Beautifully-observed & realistic figure of a sleeping Antelope incised on rock up to 10,000 years ago at Tin Taghirt, Tassili n'Ajjer in Algeria, one of the largest & most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world.
Aïcha,Cheb Khaled (Algerian singer) 1996 With delightful verses filled with biblical and koranic allusions, this ballad is a classic love story. The singer belts out his love for Aïcha, who is not too interested in him and prefers to be independent. This song, written by a Jew and interpreted by a Muslim, is a cry for peace, and truly a masterpiece. Khaled went on to become one of the Arab world’s most famous singers, and has been named the King of Raï. His most recent hit, C’est la vie, has over 50 million views on YouTube.
Papaoutai,Stromae (Belgian singer) 2013 How could I not mention it. With over 270 million views, this song is the most successful French song on YouTube. The contrast between its cheery beat and depressing lyrics about a boy searching desperately for his father (Papa, où t’es?) makes Papaoutai exceptional. The lyrics and video are just gorgeous, and definitely worth a listen. Amongst Stromae’s other hits, we count Formidable,Alors on dance,CarmenandTe Quiero.
Quelqu’un m’a dit,Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (Franco-Italian singer) 2002 France’s very own ex First Lady ! Yes, Carla Bruni, on top of being Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife, is also a renowned and beloved singer. In this sweet ballad, she faintly remembers someone telling her that he ex-lover stills loves her (perhaps in a dream?).
À toi,Mister You (Franco-Moroccan rapper) 2014 To you my little heart, to you my butterfly. In this sweet song, hardened rapper Mister You shows us his delicate side while nostalgically missing his ex-girlfriend. In the « thug French rapper from Morocco who also has a soft side » category, we also find La Fouine, whose notable piano ballad Tous les Mêmes delivers a message of equality between classes.
Aux armes et cetera,Serge Gainsbourg (French singer) 1979 Out of Gainsbourg’s very large musical repertoire, I chose to include his Reggae rendition of France’s national anthem because of its innovator aspect. Indeed, France’s favourite bad boy recorded this song in Jamaica (Bob Marley’s wife is one of the backup singers) and thus brought the Reggae genre to France. The song sparked a controversy at the time of its release (but then again, Gainsbourg’s career is scandal after scandal). Amongst his best hits are Je t’aime… moi non plus,La Javanaise,Bonnie & ClydeandLa chanson de Prévert, to name a few. If you are interested in Gainsbarre’s life, I recommend Joann Sfar’s 2010 fictional film Gainsbourg, vie héroïque, in which Laetitia Casta plays Brigitte Bardot.
Mishapan Nitassinan,Chloé Sainte-Marie (French Canadian singer) 2009 Granted, it is not French technically. But I wanted to include this lullaby in the mix because Native people in Canada don’t have much of a voice and aren’t represented well in the media. This song doesn’t have any actual lyrics (except something along the lines of « Remember how big our land was »), the singer just sings a list of places and cities in present-day Canada, USA and Mexico that used to belong to the Native people. Other Amerindians singers include Philippe Mckenzie, Floyd Western and rapper Samian.
Other memorable French musical artists : Charlotte Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Johnny Hallyday, George Brassens, Francis Cabrel, Coeur de Pirate, France Gall, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf, Celine Dion, Jacques Brel, Joe Dassin, Michel Delpech, Michel Polnareff, Lorie, Alizée.
Présentation de Karim Ouaras : « Aux sources de l'ambiguïté linguistique et identitaire en Algérie ». À l'appui, les premiers débats de l'Assemblée nationale constituante (1962-65).
#FCAV2016: Il Festival del Cinema Africano di Verona, giunto alla sua 36esima edizione, è ormai un appuntamento fisso di inizio novembre per chi ama il cinema e la produzione artistica africana.
Lungometraggi, corti, incontri coi registi e una mostra d'arte contemporanea animeranno i nove giorni di festival, che si svolgerà dal 4 al 13 novembre, e ad aprire la serata inaugurale, presso il Cinema Santa Teresa, saranno il corto “Bout-à-bout” della regista marocchina Asmae El Moudir e il lungometraggio “Good Luck Algeria” del regista franco-algerino Farid Bentoumi.
Nel pomeriggio della stessa giornata, presso il Circolo del Cinema, il critico tunisino Tahar Chikhaoui dialogherà con Bentoumi.
Sinossi “Good Luck Algeria”: «Sam e Stephane sono due amici e colleghi che lavorano insieme nel loro laboratorio di progettazione sci di alta qualità artigianale. Con l'arrivo delle grandi multinazionali, la loro attività subirà una concorrenza spietata che minaccia il fallimento del negozio. Per promuovere il loro lavoro, i due amici decidono di scommettere sulla qualificazione di Sam ai Giochi invernali di sci di fondo sotto la bandiera del paese dei loro padri: l'Algeria.»
illusztrációm Ferdinand Ossendowski: A szahara lelke c. könyvének (1925) “A szahara babilonja” fejezetéhez
“Néhány évvel ezelőtt Biskra lakosait éjjel hirtelen egy oroszlán folyamatos ordítása zavarta fel. Másnap reggel, mikor az asszonyok szokás szerint a folyóhoz mentek hogy kimossák ruháikat és egyéb háztartási dolgaikat, visszasiettek a városba és félelemtől remegve beszélték el, hogy Szidi Zerzur kubbájának bejáratánál egy óriási oroszlán fekszik. Kitűnt hogy igazuk van; egy nagy oroszlán, gyönyörű sörénnyel aludt a kubba árnyékában, még pedig minden támadó szándék nélkül. Naplementekor az oroszlán felállt és csöndesen haladt a város felé, ahol a megrémült lakosság a házakba rejtőzött.De senki sem mert az állatra lőni, mivel az a hír terjedt el, hogy a nagy marabut lelke szállott az oroszlán testébe. Az oroszlán egészen nyugodtan bement egy kocsma udvarába, amely tele volt tevékkel, lovakkal és öszvérekkel és mit sem törődve azzal, ami körülötte volt, lefeküdt a szalmára és elaludt. A bennszülöttek ettől kezdve naponként ételt vittek a kubbá-hoz az oroszlán számára s mindenki marabutnak tartotta őt. Kitűnt hogy vak, s midőn tíz évvel ezelőtt kiszenvedett, nagyszerű temetési menettel kísérték örök nyugvó helyére. Ez talán az utolsó élő oroszlán volt Algériában, pedig ez az ország valamikor híres volt ezekről a királyi állatokról.”
Raqqa, January 8th, 2016. A woman, Lena Al-Qasem, was publicly executed by her own 20 year-old jihadi son, Ali Saqr al-Qasem, the charge was : “inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside of Raqqa.” In accordance to a hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: ”Your Heaven lies under the feet of your mother.”
Isisorthe Islamic State In Iraq and Syria, as the barbaric group refers to itself with all complacency, is claimed to be a Salafi jihadist militant group that follows a so-called ‘Islamic’ fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam, which seems to be nothing but a poor justification for their politically-motivated barbarism. ‘Islamic fundamentalism, Salafism, Wahhabism…’ none of these actually existed back in the prophet’s era, nor have been mentioned in the Islamic scripture.
Where did Isis come from?
“In Syria we backed … some of the wrong people and not in the right part of the Free Syrian Army. Some of those weapons from Benghazi ended up in the hands of ISIS. So we helped build ISIS.” says the Fox News analyst and U.S. military ex-general McInerney. (See video here.)
Writing for The Guardian in August 2014, Ali Khedery states: “Principally, Isis is the product of a genocide that continued unabated as the world stood back and watched. It is the illegitimate child born of pure hate and pure fear – the result of 200,000 murdered Syrians and of millions more displaced and divorced from their hopes and dreams. Isis’s rise is also a reminder of how Bashar al-Assad’s Machiavellian embrace of al-Qaida would come back to haunt him. Facing Assad’s army and intelligence services, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq’s Shia Islamist militias and their grand patron, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Syria’s initially peaceful protesters quickly became disenchanted, disillusioned and disenfranchised – and then radicalised and violently militant.”
Who is funding Isis?
“The most important source of Isis financing to date has been support coming out of the Gulf states, primarily Saudi Arabia but also Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates” says Günter Meyer, the director of the Center for Research into the Arabic World at the University of Mainz.
Isis is now funding itself, through oil sales mostly. But when it all started out, Isis was ‘seed funded’ by wealthy donors, charities and even the governments of the Persian kingdoms, Saudi Arabia and Qatar who gave money to the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Isis included.
According to an estimate by IHS (an energy research consultancy) Isis-controlled territory produces up to 60,000 barrels per day, which is an estimated £1m every 24 hours.
Who is arming Isis?
According to a Conflict Armament Research Group study, the ammunation the group uses was manufactured mostly in America, China and Russia.
Back in 2014, Isis took possession of large amounts of kit including tanks, rocket launchers and howitzers. It is known to have smuggled in arms from places such Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Eastern Europe.
According to Reuters, the U.S. made weaponry that fell into enemy hands includes 2,300 Humvee armored vehicles, at least 40 M1A1 main battle tanks, 74,000 machine guns, and as many as 52 M198 howitzer mobile gun systems, plus numerous small arms and ammunition.
