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shadia mansour, al kufiyyeh 3arabeyyeh, 2010
-stumbled upon this while doing research for an upcoming show i’m a part of. the show is a gathering of 3 queer artists around the song, Greatest Love of All. yes, that song. and through unearthing the history of the song, i realized it was written as an emblem for muhammad ali’s conversion to islam at the height of his career amidst objections, his dissent of the war, and finally his rise to the top of the boxing world again. it went from a song about standing for what you believe in against an oppressive system to a bad pop song whitewashed to stand for children’s futures and… god.
before i gouged my eyes out over endless whitney live renditions of this song, i decided to delve a little into my own attachment to erasing histories, as an immigrant, and an immigrant from a completely different culture. i knew was i was gonna deal with the juxtaposition between the original version of the song to what it’s become. this ‘whitewashing’ is akin to assimilation… the diffusion of difference. i was inspired by listening to to wbai (99.5 here in nyc) while driving around last night. chuck d (yes, that chuck d) has a show on wbai called, ANDYOUDONTSTOP! last night, he played some awesome palestinian rap, including some shadia mansour. i did a little googling, and here i landed. on an incredible and moving song about properly holding fast to a set of history that is eagerly trying to be re-written. ‘kosher kufiyyeh’s’ being suddenly embraced by young israelis as if it hasn’t been a political symbol for palestinians for over 40 years. just google it. then listen to this song.
to shadia mansour: mashalla!
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