Wednesday, November 7, 2012

DAM featuring AMAL MURKUS - If I Could Go Back In Time

This is the type of thing hip-hop needs for real. And it comes from one of our cultures most powerful acts, DAM from Lyd, Palestine! These are my boys right here for real, I love everything they do. A true voice for the entire Middle East. Please read the translation below of the lyrics to this song. I won't spoil the surprise, but Dam not only covers a topic that many won't touch, they also came up with a concept that most people in hip-hop don't even try to do anymore. Its a truly unique technique. Telling the story backwards. So brilliant, so powerful. This is what I need more of in my life. Viva Palestine! Viva Dam!



www.DAMRAP.com

Translation
Arabic script: If I Could Go Back In Time
‏Suhel Nafar:
‏Before she was murdered, she wasn't alive
‏We'll tell her story backwards from her murder to her birth
‏Her body rises from the grave to the ground
‏The bullet flies out of her forehead and swallowed into the gun
‏The sound of her echo screams, she screams back
‏Tears rise up from her cheeks to her eyes
‏Behind the clouds of smoke, faces of her family appear
‏Without shame, her brother puts the gun in his pocket
‏Her father throws down the shovel and wipes the sweat off his forehead
‏He shakes his head, satisfied from the size of the grave
‏They pull her back to the car, her legs kicking
‏Like a sand storm, she's erasing her own tracks
‏They throw her in the trunk, she doesn't know where she is
‏But she knows that three left the house and only two will return
‏They reach the house; throw her to the bed in violence
‏"So you want run away huh?" they wake her with violence


‏Amal Murkus (Chorus)
‏If I could go back in time
‏I would smile
‏Fall in love
‏Sing
‏If I could go back in time
‏I would draw
‏Write
‏Sing


‏Mahmood Jrere:
‏She dreams before falling asleep
‏We'll tell her story backwards, maybe understand
‏The clock hands move right to left
‏She reconstructs her steps as if she were lost
‏She sleeps prepared, money for the taxi
‏Plane ticket and passport under her pillow
‏Answer: leave the clothes in the closet; she plans to wear a new life
‏Question: what if they ask what the suitcase is for?
‏She went to bed, leaves table
‏Eats well, she must act today
‏Her nose stops bleeding, that's what they see
‏But it's a fresh wound; before they will beat her she will beat them
‏Her mom says "your life is like heaven"
‏She's right, if you taste the forbidden you better know someone is watching
‏Two hours before dinner, the phone hangs up
‏Her mom is shocked "the flight is delayed"
‏Phone rings

‏ Amal Murkus (Chorus)

‏Tamer Nafar:
‏Before she answers, she isn't even asked
‏The story is like the logic in her life, all backwards
‏Her hands up in the sky, begging for help
‏Their hands up in the sky reciting the Fatiha (ceremony before marriage)
‏The calendar page moves one day back, the time is
‏Afternoon, the argument is over, her brother commands her
‏Blood flows from her lips to her nose
‏A sound of a fist, his hand jumps from her face
‏It's the first time in her life that she says "NO!"
‏Her mom announces happily "tomorrow you will marry your cousin"
‏If I look through the album of her life
‏I won't see a photo of her standing up for her rights
‏It's hard, the pages are stuck to my hand
‏Her past full of blood and tears
‏But we promise you, from her murder to her birth
‏Their expressions filled with anger as if someone announced a crime
‏"Congratulations, it's a girl"
‏The beginning.


Arabic script:Freedom For My Sisters

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