Although the Palestinian Hip Hop group DAM has been criticized for releasing this song and video clip during such tumultuous times in Gaza (see this link), this blogger thinks that the group's new release is still definitely worth a look.
The video clip was directed by Jackie Salloum (Slingshot Hip Hop) and broaches the issue of 'honor killings' and violence against women. It has been supported by UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). DAM is joined in this recording by well known singer Amal Murkus and the clip, available in HD, also includes optional English subtitles.
Here is the clip followed by an English translation plus the credits:
http://youtu.be/UjnFbe7D9pY
**ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Arabic script: If I Could Go Back In Time (Suhel Nafar)
www.DAMRAP.com
The video clip was directed by Jackie Salloum (Slingshot Hip Hop) and broaches the issue of 'honor killings' and violence against women. It has been supported by UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). DAM is joined in this recording by well known singer Amal Murkus and the clip, available in HD, also includes optional English subtitles.
Here is the clip followed by an English translation plus the credits:
DAM featuring AMAL MURKUS - If I Could Go Back In Time لو أرجع
http://youtu.be/UjnFbe7D9pY
**ENGLISH 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 drag 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
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 drag 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
----
*CREDITS and ENGLISH TRANSLATION*
Lyrics written by DAM
Music produced & arranged by NABIL NAFAR
Mixed by SAQIB and NABIL NAFAR
Mastered by SAQIB
Directed by JACQUELINE REEM SALLOUM and SUHEL NAFAR
Produced by LAURA HAWA
Assistant Director ELI REZIK
Director of Photography ARI ISSLER
Editor ABDUL JABBAR MAKI
Composting and Visual Effects CONRAD OSTWALD
Colorist SETH RICART
Costume Designer and Stylist NADA NAFAR
Art Director BASHAR HASSUNEH
Production Manager JAMAL KHLAYLEH
Makeup Artist VERED NIVO
Lighting Director ARI ISSLER
Steadicam Operator HAIM ASIAS
Focus Puller GEORGE DABAS
Key Grip MORDI BOAZ
Key Gaffer YANA MITNICK
Production Assistant MANAR YACOUB
Best Boy Gaffer REA'OT GING
Best Boy Grip FADI MATAR
Art Assistant PAULINE CARBONIER V
Visual Effects Supervisor HASHEM ODEH
Sound Playback JAMIL NAFAR
Catering NADIA NAFAR and MONIRA GOHAR
Cast
Main Girl SAMAA WAKEEM
Brother DORAID LIDAWI
Mom KHAWLA DIBSI
Dad BAHJAT YOUNIS
Chorus scene
YARA ZRIEK
ISIS AZAM
NERIAN KEYWAN
Fateha Readers
BAHA KADURA
ABEDALLAH NAHFAWI
RAMI YOUNIS
SAMI AWADI
WAEL ABU SHAREKH
ABED SHAHADA
MUHAMAD HADDAD
Young girls
ASIL KADURA
CILIN AWADI
Special Thanks
UN WOMEN
JULIEN VAISSIER
FAIEZ NAFAR
MARKO MATKOVIC
MARTIN BJERREGAARD
AdTomic
WALEED ZAITER
SALIM SHEHADEH
SALMA SAMARA
AHMAD KANAAN
AYED FADEL
NINA ZIDAN
ABED HATHOT
BAHAA RASHED
ADI KHALEFA
ADI KRAYEM
ELYAN BASEL
MANAL BASEL
RASSLAN BASEL
ABEER AWADI
RASHA KADURA
CINDY THAI THIEN NGHIA
*CREDITS and ENGLISH TRANSLATION*
Lyrics written by DAM
Music produced & arranged by NABIL NAFAR
Mixed by SAQIB and NABIL NAFAR
Mastered by SAQIB
Directed by JACQUELINE REEM SALLOUM and SUHEL NAFAR
Produced by LAURA HAWA
Assistant Director ELI REZIK
Director of Photography ARI ISSLER
Editor ABDUL JABBAR MAKI
Composting and Visual Effects CONRAD OSTWALD
Colorist SETH RICART
Costume Designer and Stylist NADA NAFAR
Art Director BASHAR HASSUNEH
Production Manager JAMAL KHLAYLEH
Makeup Artist VERED NIVO
Lighting Director ARI ISSLER
Steadicam Operator HAIM ASIAS
Focus Puller GEORGE DABAS
Key Grip MORDI BOAZ
Key Gaffer YANA MITNICK
Production Assistant MANAR YACOUB
Best Boy Gaffer REA'OT GING
Best Boy Grip FADI MATAR
Art Assistant PAULINE CARBONIER V
Visual Effects Supervisor HASHEM ODEH
Sound Playback JAMIL NAFAR
Catering NADIA NAFAR and MONIRA GOHAR
Cast
Main Girl SAMAA WAKEEM
Brother DORAID LIDAWI
Mom KHAWLA DIBSI
Dad BAHJAT YOUNIS
Chorus scene
YARA ZRIEK
ISIS AZAM
NERIAN KEYWAN
Fateha Readers
BAHA KADURA
ABEDALLAH NAHFAWI
RAMI YOUNIS
SAMI AWADI
WAEL ABU SHAREKH
ABED SHAHADA
MUHAMAD HADDAD
Young girls
ASIL KADURA
CILIN AWADI
Special Thanks
UN WOMEN
JULIEN VAISSIER
FAIEZ NAFAR
MARKO MATKOVIC
MARTIN BJERREGAARD
AdTomic
WALEED ZAITER
SALIM SHEHADEH
SALMA SAMARA
AHMAD KANAAN
AYED FADEL
NINA ZIDAN
ABED HATHOT
BAHAA RASHED
ADI KHALEFA
ADI KRAYEM
ELYAN BASEL
MANAL BASEL
RASSLAN BASEL
ABEER AWADI
RASHA KADURA
CINDY THAI THIEN NGHIA
