Requiem for Sazzy: Mr Chairman Music Video

A few months ago, I posted Sazzy's video "Doubt" that was obsessing so much that I must have hit replay for at least two hours. He was no doubt one of the most talented of the up and coming musicians in Nigeria.

Sazzy passed away on October 23, 2010. He had sickle cell anemia, but his friends point to the negligence of the doctor as a major contribution of his death.

When I watched this final video posted by Sazzy's friend, music-video director, and co-founder of Intersection media, Korex Calibur, I was overcome with both sadness and a strange excitement. The song is brilliant. The video is brilliant and evidence of how much we would have had to look forward to if he had lived.

Respect, Mr. Chairman. We will miss you.



To buy the mix-cd "The Take Over" put out by Sazzy and DJ Atte in June of this year (which also features Ziriums, whom I have written about before) , see NotJustOk.com.

Scrap of a myth--Draft 1

snake locked

and stone eyed, she guards

her lonely island. Stop

your ears, escape

with splintered oars.

Her song is not for you.

FDNY paramedic and rapper Farooq Muhammad reminds people to "Call 911"

I have been feeling a little homesick/nostalgic for Brooklyn recently, and this video, which I found when googling for "street medicine" after an inspiring meeting with street medicine pioneer Dr. Jim Withers yesterday (the public affairs section of the US embassy brought him to Nigeria to give several talks about his medical work with homeless populations in the US), hit the spot. The video reminded me of what I loved about New York, and also makes me think of my sister who worked as a paramedic for several years before starting medical school.

This music video was apparently made in 2009, but I love how, in the midst of all the shrill controversy about the supposed "Ground Zero" mosque, the presence of a rapping paramedic, Farooq Muhammad, who grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, reminds an audience that there are millions of Muslim Americans, many of whom who are as passionate about being good citizens and helping people, if not more so, than their cynical and ignorant "haterz." A New York Daily News article on Farooq mentions that he was one of the firefighters dispatched to the World Trade Centre on "9-11:

Muhammad has been with the FDNY for 14 years, and was at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Like a lot of emergency responders, he went down that day to help out, and ended up getting trampled when people fled the buildings.

He says the videos are not a way out of the department to a new line of work. He loves the job, he says. As he raps in the video, "I'd do it for free."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/02/2010-06-02_paramedicturnedrapper_turns_to_youtube_to_promote_music_videos_about_ems_unit.html#ixzz10XgtUdeK

Enjoy...

Poetry that touches the deepest part of me

From Rabindranath Tagore's The Gardener

61.
Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

62.
In the dusky path of a dream I went to seek the love who was mine in a former life.

Her house stood at the end of a desolate street.

In the evening breeze her pet peacock sat drowsing on its perch, and the pigeons were silent in their corner.

She set her lamp down by the portal and stood before me.

She raised her large eyes to my face and mutely asked, "Are you well, my friend?" I tried to answer, but our language had been lost and forgotten.

I thought and thought; our names would not come to my mind.

Tears shone in her eyes. She held up her right hand to me. I took it and stood silent.

Our lamp had flickered in the evening breeze and died.

--

And a John Rutter piece from the Choir Boys:



The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you
To shine upon you and be gracious
And be gracious unto you (X2)

The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon you,
The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon you,
And give you peace, and give you peace;
And give you peace, and give you peace;

Amen, Amen, Amen
Amen, Amen, Amen

from the priestly blessing in Leviticus (here sung in Hebrew):

‎"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)

Sazzy - Doubt

I usually have a more ideological reason for liking music/music videos, but I after hitting replay on this one at least ten times, I'm posting this one because I find it very groovable. Enjoy. Sazzy's "Doubt"

ZIRIUMS: THIS IS ME Music Video

Readers may remember my earlier posts on the Hausa hiphop artist Ziriums, who was interviewed on CNN, and who wrote the scathing song "Girgiza Kai," which was later banned by the Kano State Government.

Now based in Abuja, Ziriums started out recording with Intersection's S. Solar and T-Rex in "Government Money" and also on a Yoye track (no video) "If you no Like My Music." Ziriums now has a hot new single video "This is Me." His "twisting" in Hausa has a punch that isn't quite comparable with anything else in contemporary Nigerian hiphop, and I suspect it will take him far. For more on Ziriums, see his My Space Page. (UPDATE 2 September 2010. Ziriums also now has a YouTube Channel. To listen to and buy Zirium's other songs or his entire album, This is Me, see the links to the album on itunes, myspace, and amazon [below].)

(see below the video for my very rough rendition of the lyrics)

“THIS IS ME” (Thank you to Ziriums for providing me with the lyrics in Hausa of the first two verses. He and Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu did the translation of the third. I'm also grateful to Osama bin Music, Zirium's brother who helped me correct a few of the lines My translation is very basic and flawed, and corrections are welcome. )

INTRO:

ASSALAMU ALAIKUM – ASSALAMU ALAIKUM

YARA KU FITO HIP HOP,

Kids come out to the Hiphop

MANYA KU FITO HIP HOP

Big guys come out to the hiphop

YARA KU FITO HIP HOP,

Kids come out to the Hiphop

MANYA KU FITO HIP HOP

Big guys come out to the hiphop

CHORUS:

THIS IS ME –ZIRIUMS X4

NINE NAN – ZIRIUMS X4

(This is me, Ziriums)

RAP 1:

BA’KO BABU SALLAMA MUGUNE KU BIYO SHI DA ‘KOTA,

The guest who does not greet with sallama is evil, chase him away with a stick.

NI NA AJE GARIYO DA ADDA NA DAU ‘KOTA TA MIC,

I dropped my javelin and my machet, I took up the mic

DA FARI SUNANA NAZIR

To start with my name is Nazir

BN AHMAD HAUSAWA LUNGUN KWARGWAN

Bn Ahmad Hausawa from Kwargwan neighborhood

YAYAN OSAMA BN MUSIC

Big brother of Osama bin Music

AH’ SHUGABAN TALIBAN NA HIP HOP A K-TOWN

Head of the Taliban of Hiphop in K-town

REVOLUTION ZAN NA MUSIC NA ANNABI SAY ALRIGHT (ALRIGHT x3)

It’s a music revolution. All who know the Prophet, Say Alright (Alright x3)

NINE INNOVATOR NA RAPPING DA ZAURANCE TWISTING DA HAUSA

I am the innovator of rapping with twisting in Hausa.

NINE MAI SUNA BIYAR TSOFFI SU KIRANI DA ‘DAN TALA

I am the one with the the five names, the old folks call me hawker

MANYA SU KIRANI MUHAMMADU HAJIYATA TA KIRANI TACE NAZIR,

Other grown-ups call me Muhammadu, Hajiya (my mom) calls me Nazir

NIGGAS SU KIRANI DA ZIRIUMS

The Niggas call me Ziriums

SANNAN ÝAN MATAN GARI IDAN SUN GANNI SUCE NAZIRKHAN

Then the girls of the town if they see me, they say Nazir Khan

TO DUK KU KIRANI DA ZIRIUMS (ZIRIUMS. NI NE ZIRIUMS, ZIRIUMS)

TO, all of you call me Ziriums. (Ziriums. I’m Ziriums. Ziriums)

SUNCE WAI BA ZAN IYABA LA’ÁNANNU MASU HALIN TSIYA

They say I “supposedly” I can’t do it, that’s what the spiteful gossips say.

‘DARA ‘DAIRI YA ‘DIRU ‘DAIRA HATTA ZANANTU ALLAN YA HURA (BALA)

A little bigger circle, he jumps to a circle [CHECK] (Bala)

KOMAI NISAN JIFA ‘KASA ZAI FA’DO KAJI TIIIIIIM

Everything that goes up, will come down, you hear me Tiiiim

YAU GAREKA GOBE GA SOMEBODY,MAI LAYA KIYAYI MAI ZAMANI-AH

Today it is your time, but tomorrow somebody better will come along.

CHORUS:

THIS IS ME –ZIRIUMS X4

NINE NAN – ZIRIUMS X4

(This is me, Ziriums)

CHORUS

RAP 2:

IM HUSTLING TAMKAR ‘DAN ACA’BA DARE RANA HAR SAFIYA

I’m hustling like a d’an achaba (motorcycle taxi driver), night and day, until the morning

DAMINA SANYI DA RANI DA DARI HIP HOP NI NAKE SO

In the time of the cool rains and in the hot season and in the night, it’s hiphop that I love

I WILL NEVER RETIRE NEVER GET TIRED,ÇOS IM ROLLING LIKE A TYRE

I will never retire, never get tired, cause I’m rolling like a tyre

GABA DAI GABA DAI MAZAJE NA HIP HOP(SAI MAZAJE NA HIP HOP)

Go on go on all you hiphop guys (you hiphop guys)

DUKIYA MAI ‘KAREWACE,MULKI MAI SHU’DEWANE,HANYA MAI YANKEWACE

Wealth comes to an end, power passes away, the road is cut off

SAI MUN HA’DU CAN FILIN ‘KIYAMA ANAN NE ZAKACI ‘KWAL UBANKA

Let’s meet there in the place of Judgment, there you’ll suffer like you’ve never suffered before

BA ÝAN SANDA BA JINIYA-GA ‘DAN BANZAN GO-SLOW

No police to escort you, no siren, you’ll see a terrible go-slow

CAN GEFE GUDA WALAKIRI DA SANDA MAI ‘KAYA KAI MISTAKE YA TUMURMUSAKA

There to the side the angel of hell with a rod of thorns, if you make a mistake he’ll beat you stiff.

SANNAN DUKKAN GA’B’BAN JIKINKA DUKA SUNE ZASU BABBADA SHAIDA

Then all the joints of your body, all of them will give testimony

RANAR BABU P.A DA LAWYER BALLE ÝAN BANGAR SIYASAGGA MASU

That day there will be no P.A., no laywer, much less those gangsters of politicans who

SHIGA GIDAN REDIYO SUYI ‘KARYA DAN ANBASU NAIRA,

Go into the radio house and lie to get naira (money)

INZAKA FA’DI FA’DI GASKIYA KOMAI TAKA JAMAKA KA BIYA

If you’re going to say something, tell the truth, in everything walk in the way of your forebearers

ALLAH BAIMIN KARFIN JIKIBA BALLE IN TAREKA IN MAKURE

God didn’t give me a strong body, much less a body builder’s neck,

AMMA YAIMIN KAIFIN BAKINDA HAR YA WUCE REZA A KAIFI

But he gave me a sharp mouth, sharper than a razor.

YES I’M SAYING IT.

Yes, I’m saying it.

CHORUS:

THIS IS ME –ZIRIUMS X4

NINE NAN – ZIRIUMS X4

(This is me, Ziriums)

Third Verse

(translated by Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu (to the part about Dala Rock), after that it is translated by Ziriums, himself. Both Ziriums and Prof sent the translations to Alex Johnson and Saman Piracha for a documentary on Hausa hiphop, Recording a Revolution. Translations used by permission of filmmakers. I’ve made a few very small edits to both translations for a more informal feel)

CAN NA GANO FACE MAI SIFFAR LARABAWA

Then I saw a face like an Arab beauty

NA CE MATA ZO TA TAKA

I said to her, come on let’s dance

TA CE BA TA TAKU DA TAKALMI

She said she doesn’t dance with her shoes on.

SAI DAI IN TA TAKA A SANNU

But she will dance slowly

TATTAKA A SANNU

(Go ahead) dance slowly

AMMA KUMA KAR KI GIRGIZA

But don’t shake your body

DOMIN IN KI KA GIRGIZA

Because if you shake your body

RUWAN KOGI ZAI AMBALIYA

There will be a flood

SAI BARNA TA WUCE TSUNAMI

More destructive than Tsunami

HAR DUTSEN DALA YA TARWATSE

Which will destroy Dala Rock.

(From here translation by Ziriums)

TATTAKA KI TAKA RAWAR DON TAKU KI TAKE TEKU,

Dance, Dance my type of dance, so light you dance on the ocean-top

TAKE TAWA KISA MUSU TAKA TAMU AKE TAKAWA TAKA

Step like me ‘cause it’s our type of step they want to dance.

TATTASAI TANKWA DA TUMATIR ITA TASANI TONON TANA

Chilli pepper soup and tomatoes make me dig for earthworms

TATTABARU TARA NE NA TARE TUN RAN TALATA MUKE TAKAWA,

I gathered nine doves. We’ve been stepping out since Tuesday

(The following stanza is an old Hausa poem (according to R.C. Abraham’s dictionary) sung for a “children’s game of prodding heaps of sand to find things hidden there.” Zirium’s brother Osama bin Music explained that the game includes catching the hands of one on whom a twig falls. Ziriums left it untranslated, but I’ve translated the latter part, which I think I’ve understood correctly. If I haven’t please correct me!)

GARDO GARDO –GARDON BIDA

ATTASHI BIRE –KAMANIMAN

GYARAN FUSKA –DA WUYA YAKE

ZAN KAMA KA –

I’ll catch you!

KAMANI MAN

Catch me, then

KAMANI MAN

Just catch me then

CHORUS

THIS IS ME –ZIRIUMS X4

NINE NAN – ZIRIUMS X4

(This is me, Ziriums)

Shout outs:

Intersection, Jam Bigz, Pro Okassy, Jah kozy, Sallama, Korex, Solar.

The House, man! You know what I’m saying?

Osama bin Music, Pastor Dan, Yo, this is Intersection, Jam Bigz,

K-town, baby. Daga Kano, Bahaushe, yeah Ziriums

When Ghana gave us hope...

i have a conference paper to write but that must wait for this most important match. NEPA takes the light around 9:15pm.

I search frantically for live streaming of the match, but it seems that world sports networks do not support Nigerian virtual spaces. ESPN says:

"ESPN3.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed internet connection from an ESPN3.com affiliated internet service provider. ESPN3.com is also available to fans that access the internet from U.S. college campuses and U.S. military bases.

Your current computer network falls outside of these categories.[...]"

Univision says:

"Lo sentimos, no este disponible donde te ecuentas otros utilizando la funcion de busqueda...."

I send out a status update plea to the Facebook masses and 18 comments later find live streaming on

http://channelsurfing.net/watch-fifa-world-cup-3.html

My solitary room is dark except for the glow of my laptop. The live streaming gives me freeze frames with brief moments of sound and action. outside i hear the gutteral growl of generators and in the distance, screams and shouts. i cannot tell whether they are joyful or devastated. I press refresh on Facebook every 20 seconds.

Into that uncertain space, come the written groans and profanities of FB friends.

There were these few days when it seemed possible--that the Black Stars of Ghana might lead Africa where Nkrumah never did. And that if they won, if they kept winning, if they should somehow reach that final match in the African Cup, then that would be a sign. all else would fall miraculously into place. Leaders would no more make pronouncement like kings. Africa would be the top of the world. The media would have to report something positive. The continent would be led by youth who follow the rules.

The World Cup for me was always more about the community I watched with than the game itself. Now, as I keep clicking refresh on Facebook to see the next comment, My laptop warns me that I have 5% battery remaining.

I am left lonely, restless and sad.

Youth Peace Rally, Jos Stadium, Thursday, July 1

A youth peace rally is planned in Jos for Thursday, 1 July 2o1o, 10am. The rally will be held in the Jos Rwang Pam Stadium along Tafawa Balewa road. The rally anticipates between 20,000 and 40,000 participants.

The organizers of the event, an NGO the Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Interfaith Foundation, which includes a nearly equal representation of Christians and Muslims, has planned eight other events in Plateau State in the past few months. According to Yakubu Pam, the executive director of the foundation, whom I spoke to on the phone, the first event was was held at Kwarafa Cinema, Jos, and had several thousands in attendance, the second was in Bukuru and again had over a thousand in attendence. The rest, held in smaller communities, were as follows:

3. Dadin Kowa, over three hundred participants,

4. Rayfield, over three hundred participants

5. Tudan Wada Stadium, over two hundred participants

6. Nassarawa Gwang, over two hundred participants,

7. Riyom LGA, over one thousand participants,

8. Nepa (sp?) community in Jos, over one hundred participants.

The rally planned for Thursday is a private initiative and is not sponsored by the Plateau State Government. It hopes to bring together young people from Plateau State and surrounding states to make a commitment for peace.

The Daily Independent, in it’s coverage of the Bukuru event on 1 April 2010, quotes Yakubu Pam on his vision for grassroots level youth talks:

“When I look at other peace conferences that had taken place in Jos and other places in respect of this Jos crisis and discovered that only select group of people were called to come and discuss in the peace talks, yet nothing happens at the grassroots because they were not made to be part of the peace process and that is why my foundation target audience is the grassroots,” Pam stressed.

Pam said the youths were the active participants in the recurring crisis in Jos and other parts of the state and must be taken into consideration by the government in its quest to seek for lasting peace in the state.

He pointed out that his foundation has engaged youths, which cuts across Christians and Muslims in the state and the result of this, he said, was the bringing them together to discuss and chart a new course towards getting out of the recent crisis that rocked Jos and Bukuru metropolis and the councils in Northern part of the state.

“Due to our contacts with these youths before now, we were able to have acted swiftly last week Wednesday to avert another crisis that was looming at Bukuru community in Jos South. We called on the warring Gyel youths and Hausas to lay down their arms and return to their respective homes without hurting each other. We know them and they give us their listening ears,” he said.

Pam challenged Plateau State government and the Presidency to change their approach towards finding lasting peace in the state from selecting only few privileged ones on the Plateau to be engaged in peace talks on behalf on the people; rather the youths should be engaged directly so that government could know what are their problems and find a way of solving them to put an end to youth restiveness in the state.

Here are a few articles about the other events planned by the Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Interfaith Foundation

“Dialogue with Plateau Youths, CAN advises Govt” from the Daily Independent, 13 April 2010

“Fulani, Berom Leaders Resolve to Embrace Peace” from the Vanguard, 2 June 2010

“Tension Brews in Jos” from the Daily Champion, 6 June 2010

The website for the organization is still under construction, but you can view what there is of it here.

ONE DAY- eLDee (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

I take a certain amount of aesthetic delight in posting this video by candlelight. Powerful new video from elDee...

To buy ElDee's album Big Boy (which does not include "One Day"), click below:

Lyrics to M.I.'s Jehovah: the "gospel that he be preachin'"

This morning, I am obsessively grooving (can one obsessively groove?) to hot Naija musician M.I.'s Talk About It album. On the (next to) last track "Thank yous and ova ish," he gives a shout out to his Jos based "evangelist" parents with a sheepish admission that "yeah, I know I'm not doing gospel music, but, um, I'm still, this is my gospel. Let me preach it."

His "gospel" includes fantastic tracks full of Proverbs-style wisdom on the state of Naija, such as the sardonic "Crowd Mentality" in which he says "I've changed my mind I'd rather be the same as/ all these fake ass entertainers," who "use words like 'no bad language on regge'" or "Money," where he observes: "the rich get richer, the poor get screwed," and

"Money can break you, she's so unfaithful.

Don't love her too much because she will forsake you

Some give her everything and shower praise

But what a bitch, money never stays,"

with the chorus "money slow to enter/money quick to go." But, beyond M.I's streetwise takes on Christian wisdom, there is at least one directly "gospel" track on the album, "Jehovah," featuring Eben and Lindsey, which I must have listened to at least 10 times this morning. When I went in search of the lyrics online, I couldn't find them, so I decided to transcribe it myself. Here are the lyrics (keeping in mind that I'm sure I missed a few of the words and perhaps wrongly inserted what I heard rather than what he said. Any corrections welcome!)

Prelude:

(Girl’s voice)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He maketh me lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Thou annointest my head with oil.

My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(M.I.)

Verse 1

Yeah, I fill my life’s pages, with the goodness of the Rock of Ages

The drama in my life is stages ,to fight the blazes

Going through life with seeing through many different phases

One way to run but with different paces, will track you different races

I bet on God because he knows all the aces

I give him everything in him my places

Because I ain't trying to waste this

Serving Jesus till my soul he raises

So call self, for in clay, we all vases

Different ranges, but I will argue as his vase he makes us

So he won’t let me face this, unless he knows that I can take this

The world remains, how my situation changes

Though the wrath of rages, he stands courageous

Because I know my basis

I read my Bible and I say my graces

I spend my time with him instead of reading Hadley-Chases.

And I’d forgotten that this is the basis, to going places

So when the wells dry up, Jesus is the oasis

Chorus:

Oh Jehovah, (yeah)

Still watching over (yes he is/yes he does)

X2

Verse 2

Let me tell you what I do in crisis,

Whenever trouble rises.

I know that Christ suffices, and I receive his sacrifices

When the water rises and living tries us

The economy is shifting prices and when the world is cold and lifeless

It’s then I open up my eyes and realize this

That no weapon comes against us as long as he’s beside us

You see I read that he is promises that he’ll provide us

Whatever we need as long as he live inside us

So when the light of life is burning dim, he’ll reignite us

And when we lack the strength to fight the world, he’ll send us fighters

Angels to lead and guide us, until he’ll reunite us

Under his arms he’ll hide us, and he’ll provide us

So I don’t even know who you are or what you’re going through

But you see I know my Jehovah can be there for you

And I believe it’s true, the Bible says it too

I ain’t a preacher, just a sinner. He too beautiful

Chorus:

Oh Jehovah (watching over you and I)

Still watching over (watching over you and I)

X4

Chorus of voices: Jehovah Jehovah Jehovah

X8

(I fear no evil, thou art my rock of salvation, yes you are, yes you are, God on Jesus, God on Jesus)

Verse 3

I ain’t a minister, though I administer the truth

But one thing remains, while my sin is to youth

That is defendin’ the truth, when I speakin’ the proof

It’s a messenger here, bringing lessons of his

And the messenger is—not important at all

But I wholly fall at his feet and declare

You are marvelous, gracious, wonderful, beautiful, bountiful, merciful

You are everything

Chorus:

(simultaneous. Woven Together)

That’s who you are X3

Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah X24

(Yes, you are, yes, you are. God on Jesus. You are my salvation. God on Jesus. God on Jesus. Yeah. Strong Tower. The name of the Lord. HE’s a strong tower. The righteous call on him. Yes he is.)

Oh Jehovah, Still watching over X4

Rise Up Naija: Let there be Light [Sound Sultan ft M.I 2010(official video )]

Striking new video from Sound Sultan, featuring M.I. A significant piece on multiple levels.

"I want to be like Moses
Show my people dem to the promised land
[....]
Me I fear this government evil
Rise up Naija
Raise your hands far
Tell them you're tired of their evil"

While the most obvious message of the video is ostensibly critiquing the government promise of electricity by 2010, the reference to "light"/"darkness" and "government evil" and the "promised land" calls on the "Naija" generation to tackle the many layered problems of the nation. "We've been living in darkness for too long."

Note at the end, the poignant dedication:

Let there be light
dedicated to the lost souls in Jos.

Longing

Poems, that fill the moment, from this Sufi poetry site:

Awakened by your love,
I flicker like a candle's light
tryin to hold on in the dark.
Yet, you spare me no blows
and keep asking,
"Why do you complain?"


Rumi - "Whispers of the Beloved" - Maryam Mafi & Azima Melita Kolin

Let sorrowful longing dwell in your heart,
never give up, never losing hope.
The Beloved says, "The broken ones are My darlings."
Crush your heart, be broken.

Shaikh Abu Saeed Abil Kheir - "Nobody, Son of Nobody" - Vraje Abramian

Longing is the core of mystery.
Longing itself brings the cure.
The only rule is, Suffer the pain.

Your desire must be disciplined,
and what you want to happen
in time, sacrificed.

Rumi - The Essential Rumi - Coleman Barks

Zo mu zauna

beautifu Hausa fim song (sorry, my keyboard is having probems with one key...guess which one....), featuring two popuar Hausa artists who have since passed on: Ahmad S. Nuhu and Hauwa A i Dodo.

"The Immigrant" by Helon Habila

Came across a short story by Helon Habila that I hadn't seen before this morning. Excrutiatingly beautiful. Excrutiatingly sad. Perfectly fits my state of mind right now. Exactly why Helon Habila is one of my favourite authors.

You can find "The Immigrant" at African Writing Online.

Brothers, my peace is in my aloneness

Brothers, my peace is in my aloneness.
My Beloved is alone with me there, always.
I have found nothing in all the worlds
That could match His love,
This love that harrows the sands of my desert.
If I come to die of desire
And my Beloved is still not satisfied,
I would live in eternal despair.

To abandon all that He has fashioned
And hold in the palm of my hand
Certain proof that He loves me---
That is the name and the goal of my search.

Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya (717 - 801)

Sufi poet

Putting things in order

Today a carpenter came, built shelves and hung a rod for my wardrobe. I am finally organized--boxes and suitcases and ghana-must-go bags now neatly stacked in the wardrobe where I will no longer stumble over them in the night when I can't find my torchlight. In the afternoon, after washing clothes, I sit and read articles about ethno-religious violence. Agarbatti incense twines through the room, wispy smoke swirling upward, like the jinn in Nazir Adam Salih's novel Zayyana. I say quiet Lenten prayers at maghariba, and after the stars come out, gwanin scriptwriter Nasir S. Gwangwazo, sarkin complex characterization and plots, comes and promises me a new script to read. After a year and a half, I have finally settled--a new bookcase, a new wardrobe, small pounded brass bowls and bits of pottery scattered about--a role to play. Everything is in place. I can't bear to think about ever leaving again. Alhamdu lillah. Allah ya kaimu gaba.

Nostalgia

Koko and kosai at Golden goose, then home in a dark taxi to a background of a crooning Bollywood track. I dream of years past, as a new moon floats faint above me

Excavation

Talatu has dug through the many layers to the very beginning, has set aside those little treasures, the happy moments that were truly, truly hers, and lets the other things rest where they lay, to be covered again by the ever-blowing dust. Allah ya ba da zaman lafiya. Amin.

To those who preach hatred in God's name:

I read this passage this morning:

""God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
I John 4:16-21

This afternoon, I read of the details of the massacre of Hausa Muslims in the village of Kuru Jantar on Al-Jazeera, which I had heard hints of earlier posted on Naijablog on January 19: first a plea for help and then an exhausted report of a massacre.

"Reports on Saturday said that about 150 bodies had been recovered from wells in Kuru Jantar, near the city of Jos, where clashes began last week before spreading to nearby villages.

Locals in Kuru Jantar, also known as Kuru Karama, told Andrew Simmons, Al Jazeera's Africa editor, that a massacre had taken place in the village.

They said armed men had surrounded and attacked the village on Tuesday.

Al Jazeera saw the bodies recovered from wells, as well as the burnt bodies of children recovered from ransacked houses.

Up to 18,000 people in the area are thought to have been left homeless by the clashes in Nigeria's Plateau State."

Witnesses seem to indicate it was some sort of outside attack, saying the "village was surrounded." Whether that is true or not, there definitely seem to be politics behind this. (For more information on the indigin/settler politics that seems to be the root of the recent sectarian violence in Plateau State read these documents: a recently published article by shari’a-in-Nigeria scholar Philip Ostien on the events leading up the the 2008 crisis“Jonah Jang and the Jasawa”; a Human Rights Watch report on the politics of “Settler/indigene” in Nigeria, with a section on Plateau State, and the Human Rights Watch report on the Military abuses during the 2008 crisis, which have no doubt been continued during this crisis.

I've had a few friends recently be vocally critical of "religious" people who do not speak out loudly against those who commit evil in the name of religion. Let this be my response:

To those who kill and loot and politic and conspire and corrupt youth in God's name, may He judge you with the same fire you used to burn the houses and bodies of innocent people. To those who preach hatred and prejudice and violence in God's name, listen to the words of Jesus, who is venerated in both Christianity and Islam:

"Jesus said to his disciples: 'things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves.

'If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times come back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." Luke 17:1-4

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By your fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" Matthew 7:15-23

And when the men came forward to arrest Jesus and one of Jesus's disciples cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest,"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:52

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites, You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

[...]

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will be clean.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypcrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.; So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the alter. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often i have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Matthew 23:13-39

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:19


For those who excuse attacks on those who are of a different religion or ethnicity because you think if you don't strike first, they will persecute you:

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?'

"Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:18

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloack as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

You have heard it that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:38-45

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:27

"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny[assarion]? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" Matthew 10:24-31


"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13: 34

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" John 14:27