Stumbled onto this one whilst looking for inspiration on a piece. All you Civilization V players out there probably get Post-Diplomatic Victory Stress Disorder from hearing this tune! A little history to begin the sharing of this video: ( Editors Note, turned out to be a lot, sorry ) When most people think of the Jewish people, they may think of World War II, which we all know what happened so Ill skip the painting of that image, or the bible days, where Jews were enslaved across the desert lands of Egypt in the North African and Middle-Eastern deserts, or perhaps some of you more modern diplomacy-acquainted may think of the horrid struggles of the country of Israel in modern times being surrounded by its unfortunate enemies with little means to defend itself. Some of you might not know; in Israel, men are required to join the army once theyre 18 years old, as that is the only way it can defend itself from its attackers. Israel is sandwiched between Egypt to the South-West, Jordan and Jordan-bordered Iraq to the East, Syria to the North-East, and Lebanon to the North, with the small but hostile Gaza on its South-West tip, just above Egypt. Israel makes up about half of the Mediterannean Seas South-East coast, which is its only lucky break from the largely anarchal countries bordering it on all other sides but that West Four-Fifths coastline. Israel does have one huge militaristic advantage though; its army is highly trained in the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga ( Crov / Muh-Gah ), an insane and deadly martial art which mixes together and consists of enough different techniques to counter any fighting style matched up against it. It contains, from Wikipedia: Boxing, Savate, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, and Grappling. All my fellow Taekwondo lovers are either shaking your pants off or pumping with adrenaline at the opportunity of sparring with a trained Krav Maga artist. See how good the art of self defense is against the art of all attacks. Trust me, Ive seen it, youre in for it. Still, its quite sad to think about what they have to go through. Especially after learning about Tay-Sachs disease, a rare but almost secularly Hebrew-heritage genetic disorder which causes slow nerve and brain death killing its recipients usually before age 4, a heart-breaking experience that brings forth many existential questions among grim times. Now Im not trying to depress anybody, I just want to make a point, and that is: When we think of the Jews, which most of the people around this area probably hardly do unless theyre using Hitler in an argument, its hard not to see an image of despair, war, violence, gore, and fear that the Hebrew people of the Orient have had to suffer. Which is why I love hearing songs like this. This traditional Jewish musical piece is from the album Sephardic Romances, the title referring to Sepharad and the Sephardi Jews. The title Sephardic implies hispanic connotation, and the Sepharad is a biblical place disputed for its exact geographic location, but as told by the Jews as the lands of Spain and Portugal, which in the times of its relevance, was the Iberian Peninsula or Hispania. This song in particular is called Si verías, which is Spanish for: If You Would See ( Thanks, Mrs. Stearns! If only you were here, youd be proud that I inferred that the i should be accented all by myself! ) To me, this gives me imagery of gypsies dancing with large translucent-fuschia/pink ribbons to the rhythm of a tambourine, a pungi, a violin, castanets, and a low tabla, in a Harun al-Rashid-Era Arabian town square, where men, women, and children alike, gather around to experience the culture. It paints a much brighter image than that which we today are accustomed to. And I love that. Im all about having as much perspective as possible, and from as many different sides as possible. It is far too easy to fall into ignorance, bias, and blind idealism when youre always around just one concept and one view towards it all the time. One of, if not my greatest idle joy, is being introduced to a concept or perspective which breaks boundaries in my mind, especially when I never knew those boundaries existed. For once, I am taken away from the objectivity of the historical sufferings of the Hebrew and Israeli people to temporarily indulge in a concept and perspective of pure joy, music, that expresses the love of Sephardi Jews. It is mine to think that a label cannot stop me from being human, no matter how much I identify by it, for those things possible by human beings can be done by any in time, no matter how much I try to separate myself from my general existence; the very idea that I have something in common with all peoples. I remember when it is I strive to be unique, that uniqueness does not imply good, and can deceive me from what is truly good. The only thing that is universally unique is what we all individually and independently believe to be the ultimate good, for our life experiences alone teach us those. No matter how many people have lived what I have, none of them went through it like I have, and no one person will ever live a life like mine. The only true good is knowing what is good for me, in my circumstance, in my cognition, in my endeavors, and in my health and well-being. For no one but I can know that good. I watch over myself with utmost conscientiousness, lest I forget that truth, for the day I lose that view is the day I have truly conceded my individuality, and have adopted group identification over self-recognition. But this is not the same for everyone. It is a held fact of me. Thanks for making me think about stuff, Sephardi Jews! ( And thanks to Dan Avidan for getting me interested in Jewish culture, among other inspirations! ) youtube/watch?v=rvaCzAE_hT4 Whether you read all that, skipped down to here, listened to the tune, and/or are just plain interested, heres a link to the full playlist of the album Sephardi Romances. I hope you like it just as much as I did! https://youtube/playlist?list=PLFF0C46D7737A57CD
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 02:34:48 +0000
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