Lucio Dalla - Caruso

I love Lucio Dalla's  version as well as Luciano Pavarotti's.
Lucio Dalla's song is about  Enrico Caruso.
I always loved this song, the sadness is as sweet as life.
It is pure poetry.
Enjoy....

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
- Anonymous

Lyrics:
Here where the sea sparkles,
and a strong wind blows,
on an old terrace overlooking the gulf of Sorrento,
a man holds a little girl in his arms
after he's been crying.
He clears his throat and sings the song again.

I love you so much;
so very much, you know.
It's a bond, now,
you know, that thaws the blood in the veins.

He looked at the lights, out at sea,
and thought about the nights in America.
But they were only the lamps of fishing boats
and the white of wake.
He felt the pain of the music.
He got up from the piano,
but when he saw the moon come out from behind the clouds
death seemed sweeter to him.
He looked into the little girl's eyes -
those eyes as green as the sea,
then suddenly a tear fell
and he thought he was drowning.

I love you so much;
so very much, you know.
It's a bond, now,
you know, and it thaws the blood in the veins.

The power of opera!
where every drama is a sham;
where, with a little bit of make-up and mimicry,
you can become someone else.
But two eyes that look at you,
so close and so real,
make you forget the script,
confounding your thoughts.
And so everything became insignificant,
including the nights in America.
You look back and see your life
like the wake [of the boats].
Ah yes! Life is ending,
but he wasn't worried about it any more.
Instead he felt happy
and began to sing the song again.

I love you so much;
so very much, you know.
It's a bond, now,
you know, that thaws the blood in the veins.

 Qui dove il mare luccica
e grida forte il vento
su una vecchia terrazza vicina al golfo di Surriento
un uomo abbraccia una ragazza
dopo che aveva pianto
poi si schiarisce la voce e ricomincia il canto:

Te voglio bene assai
ma tanto tanto bene sai
è una catena ormai
che scioglie il sangue dint'e vene sai...

Vide le luci in mezzo al mare
pensò alle notti là in America
ma erano solo le lampare
e la bianca scia d'un'elica
sentì il dolore nella musica
si alzò dal pianoforte
ma quando vide la luna uscire da una nuvola
gli sembrò più dolce anche la morte.
Guardò negli occhi la ragazza
quegli occhi verdi come il mare
poi all'improvviso uscì una lacrima
e lui credette d'affogare.

Te voglio bene assai
ma tanto tanto bene sai
è una catena ormai
che scioglie il sangue dint'e vene sai...

La potenza della lirica
dove ogni dramma è un falso
che con un po' di trucco e con la mimica
puoi diventare un altro
Ma due occhi che ti guardano
così vicini e veri
ti fanno scordare le parole
confondono i pensieri.

Così diventò tutto piccolo
anche le notti là in America
ti volti e vedi la tua vita
come la scia d'un'elica.

Ah si, è la vita che finisce
ma lui non ci pensò poi tanto
anzi si sentiva già felice
e ricominciò il suo canto:

Te voglio bene assai
ma tanto tanto bene sai
è una catena ormai
che scioglie il sangue dint'e vene sai...
Te voglio bene assai
ma tanto tanto bene sai
è una catena ormai
che scioglie il sangue dint'e vene sai...

England riots and Historian David Starkey "The whites have become black "

Well, I did not want to comment about it at first. Then I could not resit!!!
Mr David Starkey needs to learn more about "cultures" and forget his well accepted  "patois". Seriously for an historian, his stereotypical approach did not surprised me. However,I was astonished by his confidence. This interview screams "academic racism". The colors, races, cultures and communities are just facades for a tragic discrimination against the " Have not". I fully support protests , not riots. At the end of the day, everybody chose a "camp". The truth is that  we all need to belong to a collectivity. The sad part is that racism is always used a "propaganda". Once again it is a "they vs us". And it should not be!!!

Let us not forget it is still the Same Moonlight for Our Dreams.

Watch and let me know what do you think?

Artsy peeks for 14 th july

Growing up in France, civic lessons were my favorite part of the school day. Our elementary school principal was the mayor of a small village(Mr Clavez... if I recall). He was so passionate about our future as citizens.  He gave us a beautiful message of hope. Thanks to him, I loved everything about  the French revolution. The Marianne was the emblem of that free republic. In high school, I found out about Cordier's sculptures. Cordier described that other part of France, which I belong. Nevertheless, when I turned eighteen years old, I rushed  to get my card of elector. So Mr Clavez did a great job.Thank you!!
Here some of Cordier busts...
Enjoy!!!

Nuit d’Août-August Night by Alfred de Musset

April is National poetry month!!! I will share few of my favorite poems.Today, it will be about Alfred de Musset. He has a particular elegance in his prose, a sensibility that glorifies his conflicted personality.  His capricious and passionate approach to love is tormenting.  It is like; he does everything we should not do just for us to know that: On ne badine pas avec l'amour /Don't Trifle with Love!!

In my opinion, his message is that libertine pleasures offer illusion of happiness but indulging in earthly pleasure of living might equate with a loveless life.  I like the dramatic romance between Musset and his mistress George Sand. It is intense, sad and real.   

I think that  you must love yourself, to love someone else because the bliss of love is full of struggle, tribulations and torments! To conclude here a quote from George Sand aka Amandine Lucile Aurore Dupin: “One is happy as a result of one's own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience.”

 Enjoy...

August Night

O Muse! What does it matter, life or death?

I love, and want pallor, I love and want the pain;

I love, my genius for a kiss I won’t disdain;

I love, and want to feel on my cheek wan

That stream from endless spring forever drawn.

I love, and want to sing of joy and laziness

Of my crazed life and cares of just one day.

I want to tell and say forever and ceaseless

That once vowing to live without mistress,

Only of love I vow to live and die.

Renounce to all your pride that’s killing you

The bitter-filled heart that you thought was closed.

Love and revive; to blossom be a flower.

Having suffered, even more you must suffer,

And keep loving, after having so loved.

Translated by Thomas D. Le

19 November 2004

Nuit d’Août -Alfred de Musset (1810-1857)

O Muse! que m’importe ou la mort ou la vie ?

J’aime, et je veux pâlir; j’aime et je veux souffrir ;

J’aime, et pour un baiser je donne mon génie ;

J’aime, et je veux sentir sur ma joue amaigrie

Ruisseler une source impossible à tarir.

J’aime, et je veux chanter la joie et la paresse,

Ma folle experience et mes soucis d’un jour,

Et je veux raconter et répéter sans cesse

Qu’après avoir juré de vivre sans maîtresse,

J’ai fait serment de vivre et de mourir d’amour.

Dépouille devant tous l’orgueil qui te dévore,

Coeur gonflé d’amertume et qui t’es cru fermé.

Aime, et tu renaîtras; fais-toi fleur pour éclore.

Après avoir souffert, il faut souffrir encore ;

Il faut aimer sans cesse, après avoir aimé.

From French Poetry by Thomas D.Le

Speech Debelle - Live and Learn

A sweet melody, great lyrics for this British rapper.
Thank you to  Corynne Elliot aka Speech Debelle for your poetry.!!!

Chocolate addiction is definitively global

In December, scientists unlocked the genetic code of  Theobroma cacao aka chocolate.The article from Nature genetics is fascinating. Criollo Cocoa is from Central America. Our dear chocolate went through 3000 years of domestication. From the Mayas to our supermarkets, cocoa has changed to vigorous and productive hybrids.  In this evolution, we lost the fine flavor of chocolate from the Criollo varieties. According to the article: “Fine-cocoa production is nevertheless estimated to be less than 5% of the world cocoa production due to the low productivity and disease susceptibility of the traditional fine-flavor cocoa varieties. Therefore, breeding of improved Criollo varieties is important for sustainable production of fine-flavor cocoa.”

Of course, 18 European countries did partner with CIRAD (a research agency designed to help developing countries develop their agricultural industries) for the love of cocoa. Today, Ivory Coast cocoa farmers are protesting against the UN sanctions by burning cocoa beans. Ivory Coast is the biggest cocoa producer in the world.  Farmers are losing their wages while cocoa has been at highest trading price for a year. This is done for the love of politics.

It seems that in 3000 years of domestication, nothing has changed. For the Mayas, cocoa trees were sacred and beans were used as currency.  Cocoa beans traveled from central America to Europe thanks to Christophe Colomb. The democratization of chocolate in Europe went along with chocolate slavery. The globalization of the chocolate markets goes with economic slavery. And our annual global binging of 3.7 million tons of cocoa comes with many genetics breeding and political manipulations. As a child our parents often told us to never forget that some children working in the cocoa fields never tasted chocolate. I know that fair trade is a drop in the ocean but sometimes a little is all we need to survive. Chocolate addiction is definitively global!!!

Filosofia by Bau

Bau is from Cape Verde. This is a beautiful melody. "Filosofia" is the perfect title for this instrumental melodic prose.In my opinion, this is a great tune to relax, think or focus.Enjoy!
Keep on composing your symphony regardless of the leitmotif...
Same Moonlight for our Dreams

Quotes from "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera is Czech. I like his humor, his soft and dry philosophy. This  book is about "the fragile nature of the fate of the individual and theorized that a single lifetime is insignificant in the scope of Nietzsche's concept of eternal return because in an infinite universe, everything is guaranteed to recur infinitely." I like it because it does fit my ideas of everlasting renaissance, life as a double-infinite sequence of bridges.
Enjoy!

• "Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out is mute. Only chance can speak to us. We read its message much as gypsies read the images made by coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup."  

• "Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."

• "for there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes."

• "The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body.The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?"

• "But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave." 

• "Dreaming is not merely an act of communication (or coded communication, if you like); it is also an aesthetic activity, a game of the imagination, a game that is a value in itself. Our dreams prove that to imagine--to dream about things that have not happened--is among mankind's deepest needs. Herein lies the danger. If dreams were not beautiful, they would be quickly forgotten."

• "There is no perfection only life"

The Infidel by Josh Appignanesi and David Baddiel

It is a funny British comedy on faith,culture, and identity. I love it!!! Here the plot!!"An identity crisis comedy centred on Mahmud Nasir, successful business owner, and salt of the earth East End Muslim who discovers that he's adopted - and Jewish."  I love the fact that you see the other side of all the stereotypes  with tons of humor and cursing. Nobody chose a birth place or parents. We all are born somewhere, raised somewhere, and try to grow somewhere. If you lucky you have many friends from different cultures,spirituality,traditions, faith and religions. Really funny movie!

Activist of the week: Rokhaya Diallo boycotting Guerlain

 I know that this video is in French and many of you do not understand. However, the intensity of the conversation does not need any translation. Again it  is not about Guerlain in the current  racism controversy. It is is about the disregard, the condescension and that "French Patronizingly superior behavior " toward Africans. I am a negress, and I am proud of it. The word does not offend me but the depreciation, the disdain, and the arrongance are worst that the word. I love this video because it displays the disfunctional relationships we have in France.And Rokhaya Diallo was able to talk trough by fighting back with humor and diplomacy. Inside, it burns , it hurts and it stinks as much as Guerlain nigger bomb. It is almost a catch-22 because you must be an accomplice to act on that stage if you want to be heard. In the same time, the complicity is destroying your soul in both side.Nevertheless, we all must do  what we can.Thank you Rokhaya Diallo!!! You rock! Merci!

Ayo - "Life Is Real"

Happy Friday!!!

Romani-Gypsies :The refugees within

On December 14, 1950, the UN established the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The UNHCR coordinates international action to protect refugees and resolves refugee problems worldwide. “Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.”

As a child, I used to believe that all stateless and homeless were synonyms for refugees. Virtually, everyone has the rights “to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state”. And if you are lucky you can find safe refuge within your state.  In a previous post, I talked about my experience with the gypsies. Lately the French government is closing gypsy encampments across the country. And many others European countries are discretely surfing on this racism wave. It is so hypocritical for a country fanfaroning the idea human rights for over 200 years. Besides I was thinking that The European Union allowed you to freely travel within the union regardless of your citizenship of origin. I know regulations and laws are necessary. However, I would like to point out that Europe should remember Auschwitz. Yes!!! Romani-Gypsies were the first to be placed in camps. Under the Vichy government, France deported 30,000 Gypsies to Nazi concentration camps.

So I deeply appreciate that “the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticized the French government for a lack of political will' in tackling mounting acts of racism.”  Maybe gypsies should be labeled “nomadic stateless refugees”. Once again I would like to say that I am a Gitana, a gypsy, a traveler, refugees, and I am here. And let us not forget it is the same moonlight for our dreams.

Book of the week: The Autobiography Of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and collaboration of Alex Haley.

Here few quotes from the introduction by M.S.Handler that set the atmosphere of the book:“Malcom’s attitude was that of a man who had reached a crossroads in his life and was making a choice under an inner compulsion. A wistful smile illuminated his countenance from time to time_ a smile that said many things…I sensed that Malcom was not confident he would succeed in escaping from the shadowy world which had held him in thrall.” “It was always a strange and moving experience to walk with Malcom in Harlem. It always seemed to me that their affection for Malcom was inspired by the fact that although he had become a national figure, he was still a man of the people who, they felt, would never betray them."

So far my favorite part is that Malcom had a garden when he was a child. His mother gave him a little plot. He narrated how grateful and proud he was. “I loved it and took care of it well…And sometimes… I would lie down on my back ...and I would gaze up in the blue sky at the clouds moving and think all kinds of things.”I love this part because I had a little plot when I was a child. My mother did let me grow carrots and lettuces. I was ecstatic each time we ate my vegetables. It was priceless. My dirt was my most precious possession. Life, death, and time made more sense with a garden. I had to keep bugs away to protect my plants and they had to feed their colonies. Even the rabbits were not  cute anymore when they ate all my carrots.It was silent but colorful lessons about life through gardening. I did learn that you can dream and enjoy everything. But at the end  if you do not work you do not eat.

To conclude I will use Plato’s quote.“Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation.”

Happy Friday to you!

My Afrocentrism, Panafricanism, Afropolitanism, Blackness and Identity

Identity is often shaped by culture, language, socio-economic, ethnicity, religion, and race. We pretend that it does not matter but it does. Obama’s election is a beginning of a new era. As much as everybody avoided focusing on the issue of race. It was all about it.  Obama got a big job. We got a big change. As child,I did struggle with my identity. It was like having different hats for every mundane occasion. Hutu, Tutsi, Comorian, Burundian, Rwandan, Belgian, French, African, Refugees, Resident, and Not Citizen were temporary labels. I did not know for sure who I wanted to be. However our parents were implementing the notion of “citizen of the world”. Most of the time, I was just black and refugee but our parents kept reminding us that our black is not their black. The bottom line I had two worlds: our and their. The worst was that in our, I was not black enough because I had too many accents when I did talk my native language. And I had a blended culture nothing authentic. Most of the time, I was labeled as an islander which was true too! Besides some Africans were  “afro” frenzy that I was happy being an “Islander”.

Identity crisis is present in all generations of migrant regardless race and ethnicity. There is gap that parents and children have to jump over to connect. And if you add adolescence, it is a recipe for complex silent dialogues full of fears and sadness. For our parents, Afrocentrism was a therapy to boost our pride. And Panafricanism was the fire that kept them going beyond the struggles of expatriates by relying on solidarity and hope. Afropolitanism is our mixing of European and African heritages.

 In Malcom X, Spike Lee illustrated Afrocentrism, Panafricanism , Blackness and the struggle for identity to world. When Nelson Mandela did talk at the end, I had chills. I knew that it was a movie where fictions and facts were intertwined. However seeing children saying “I am Malcom X” was deep. I felt the strength to be my own activist to say “I am me”.  Spike Lee did put words on the struggle of blackness. The movie engaged dialogues between generations. Thank You Mr. Spike Lee!

In 2005, riots occurred in the French Ghettos. I was sad but I felt that the hypocrisy was unveiled. Do not give me wrong France is my home. It is a part of my identity. I was in elementary school for the bicentenary of the French Revolution. In my mind, I was French but at sixteen, I was reminded of my foreigner status with a French residency. I happily took my citizenship at eighteen. As ex-refugee I knew the value of a European passport. The current French identity crisis is the refusal to address the issue of race. A secular system that preaches “liberty, equality, fraternity” cannot openly accept racism and xenophobia. That is why it relies on elitism, classism and separatism of immigrants and their descendants. I am hoping for a French civil rights movement and  for reforms.

I am a mix of the cultures and languages. They all shaped my identity in many ways I cannot define but they did. Kirundi is a valley where I belong, French is a plain where I grew up, English is woodland where I am growing. I am an Afropolitan and a Negress. I am a daughter, a sister, a friend, a woman and a mother. Beyond my skin and words, I am here.

Bridges: Mythical and Real

Bridges are present in all mythologies. Bridges symbolize a passage from one world to the next. Mythical bridges, spiritual bridges and real bridges can be frightening, and at the same time so attractive. It is a passage, a beginning, a connection between what you know and the unknown. It is what you want, fear, pursue, or escape. It is life, death and survival. The architectural beauty of some bridges is astonishing. Even if they are manmade, they are entities because we risk our lives by crossing them.

In Islam, there is "the Straight Bridge" also called Al-Sirat al-Jahim (As-Sirāt : الصراط‎).It is the bridge that we must cross on the Day of the Judgement to enter paradise. It is described as thin as a hair and as sharp as a sword, below the fires of Hell. “People who performed acts of goodness in their lives are transported across the path in speeds according to their deeds leading them to the Hauzu'l-Kausar -the lake of abundance". In Iranian religious literature, there is Cinvat Bridge also a symbol for admission to paradise. And the Pope is known as the ‘sovereign pontiff’, which comes from Pontifex Maximus, the ‘greatest bridge-builder’. The Pope is compared to "the guardian" of the catholic heaven…

In this world, until that day, we have fantastic bridges that have to resist time and nature. In California, the Bay Bridge is competing against the time to become earthquake resistant. According to 60 minutes, “Scientists call the Bay Area a tectonic time bomb. Earthquake faults crisscross the region, pushing up mountains and creating the bay itself; the Bay Bridge sits between two of the most dangerous.” However, until next earthquake, with an economic crisis, and political blah-blah, there is one “in construction” sign. 

May the Bay Bridge win the race but Mother Nature is unpredictable...

One of my favorite--the Rialto Bridge,Venice because I like Venice. And Antonio da Ponte did compete against  Michelangelo and Palladio for the contract!!

 

Book of the week:The Black Book of Capitalism by ed Le Temps des Cerises

From http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Capitalism

The Black Book of Capitalism (French: Le Livre Noir du Capitalisme) is a book published in 1998, in reaction to The Black Book of Communism (1997), by editions of Le Temps des Cerises.[1] It is written by a variety of individuals, notably historians, sociologists, economists, trade unionists and writers, and covers crimes allegedly committed by capitalist countries. The book covers subjects such as third world exploitation, imperialist, colonialist and counter-revolutionary wars, repressions of workers and trade unionists, genocides, massacres and so on. It concludes that capitalism has killed approximately 147 million people between 1500 and 1997.This includes 70 million Indians during the colonization of the Americas, 10 million due to slavery, 10 million due to World War I, 50 million due to World War II, 3 million due to the Vietnam War, and 1 million due to the Biafra War. While other scholars agree that the European colonization of the Americas caused about this many deaths, most of this is usually seen as the result of new diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native inhabitants of the New World had no resistance.[1] RJ Rummel additionally argues that while nondemocratic capitalist nations have caused many deaths, democratic capitalist nations have caused very few compared to dictatorships.[2][3] On the opposite side of the political spectrum however, Noam Chomsky -- noting Nobel prizewinning economist Amartya Sen's observation (in regards to infant mortality rates) that "India seems to manage to fill its cupboard with more skeletons every eight years than China put there in its years of shame" (1958-61) -- concludes that "democratic, capitalist" India "has caused more deaths than in the entire history of...Communism everywhere since 1917 -- over 100 million deaths by 1979, tens of millions more since, in India alone."[4] Economist and proponent of capitalism Milton Friedman notes that India was socialist in its orientation and under the strong influence of Soviet model.[5] Since independence India's government is constitutionally defined as socialist, and it plays major role in the economy as a central planner.[6] On the other hand China can be compared to Taiwan and Hong Kong. Or North Korea to South Korea. After 1965, life expectancy began to plateau or even decrease in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, while it continued to increase in Western Europe..

Book of the week: "The European Dream by Jeremy Rifkin"

From http://www.foet.org/books/european-dream.html

The European Dream

Tarcher/Penguin, 2004

The American Dream is becoming ever more elusive. Americans are increasingly overworked, underpaid, squeezed for time, and unsure about their prospects for a better life. One third of all Americans say they no longer even believe in the American Dream. While the American Dream is languishing, says bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin, a new European Dream is capturing the attention and imagination of the world. Twenty-five nations, representing 455 million people, have joined together to create a United States of Europe.

The European Union's GDP now rivals the United States', making it the largest economy in the world. The EU is already the world's leading exporter and largest internal trading market. Moreover, much of Europe enjoys a longer life span and greater literacy, and has less poverty and crime, less blight and sprawl, longer vacations, and shorter commutes to work than we do in the United States. When one considers what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life, observes Rifkin, Europe is beginning to surpass America.

More important, Europe has become a giant laboratory for rethinking humanity's future. In many respects, the European Dream is the mirror opposite of the American Dream. While the American Dream emphasizes unrestrained economic growth, personal wealth, and the pursuit of individual self-interest, the European Dream focuses more on sustainable development, quality of life, and the nurturing of community.
We Americans live (and die) by the work ethic and the dictates of efficiency. Europeans place more of a premium on leisure and even idleness. America has always seen itself as a great melting pot. Europeans, instead, prefer to preserve their rich multicultural diversity. We believe in maintaining an unrivaled military presence in the world. Europeans, by contrast, emphasize cooperation and consensus over go-it-alone approaches to foreign policy.

All of this does not suggest that Europe has suddenly become a utopia. Its problems, Rifkin cautions, are complex and its weaknesses are glaringly transparent. And, of course, Europeans' high-mindedness is often riddled with hypocrisy. The point, however, is not whether Europeans are living up to the dream they have for themselves. We have never fully lived up to the American Dream. Rather, what's crucial, notes Rifkin, is that Europe is articulating a bold new vision for the future of humanity that differs in many of its most fundamental aspects from America's.

Rifkin draws on more than twenty years of personal experience working in Europe, where he has advised heads of state and political parties, consulted with Europe's leading companies, and helped spur grassroots environmental and social justice campaigns. The author delves into the history of Europe, from the medieval era to postmodernity, to capture the soul of the new European consciousness.

Two hundred years ago, America's founders created a new dream for humanity that transformed the world. Today, suggests Rifkin, a new generation of Europeans is creating a radical new dream - one better suited to meet the challenges of a globalizing world in the 21st century.