of Wassif Jawhirriyeh, a renown 'ud player from Jerusalem, through his memoirs as he tells about his past stories and adventures. In this article we are taken aghast into a time where religious identity (as Jawhariyeh describes it) owed little contribution to the locals of one of the most revered cities for all three major religions. Jawhiriyeh through his memoirs brings out the late night scenes of the city into focus. The drinking, the cocaine use, and all the unholy affairs taking place in the holy city. Tamari's article helped shed light on life in that era, an era of harmonious inclusion before as Jawhiriyeh remarks "the cursed Balfour declaration" came along.

Narratives of Jerusalem

Ammiel Alcalay's narrative of different Jerusalems in her book paints multiple colors onto the rainbow of the city. She mentions the Islamic perspective, some poets' perspectives, and then describes the journey of traveling from Beirut to Jerusalem through Syria. Jerusalem as she goes on to say is only 145 miles away from Beirut. 1-4-5 miles, thats around 3.5 hours away from my hometown Tripoli in Lebanon. The road from Tripoli to Jerusalem however remains closed. Maybe one day... one day...

On Nativism...

Tawfiq Canaan, a physician and medic knew that his heritage needed to be preserved. Tawfiq's interest in popular beliefs, folklore and superstitions slowly lead to his works read today. Canaan believed and observed many similarities between the Palestinian folklore and the Older Philistine folklore. Canaan believes the culture of the Palestinian felaaheen (farmers in Arabic) is the hollistic culture of Palestine, it is not the culmination of past cultures but rather the same manifestation of a constant folklore.

Professor Salim Tamari writes on Tawfiq Canaan in his article "Lepers, Lunars and Leprosy". He mentions how Canaan sees the simplicity and sometimes "naivity" of popular beliefs as revelations of folklife.

Girls in Bethlehem costume pre-1918, Bonfils Portrait

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

by Nizar Qabbani

Jerusalem, luminous city of prophets,
Shortest path between heaven and earth !

***

Jerusalem, you of the myriad minarets,

become a beautiful little girl with burned fingers.

City of the virgin, your eyes are sad.

Shady oasis where the Prophet passed,

the stones of your streets grow sad,
the towers of mosques downcast.

City swathed in black, who'll ring the bells

at the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday mornings?

Who will carry toys to children

on Christmas Eve?

City of sorrows, a huge tear

trembling on your eyelid,

Who'll save the Bible?

Who'll save the Qur'an?

Who will save Christ, who will save man?

***

Jerusalem, beloved city of mine,

tomorrow your lemon trees will bloom,

your green stalks and branches rise up joyful,

and your eyes will laugh.Migrant pigeons

will return to your holy roofs

and children will go back to playing.

Parents and children will meet

on your shining streets,

my city, city of olives and peace.

A journey beyond...

It was only moments ago that I was in the library, ogling my statistics book on the third floor when numbers violently collided against my thoughts. Pencils began to rhyme with gypsies, the w0rld was no longer coherent. I burst out of the library across the ceiling with glee like a butterfly charging from its' cocoon. I-was-free. The buildings around suspended from the clouds above, I rushed beyond chasing the bright light, leaping with euphoria as I inched closer to the source.

This was ecstasy, a world gravitating on a 5th dimension. My wrist racing past my thumb, my body past my mind. I seamlessly glided past our monocentric universe into a polycentric one, I was getting near.

Trailing closer and closer, my senses imploded. The feelings of both betrayal and doom mounting from within, the feelings of a soldier deserted by his battalion in the face of an attacking enemy, the feelings of an ox discharged from its' herd for prey.

Time collapsed into an instant--- thudd. My sensational journey was over. The chocolate taste faded, my Swiss chocolate bar consumed. I was back in the library, my statistics exam still tomorrow...