I don't remember how I discovered Zain Bhikha, but I fell in love with his voice and his music. I think it's amazing how much his religion means to him. I don't know what the words in the chorus mean, but I think that in some ways music is able to speak to everyone of all different languages.
The first thing I thought of when I saw the Bali play was Avatar. They both seemed very similar to me. I really liked it, though I don't know why. I think it's very interesting to watch. There just seems to be a strong sense of community when the Bali people do this.
I loved to watch The Prince of Egypt when I was a kid. It's one of my favorite movies. I also love the music. I have the English and Hebrew versions on my iPod, and I honestly like the Hebrew version a little better. The song was performed by Ofra Haza, but unfortunately she died of AIDS in 2000.
And last but certainly not least...Queen! If you don't know, Queen is my favorite band EVER. I don't even know what I'd do without their music. I picked this song because it has a Middle Eastern feel to it. Freddie was from Zanzibar, which is in East Africa somewhere, I think. The majority of religion there is Islamic, so I think he was around a lot of the prayers and stuff while he was growing up. I'm not sure what the song means, but I like it.
Wow, I love all these videos! The Zain Bihkha song is very emotional. I love how it combines Western and Eastern musical elements. I had no idea that Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar. I looked it up, and Zanzibar is in Tanzania. :) That's so cool that he integrated his culture into rock music!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Balinese "monkey chant" when we watched it in class. I kept seeing things for the movie "Baraka" when I was looking stuff up about it. I haven't seen it but Ive heard good things. Since you have the same interest you should check it out too. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Queen: AMAZING! ALwyas great to get acquainted with good old stuff. I haven't seen POE in years...what a neat way to see it! I do prefer the original language, though. Just me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Balinese monkey chant--it's interesting to see another video of the same music. And if you like Queen you should check on Fun.--they have a lot of Queen-ness in their music.
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