Guanaguanare: the laughing gull: February 2012

Black Woman [Song]

Uploaded by foreignmovies
BLACK WOMAN
By Ella Andall

Oh, black woman, raise your head, save your children
Oh, black woman, save them from self destruction
Give respect that's true, give love that's strong
That would raise your brother and not pull him down.

[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]
[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]

You've travelled far, you've been many things
You are still daughters of queens and kings
Your ancient glory, your breed, your grace
You, black woman, can save this race
Of Africa, of Africa, of Africa, of Africa.

[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]
[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]

Look around and you will see
All you are that was not meant to be
Don't strive to be so like the enemy
Who raped the land and changed the destiny
Of Africans, all Africans, of Africans, all Africans.

[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]
[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]

Centuries of torture, centuries of pain
Kept you, black woman, tied up in chains
Break free, I say, the time is now
Let your love be your people's vow
Of Africa, of Africa, of Africa, of Africa.

[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]
[Oooh, woh, woh-oh, oooh, woh, woh-oh]

[You better stay awake, black woman]
[Remember you are still number one.]
[You better stay awake, black woman]
[Remember you are still number one.]

[You better stay awake, black woman]
[Remember you are still number one.]
[You better stay awake, black woman]
[Remember you are still number one.]

[You better stay awake, black woman]
[Remember you are still number one.]
[You better stay awake, black woman]

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Calypso In Trouble [Song]

Uploaded by bencultCALYPSO IN TROUBLE
By Brother Valentino

John Public get ---------- in one big charade
With some calypso culprits reigning in this parade
Even the record producers and people who producing
Like is a fast food styling business them doing
If you check the contents of what them people marketing
Is one type of music that they promoting
They feel that calypso is just party for Carnival
Or they feel calypso is fete and plenty bacchanal.

Chorus:
They pushing this music vibration
With a wine down, jam down intention
So you back a woman in a corner
And you jam she in the name of soca
Shame on you, you culture vulture!
Using my sister and raping my culture!
I am appealing to all those who responsible
We crying, "Help help! Calypso in trouble!"
If you don't do something fast, this art form will sure crumble
So we crying, "Help, help! Calypso in trouble!"

John Public get ------ for two much of years
'Cause over and over, same thing ringing in your ears
They only repeating everything they say
Melody and lyrics - is too much djamblay
Calypsonians lost their wit and imagination
Lost their sense of direction and lacking creation
So the whole thing turn into one bid big free for all
With every man in a mad rush heading for the dance hall.

Chorus:
They pushing this music vibration
With a wine down, jam down intention
So you back a woman in a corner...Ey!
And you jam she in the name of soca
Shame on you, you culture vulture!
Using my sister and raping my culture!
I am appealing to all those who responsible
What we saying, "Help help! Calypso in trouble!"
If you don't do something fast, this art form will sure crumble
So we crying, "Help, help! calypso in trouble!"

John Public get -------- with Road March and Panorama
Panmen doing their own thing in the Savannah
The steelband arrangers composing their own tune
And the brass band leaders will be doing the same thing soon
Then the mighty DJ is the one who controls the sway
That's the man who dictate the Road March on Carnival Day
So you see the calamity that calypso in
Everybody jamming and doing their own thing.

Chorus:
They pushing this music vibration
With a wine down, jam down intention
So you back a woman in a corner
And you jam she in the name of soca
Shame on you, you culture vulture!
Using my sister and raping my culture!
I am appealing to all those who responsible
"Help help! Calypso in trouble!"
If you don't do something fast, this art form will sure crumble
So we crying, "Help, help! calypso in trouble!"

John Public get -------- with the way they judge calypso
They do not want class nor quality on that show
So the moral standard of the art drop so low
They say competition is what have it so
You got to be rough and gruff and regular with lyircs
And embarrass people who are active in politics
Or come on the stage and wine down like a ball of twine
So calypsonians wining from now til the end of time.

Chorus:
They pushing this music vibration
With a wine down, jam down intention
So you back a woman in a corner
And you jam she in the name of soca
Shame on you, you culture vulture!
Using my sister, raping my culture!
I am appealing to all those who responsible
Hear me crying, "Help help! Calypso in trouble!"
If you don't do something fast, this art form will sure crumble
"Help, help!" ...Tell dem!

..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Brother Valentino, I agree completely with your observations and I thank you for gallantly defending our sisters, although I wonder if they would welcome it. Nadia Batson in "Shiver," is baying for "wine down, jam down" to move beyond intention:

"If you want to make me shiver
Stop the talking and deliver
Put mih bumbum on yuh zipper, darlin'
Boy, make me quiver
If you want to make me shiver
Stop the talking and deliver
Make me run more dan a river, boy
Just mek mih bawl out, "Aye yaye!"
Make me say, "Aye yaye!..."
---From "Shiver" - Nadia Batson

Agreed, this song's music is airy, the beat is infectious and I imagine listeners would find it difficult not to accept its invitation to dance but maybe I am old school - the in-yuh-face rawness shocks.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

The Five Rules Of Calypso [Song]

Uploaded by IsDePanInMe
THE FIVE RULES OF CALYPSO
By Brother Valentino

Wherever horse reach, jackass could reach
This might sound like a fancy speech
It may just take a longer time
And you know time longer than twine
But for I to gain recognition
In this biased calypso competition
Like all dem judges would have to go
And let calypsonians judge calypso.

'Cause they don't know a damn thing 'bout melody
They don't know about originality
Like politics and partisan is the criteria for the Savannah
But me ent come out here to cause no commesse,
I only quoting the Mighty Fearless
It look as though the judges don't know
The five rules of calypso.

People who perform at the highest level
In any field should be capable
Once you possess the art, the skill and experience
You should be able to judge peoples' performance
So who give them this authority on calypso?
They can't even sing Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So
But armed with paper and pen in hand
To continue their destruction.

Calypsonians like me who paid their dues,
Still singing calypso blues
Every year man bussing their brain
And good songs just going down the drain
But fellahs tiefing people melody
And they singing like Panther and Crazy
It goes to show the judges don't know
The five rules of calypso...Eh-eh?

So to them jokers, I now declare
Let the experts sit down on the expert's chair
Calypsonians complaining from year to year
It is time they start judging their own affair
Because this little black man by the name of Noah
Feel he know more calypso than Kitchener
But we could have a much better show
With judges like Predie, Terror and Sparrow.

Like a few calypsonians sign a pact
Every Dimanche Gras night they have their contract
After they done eliminate, you know they take back Cro Cro
Some time ago on a fiesta show
Apart from all this inconsistency,
They pushing bias ------ dishonesty
They'll have to go 'cause they really don't know
A damn thing about calypso.

Pick the best calypsoes for the Savannah
Hats off to the Mighty Composer
Unlike these people who have their grudge
Why not make this brother a judge?
Because these judges have this thing all wrong
They judging the singer and not the song
And as long as this thing stay so
I could never be a monarch in calypso.

Some of them can't even rhyme dog with cat
They don't know a A minor from a B flat
They can't ever recognise a melody people sing already
But if TUCO still running that show
I just want mih president to know
They better send for the Lord Brigo to judge the calypso.

People who perform at the highest level
In any field should be capable
Once you possess the art, the skill and the experience
You should be able to judge peoples' performance
So who give them this authority on calypso?
They can't even sing Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So
But armed with paper and pen in hand
To continue my destruction.

Calypsonians like me who paid their dues,
Still singing calypso blues
Every year man bussing their brain
And good songs just going down the drain
But fellahs tiefing people melody
And they singing like Panther and Crazy
It goes to show the judges don't know
The five rules of calypso.

Backlash [Song]

Listen to Brother Valentino singing "Backlash" courtesy Skellion.com.
[Link will open in new window.]
BACKLASH
By Brother Valentino

Of all the low down dirtiness I have experienced in calypso
The nastiest was these eight judges, one fiesta show
They victimise me openly, the damn thing worse than a shame
For the whole calypso world to see their filthy political game
Sean de Freitas, Verbim Connelley, Gillian Henry
Lennox London, Milton Bassaw who did this to me
Ezra Joseph, Melvin Charles and Ezekiel Benjamin
In the name of calypso, you have committed the greatest sin.

Chorus:
Seven judges to officiate, the rule state
When I check them jokers, I counting eight
Fus they want to fight me down
They decide they go bring in one more clown
But we done know they cannot fool the masses
These eight educated jackasses
Is to put all of them in one barrel
And look for the steepest hill.

They talk 'bout equal rights and justice here in Trinidad
But in calypso, the justice system moving very sad
It seems as though their policy is not based on any fair play
Because when the truth confront them, they always look the other way
These people got their own mind set and they blight just like cocobay
But one day, one day, congotay, for this deed they'll have to pay
Through all my years of competition, this is what I observe
They never ever gave to me what I really deserve.

Chorus:
They will never judge me on my merits
Them set of bad minded hypocrites
They so vindictive and so damn wicked
In the eyes of the people they look so stupid
I don't know if is blood they want from me
With their blinking vampire mentality
I would like to push ah umbrella where the sun don't shine
And open it up in their behind.

The whole of Trinbago, London, New York and Toronto
Everybody want to know why these judges treat me so
With their cut throat attitude, they spite the People's Calypsonian
Through their biased ways these eight bimbos upset the whole nation
Them criminals put some children in front this legend in calypso
I don't know if is the cash they do not want me earning on that show
But is time they give me what is mine when it is due to me
And do not try to put me down for no mediocracy.

Chorus:
Until I get my justice, I will never stop
Chanting down them judges, they too damn corrupt
Is genocide they committing in the art
These killers and dictators, they have no heart
So my historic research they just reject
I tell you people like them so have no respect
They should be put away without no bail in Carrera or the Royal Jail.

I wonder if these eight stooges committed this crime on their own,
And why this evil act, the people in authority condone?
And when they do their wickedness, they feel they accomplish something
But the sins of these wicked people would fall on their offspring
Some of the greatest songs that I have sung never made it to the Savannah
Including "Life is a Stage" - the immortal, the ever popular
If them judges ent pushing hatred and vendetta, what could it be?
Then the ones who control the calypso are the ones plotting against me.

Chorus:
My people, no matter what I sing
Every year with these judges is the same damn thing
What the hell they want me to sing again?
Jah Jah, how long shall the wicked reign?
But my wife, Peggy, told me jokingly
If you want to vie for this Monarchy
You got to stand up on your head and sing upside down
If you want to win this crown.

Stay Up, Zimbabwe! [Song]

Uploaded by bencultSTAY UP, ZIMBABWE!
By Brother Valentino

Woe be unto Rhodesia! Woe be unto South Africa!
You pushing my back against the wall, I calling the tribes of Hannibal
I-man decide to put on his boots and march to defend his roots.

Chorus:
Say I...
Calling them Ju-Ju [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling them Zulu [Woh ya yaye!]
Shouting Ashanti [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling Watusi [Woh ya yaye!]
In South Africa and Rhodesia [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood go run like water [Woh ya yaye!]
Prepare my brother [Woh ya yaye!]
For the bloody river [Woh ya yaye!]
Just remember, brother [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood thicker than water [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]

I know this fight won't be so easy but you got to get rid of the enemy
If you don't get rid of the enemy, the enemy shall get rid of thee
My people, you see we have no choice, so Africans hear my voice. Ey!

Chorus:
Say I...
Calling them Zulu [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling them Ju-Ju [Woh ya yaye!]
Shouting Ashanti [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling Watusi [Woh ya yaye!]
In South Africa and Rhodesia [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood go run like water [Woh ya yaye!]
Prepare my brother [Woh ya yaye!]
For the bloody river [Woh ya yaye!]
Just remember, brother [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood thicker than water [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe [Woh ya yaye!]

I hear the talk that America supporting white South Africa
But if we have to work voodoo, my people shout in Uhuru
Sound the drums and summon the witch doctors
To deal with them weird characters. Ey!

Chorus:
Calling them Ju-Ju [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling them Zulu [Woh ya yaye!]
Shouting Ashanti [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling Watusi [Woh ya yaye!]
In South Africa and Rhodesia [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood go run like water [Woh ya yaye!]
Prepare my brother [Woh ya yaye!]
For the bloody river [Woh ya yaye!]
Just remember, brother [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood thicker than water [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]

I pay homage to Steve Biko and the children who died in Soweto
To the freedom fighters, I declare, "Africans' affair is my affair."
Ian Smith and Botha had to go, the revolution say so.

Chorus:
Say I...
Calling them Zulu [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling them Ju-Ju [Woh ya yaye!]
Shouting Ashanti [Woh ya yaye!]
Calling Watusi [Woh ya yaye!]
In South Africa and Rhodesia [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood go run like water [Woh ya yaye!]
Prepare my brother [Woh ya yaye!]
For the bloody river [Woh ya yaye!]
Just remember, brother [Woh ya yaye!]
Blood thicker than water [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]
Stay up, Zimbabwe! [Woh ya yaye!]

One Day Soon [Song]

Listen to Brother Valentino singing "One Day Soon" courtesy Skellion.com.
[Link will open in new window.]
ONE DAY SOON
By Brother Valentino

[One day soon, Babylon go fall]
[One day soon, Babylon go fall]

Today in the world, Babylon in trouble
There'll be a total destruction to the concrete jungle
I shall stay on Mount Zion and listen the rumble
When Babylon start to tumble.

Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
One day soon, Babylon go fall
Jah Jah say, soon one day, Babylon ah go pay
One day soon, Babylon go fall.

It might be today, it might be tomorrow
Just like Sodom and Gomorrah
Too much corruption, too much fornication
That warning I give through my inspiration.

Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
One day soon, Babylon go fall
Jah Jah say, soon one day, Babylon ah go pay
One day soon, Babylon go fall.

I see the falling of the Babylon empire
I see the rising of the Lion of Judah
Meanwhile, I got to get near the water
I got to be clean for my Master
Got to be clean for my Master.

Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
One day soon, Babylon go fall
Jah Jah say, soon one day, Babylon ah go pay
One day soon, Babylon go fall.

The system will fall with its denomination
With its scientific forces and false education
Mercy shall be shown on Mount Zion
But Babylon shall be crushed by the jaws of the Lion.

Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
Oh Jah Jah, oh Jah Jah
One day soon, Babylon go fall
Jah Jah say, soon one day, Babylon ah go pay
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall
One day soon, Babylon go fall

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Brother Valentino. Just beautiful!...your music and this prophecy. Entropy does not negotiate. "Jah Jah say, soon one day, Babylon ah go pay." I am not sad to report that it has already begun...

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

"Scoundrel Time: The Situation In Syria."

Scoundrel Time: The Situation In Syria.
By Jeremy Salt
Palestine Chronicle | February 15, 2012

Even though we are used to double standards, the moral posturing over Syria in recent weeks has been quite a spectacle. At the UN Security Council, Susan Rice bellows her disgust at the use of the veto by Russia and China, when the US has used the veto more than 60 times, mostly to protect Israel. Horror at the violence is sounded by the delegates of the same powers that have dismantled Libya and ended the lives of an estimated two million Iraqis through warfare and sanctions since 1991. When Saudi Arabia and Qatar call for political reform in Syria and an end to the violence, hypocrisy is displaced by farce. Their gulf ally, King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain, told Der Spiegel that Bashar al Assad should listen to his people. There is no opposition in Bahrain, according to His Majesty: ‘we only have people with different views’. If he had to declare a state of emergency it was because ‘our women were very scared and it is the duty of a gentleman to protect women, so I had to protect them’. Apparently the head-scarfed women in the front ranks of the demonstrators needed protecting from themselves.

These two gulf sponsors of salafism across the region sabotaged the Arab League monitors’ mission in Syria the moment it came up with findings they didn’t like and now they want a second bite at the cherry, a joint UN/Arab League ‘peace-keeping’ mission set up in its place. Syria has said no and if this proposal goes before the UNSC Russia and China will probably use their veto again. The airing of the issue at the UN General Assembly might be useful on the propaganda front but will not change the basic situation one way or the other. The only avenue for positive action at the UN is the Security Council and now that the US and its allies are being blocked there they are having to think of alternatives. By eschewing the role of constructive arbiter in favor of active support for the policy of regime change being pursued by the US, Britain, France and their regional allies, the Arab League has disqualified itself from the right to play any role at all. It is simultaneously shutting Syria out and then demanding that it be let back into Syria. It says it does not want international intervention in Syria but then it calls for it through the presence of UN ‘peacekeepers’. An organization which has never put itself on the line for Arab causes has now blatantly turned itself into the pliant instrument of the most regressive governments in the Arab world and their western backers.

In the past year the governments which have now withdrawn their ambassadors from Damascus have not come up with one constructive solution to the crisis in Syria. They have blocked dialogue and negotiations and done everything they can to deepen the turmoil, in the clear hope that chaos would culminate in the collapse of a regime that is Iran’s most important regional ally. Their willing helpers include Ayman al Zawahiri, Shaikh Yusuf Qaradawi and the takfiri gangs they are urging on to destroy the Alawi heretics. Those so blinded by their hatred of the Baathist regime that they are calling for open outside intervention to destroy it need to look at history. Not once in the past 200 years has western intervention ended well for the local people. The record is consistent from the appearance of Napoleon’s army off the Egyptian coast in 1798 up to the destruction of Iraq as a secular unified state, and the establishment of the Kurdish north as a springboard for Israeli-US sabotage and assassination in Iran. Libya is a complete mess, a melange of squabbling militias fighting for territory and still taking revenge on those identified as ‘Gaddafi loyalists’. The transitional government in Tripoli is a phantom. Hardly surprising that this phantom has recognized another phantom, the Syrian National Council, as the legitimate government of Syria. Fighting amongst itself, stacked with exiles close to the US State Department, at odds with the internal opposition and accused of corruption by the head of the Free Syrian Army, Riad al Assad, this council is completely dysfunctional.

The moral posturing over Syria contrasts with the moral indifference of western governments when killing suits their purposes. Recall the exchange in 1996 between US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and CBS 60 Minutes interviewer Lesley Stahl on the human cost of the sanctions imposed on Iraq:

“Stahl: We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

“Albright: I think this is a very hard choice but the price – we think the price is worth it.”

Yes, ‘we’ always do. About 50,000 Libyans were killed during the attack on their country by the US, Britain and France, with Qatar and other states playing a supporting role. During Israel’s onslaught on Lebanon in 2006 Condoleezza Rice held the door open week after week in the hope that Hezbollah could be destroyed no matter how many civilians were killed. In 2008 the US, the EU and distant western acolytes such as Australia blamed Hamas for an Israeli attack on Gaza which pulverized the civilian population. Where was the Arab League then – where has it ever been when it comes to mobilizing support for the Palestinians? When it voted for the ‘peacekeeper’ mission, did it even notice the storming of the Haram al Sharif on the same day by dozens of settlers determined to build the third temple on the ruins of the Aqsa mosque?

In Iraq wars and sanctions have accounted for the lives of about two million people since 1991 plus, following the invasion of 2003, the greatest refugee outflow in the Middle East since Palestine in 1948. Who was it who kept the sanctions going? The US and Britain. Under whose aegis were they maintained? The UN. Does anyone have to ask why this institution and these governments are distrusted across the Middle East? Mr Jose Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, where is your moral conscience and sense of justice when it comes to the victims of wars launched by the US, Britain and France? Why do you show no interest in prosecuting the heads of the government of Israel for its violations of international law? Why are you not following up the prima facie evidence of war crimes committed in Libya during missile attacks by British, French and American aircraft? Why were you so eager to prosecute Muammar Qadhafi when no crime he is said to have committed in his 40 years compares even remotely to the crimes for which George Bush and Tony Blair were responsible in Iraq? Of course, these are questions for which we do not need an answer because the ICC is yet another instrument in the toolbox of western governments, to be used only when it serves their interests. The most recent measurement of the value of Iraqi lives spent with such abandon was handed down by the US military court which imposed a reduction in the rank of the soldier who participated in the massacre of 24 people at Haditha, young and old and a man in a wheelchair among them. That was all he got – a reduction in his rank for a crime that would have automatically warranted the death sentence in a civilian court had it been committed in his own country. The spectacle of American soldiers pissing on the bodies of dead Afghans is a perfect metaphor for the decision of this court and the demonstrable indifference of the US government behind pro forma expressions of regret towards the killing of civilians in countries it thinks necessary to attack.

Torrents of propaganda continue to pour through the western mainstream media. Anything that will damage Syria will do, no matter how farfetched (i.e. the claim in the London Guardian that the Syrian government is packing detainees into shipping containers and dumping them at sea) or unverifiable. Except for occasional faceless references, the civilian and military victims of the Free Syrian Army and the armed gangs are entirely invisible. There are no images of their bodies and their funerals and no reporting of the grief of their relatives, yet amidst the dross some nuggets of the alternative truth are appearing. The following passages are taken from a report by BBC correspondent Paul Woods, reporting from in and near Homs (BBC News web site, ‘Syria’s slide towards civil war’, February 12, 2012):

“The [Free Syrian Army] commander near Qusayr told me they were fighting for all of Syria’s religions and sects: Christian, Muslim, Alawite, Sunni, Druze, Shia. ‘We are experiencing freedom for the first time’, said Maj Ahmad Yaya. But his next words left no doubt, either, that for many, this is a religious – and Islamic – struggle against the secular Baath regime. ‘For the first time’, he went on, ‘we are able to proclaim the word of God throughout this land’. The official doctrine of the FSA is that it is only there to protect the unarmed demonstrators. In fact, the FSA is waging an escalating guerrilla war.

“We followed Maj Yaya’s group of fighters as they attacked an army base near the town [Qusayr]. The attack was big, more than 60 men. In contrast to the fighters in Libya, they were trained, disciplined and followed a plan …

“Inevitably they failed. After an hour of firing on the base they had to flee when the government started using heavy weapons, dropping mortar shells on the hill. Afterwards one of the FSA fighters showed me a video he had filmed in December. They had ambushed a convoy of armoured vehicles. Eight of the security forces were killed, 11 captured. The video showed the prisoners, in camouflage uniform, lined up facing a wall. Some were bleeding after the battle. Their arms were raised. One turned to the camera, looking petrified. The man who’d taken the pictures said that despite their uniforms their ID cards showed that they were shabiha (or ghosts), the hated government paramilitary force.

“’We killed them’, he told me
‘You killed your prisoners?’
‘Yes, of course. They were executed later. That is the policy for Shabiha.’”

I checked with an officer. While soldiers were released, he said, members of the Shabiha were ‘executed’ after a hearing before a panel of FSA military judges. To explain, they showed me a film taken from the mobile phone of a captured Shabiha. Prisoners lay face down on the ground, hands tied behind their backs. One by-one, their heads were cut off. The man wielding the knife said, tauntingly, to the first: ‘This is for freedom’. As the victim’s neck opened up, he went on: ‘This is for our martyrs. And this is for collaborating with Israel’.

These are the people who have been holed up inside Homs. The city itself is no more in the hands of the ‘rebels’ any more than Zabadani ever was but large numbers of armed men have succeeded in entrenching themselves inside certain quarters and the Syrian army has been told to get them out. Civilians are obviously being caught in between. According to latest reports, British and Qatari special forces are operating alongside them. Seeing that they were on the ground in Libya, this should surprise no-one. Augmenting the violence between the ‘rebels’ and the army are the bombings in Damascus and Aleppo and the murders of large numbers of civilians by home-grown takfiris and imports from other countries, urged on by Ayman al Zawahiri and the bloodthirsty clerics given a home and air time in Doha.

Syria is now the focal point of a standoff between Russia and China on one side and the US and its allies on the other. Russia and China are calling for a solution through negotiations but for the US anything less than the downfall of the Syrian government will be a defeat. For Russia and China the issue is not just Syria or the attempt by the US to use the Arab spring for a little spring-cleaning of its own in the Middle East, but the way in which the US is pressing hard against Russian strategic concerns in the Caucasus and Central Asia and against Chinese interests in Central Asia and the Far East. Syria is where Russia and China have drawn their own line in the sand. The west got away with it in Iraq and Libya but enough is enough. That is the message coming from Moscow and Beijing.

The same governments that are calling for an end to the violence in Syria are stimulating it, while keeping open armed intervention on the table as an option they may eventually choose to pick up. Given that it is only across the borders of Turkey or Jordan (or both simultaneously) that such an operation could be launched, the ball will land in their court if the decision is taken. As a major regional player with a big army, Turkey’s position is a critical component in western planning. In the past 12 months its regional policy has been significantly refigured. The onset of the ‘Arab spring’ precipitated the abandonment of the ‘zero problem’ policy fashioned largely by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu. This had worked well, resolving outstanding problems with Syria and Iran and leading to visa-less travel across borders for Turks and the citizens of neighboring countries.

Turkey’s initial response to the ‘Arab spring’ was cautious. It only called on Mubarak to step down when it was clear that he was finished. In Libya it refused to support the no-fly resolution before coming in behind the campaign to destroy the government in Tripoli. When Syria’s turn came, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and his Foreign Minister staked out a position which has proven to be fraught with domestic, regional and global difficulties. They claim to have given Bashar al Assad advice last summer which he did not accept. This was probably the case but as the advice they reportedly gave was for him to bring the Muslim Brotherhood into government, this was not advice he could have accepted. Syria is a secular state and the Muslim Brotherhood is a proscribed organization. However, declaring that they had done all they could to bring him around, they joined the governments calling on Bashar to step down. They clearly wanted to be seen as riding the wave of reform, although the rhetoric of taking on authoritarian regimes obviously raised the question of why Turkey had nothing to say about repression and the lack of basic human rights in Saudi Arabia and other autocratic gulf states.

The architects of Turkey’s new policy imposed sanctions on Syria (damaging long-distance hauliers and the interests of merchants on the other side of the Syrian border in southeastern Turkey) and threw their weight behind the Syrian National Council (the Syrian equivalent of the Iraqi National Congress) and the ‘rebels’ calling themselves the Free Syrian Army. Their guest, Riad al Assad, openly declared that the mission of the armed men under his command was to kill Syrian soldiers. This is what they have been doing. In a country which purports to live by the slogan of ‘peace at home and peace in the world’ and has had more than its fair share of violence originating from beyond its borders, this would seem to be a questionable position for any Turkish government to be taking. The narrative coming from the top in Turkey has been dominated by the theme of one-way violence directed by the Syrian state against civilians. The scale of the violence directed against Syrian soldiers and civilians by armed gangs and armed men described as ‘defectors’ from the Syrian army (with no evidence ever being provided that all or most of them are), along with their sabotage of railways, power stations and oil pipelines, has never been acknowledged.

In confronting Syria, Turkey has complicated relations with Iran, Lebanon and Iraq. Relations with Iraq have been further aggravated by accusations from Nuri al Maliki of Turkish interference in Iraq’s affairs. The additional irritant in the relationship with Iran is Turkey’s decision to allow the US to install a ‘defensive’ anti-missile’ radar base in the eastern province of Malatya. In aligning itself with the US, the EU and the gulf states on Syria the Turkish Prime Minister and his Foreign Minister have placed their country in an awkward and potentially very dangerous position. The quarrel is not just with Bashar any longer but with Russia and China. Three basic policy choices would seem to lie ahead of Turkey. One is to continue support for the war of attrition being waged by the Syrian ‘rebels’ in the hope that eventually the government will disintegrate. As there is no prospect of this happening in the near future, Turkey is tied to a policy which has no end point in sight. The second is to back off and formulate a new position based on herding the Syrian opposition into a process of dialogue whether they like it or not. This choice would put prudence before loss of face. The third choice depends on decisions that will be taken elsewhere. If the US does eventually raise the stakes to the highest level and picks up the option of open armed intervention – the militarization of this conflict as Obama calls it – Turkey will be asked to deliver.

The Turkish Prime Minister and his Foreign Minister clearly have a sense of mission about Turkey’s place in the world and their personal place in history but they would scarcely be the first successful politicians to be led astray by folie de grandeur into biting off more than they can chew. Turkey is an important regional player with a lot to contribute, but is intervention in the affairs of a neighboring country, covert or overt, and support for a ‘rebel’ force whose sense of justice and standards of behavior have been described above, really the kind of contribution the Turkish people want their government to make?
- Jeremy Salt is an associate professor of Middle Eastern history and politics at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

On the same day when the Trinidad Express was directing our attention to the Prime Minister's footwear, our country's representative in the UN General Assembly was voting YES along with 137 other countries in the United Nations General Assembly to interfere in the internal affairs of another country by backing a resolution supporting an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and strongly condemning human rights violations by his regime.

We should have refused to vote along with the seventeen other abstainers, if we were not sufficiently informed or confident enough to vote NO like the following countries: Bolivia, Belarus, Cuba, China, Ecuador, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. But I guess "we" were confident based on "reliable sources" that our vote was based on facts and the exercise was not just the usual going along to get along. I say "We" even though I know that our votes in international fora are not necessarily always representative of the will of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

As Libya attempts to collect its entrails and is the scene of more carnage since its "liberation" in October 2011, than was ever the case under the assassinated Gaddafi, I would have expected Trinidad and Tobago to be wiser.

But it's all good, not so? We do to others what we happily invite others to do to us.

Where Calypso Went? [Song]

Uploaded by IsDePanInMe
WHERE CALYPSO WENT?
By Brother Valentino

In 1912 in New York City, they record the first calypso
By Lovey's Orchestra, a band from Trinidad, the record could show
This orchestra was led by George Bailey, the musician, not the mas' man
The tune was entitled "Mango Vert", so Calypso recordings began
In 1914, two years later, Julien Whiterose and one Jules Sims
Gave to Calypso its first vocal recordings
In 1921, Railway Douglas opened the first Calypso tent
And from then to now I keep asking where the hell the Calypso went.

'Cause since in the early 20's, Sa Gomes sponsored Lion and Tiger
Our Calypso music was attracted by a recording company they called Decca
It was recorded before all that jazz and so much other music
But somewhere along the way, Calypso has lost its magic
Just when they feel the Calypso would skyrocket all over the continent
It took a nosedive in the Savannah and then back to the frigging tent.

In the early thirties Calypso reach Harlem's black community
Pioneered by Sir Lancelot, the Duke of Iron and Houdini
Sam Manning, Bill Rogers, the Duke of Marlborough
Not forgetting Gerald Clarke and Lionel Belasco
Look how long the Calypso was on the international scene
Until a man name Morley Amsterdam brought it where the pasture was green
"Rum and Coca Cola" the Andrew Sisters said it all
The tune sold seven million copies and Lord Invader, he had a ball.

A hundred and fifty US thousand dollars, he got for this calypso
And for composing the melody, Belasco, he got something also
Through Amsterdam and the Andrew Sisters, Calypso made the hit parade
Now today the same Calypso ketching its arse to make the grade.
'Cause everyday now the people keep complaining, Calypso is dying slow
But is all them Calypso judges and promoters that have it so.

Calypso reach in Greenwich Village, Calypso reach all over Broadway
Calypso sold its first million albums through Harry Belafonte
Nat King Cole recorded "Calypso Blues" in 1948
Chuck Berry recorded "Havana Moon", that calypso was really great
Robert Mitchum, Rosemary Clooney, the Kingston Trio, Louis Farrakhan
All these people sang the Calypso, Lionel Richie and Bob Dylan
Calypso, it was acknowledged, had an influence on the Motown Sound
Jamaicans could say, thanks to Calypso, Reggae music is still around.

A calypsonian told me a story about Bob, Peter and Bunny
Recording his calypso, "Where Sammy Gone", they sang background vocals for he
Our first Independence Calypso King, Lord Brynner, who they send loco
Told me that Bob Marley and the Wailers pick up some vibes from we Calypso
After all these people and places, "Where the hell did Calypso go?"
End up in some cheating competition on some blasted Dimanche Gras Show.

The first woman to enter a tent to sing Calypso
Lady Trinidad was her sobriquet, the first to cut a record also
Thelma Lane was her name. I want them female calypsonians know
About a feminist in the art, a trail blazer and fighter of long ago
And then enter Harold Phillips, a man who would create history
A calypsonian and a pannist, a concert promoter from Laventille
In his Colony Club in England where he promote his calypso show
These white boys would walk with their guitar and together they jam the tempo.

And then Woody told me a true story, them white boys used to gig with he
About a historic concert they pull off in Hamburg, Germany
John, Paul, George and Ringo is Lord Woodbine made me to know
The famous Beatles from in Liverpool pick up some vibes from we Calypso
After all these explorations, how much further did Calypso went?
End up in all kinds of competitions and then back to the frigging tent.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Brother Valentino! I have been thinking about this. I have to say that this year's Dimanche Gras calypso competition left me cold. I waited for Singing Sandra to sing her second song and then hurriedly left the house [Internet]. I am probably biased but Singing Sandra was my choice for Monarch...even though as I watched her perform, I was bothered by a feeling that something was bringing her spirit down. Singing Sandra, I hope that you do not allow anything to discourage you and that you are blessed with health and strength to continue singing. Stay strong, stay true!

I think that there should be a people's choice for People's Calypso Monarch, a decision that is not reached by appointed judges but just a mechanised system for tallying phoned in votes.

Birds That Fly High [Song]

Uploaded by foreign movies
BIRDS THAT FLY HIGH
By Brother Valentino

So you belong to the ivory tower
I say, this ivory tower of power
The material world makes you feel superior
So then you look down with scorn at your brother
But your flying space is getting very narrow
Soon you won't be able to resist the arrow.

Birds that fly high, none of them ever touch Jah sky
Birds that fly high got to fly back down to die
So flap your wings and fly, you could never touch Jah sky
And don't care how high you fly, you got to fly back down to die
Birds that fly high, got to fly back down to die.

Politics and politicians is the problem
Power and corruption stand behind them
They create a dirty, middle class society
Within that circle, them control all the money
If they could have paid their way, they'd live forever
But we all got to go six feet under.

Birds that fly high, none of them ever touch Jah sky
Birds that fly high got to fly back down to die
So flap your wings and fly, you could never touch Jah sky
And don't care how high you fly, you got to fly back down to die
Birds that fly high, got to fly back down to die.

You remind me a lot of the vultures
Flying in your private jets and helicopters
At the expense of the poor, you build your castle
After using us, you're giving us the hassle
You feel you are so protected up in orbit
You don't know you are just another flying target.

Birds that fly high, none of them ever touch Jah sky
Birds that fly high got to fly back down to die
So flap your wings and fly, you could never touch Jah sky
And don't care how high you fly, you got to fly back down to die
Birds that fly high, got to fly back down to die.

Mister big man, hear the words of this song
You only creating your own damnation
You make vanity and luxury your worry
But behind that stands a very sad, sad story
What does it profit a man who owns the whole world,
And yet suffereth the loss of his own soul?

Birds that fly high, none of them ever touch Jah sky
Birds that fly high got to fly back down to die
So flap your wings and fly, you could never touch Jah sky
And don't care how high you fly, you got to fly back down to die
Birds that fly high, got to fly back down to die.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Brother Valentino.

Trinbagonians, how do we cultivate hope? Gardeners who want to welcome wildlife can plant trees and grasses and flowers that attract birds and bees and butterflies. They can hang shelters in which birds and bats can decide to make their homes. They can create an oasis with bird feeders and baths. Near the coolness of ponds and shady places, frogs will gladly make their homes. A pool and fountain add the soothing sound of water in motion...

But in the space of our country, how are citizens creating welcoming spaces for Hope? I'd be glad to hear.

Liberation [Song]

Uploaded by foreignmovies
LIBERATION
By Brother Valentino

Now just because I represent my people
Who really didn't come out for war
You know, I get caught up in a struggle,
I might have to go to jail or even die for
But then we all have to go one way or the other
We didn't come here to live forever
Because they take away my people's liberties
And they make certain laws
But they could put me where they had them detainees
Because I go dead for a worthy cause
I'll go to jail to balance the scale
That justice should prevail, we are not for sale
I am willing to dead for my brother man
In the fight for the black man's liberation.

Well I might be using another man's platform
To spread my ideologies
But colonialism ------ gone back where she come
We got racial problems in the West Indies
After she separate and she segregate
She leave this place in an awful state
But we must all try and bridge the gap,
My Indian and my Afro brother
Remember, one hand could never clap
So leh we unite as one and come together
The segregation, discrimination, exploitation, victimisation
Mr. Oppression you could jail me for sedition
But I will dead for black people's liberation.

To gain liberty we must have unity
Between the Indians and the Africans
We was under the same bondage and slavery
Get the same oppression on the plantation
So leh we forget the nigger and the coolie grouse,
We belong to the same old house
And then Weekes and Granger and men that
Fighting hard to make a better island
The system's high form of slavery in Trinidad
Could only be solved through liberation
I might be wrong, I might be right
We need be strong, we all must fight
Now if you want you could fight for integration
But I go dead for my people's liberation.

To gain liberty we must have unity
Between the Indians and the Africans
We was under the same bondage and slavery
Get the same oppression on the plantation
So leh we forget the nigger and the coolie grouse,
We belong to the same old house
And then Weekes and Granger and men that
Fighting hard to make a better island
The system's high form of slavery in Trinidad
Could only be solved through liberation
I might be wrong, I might be right
We need be strong, we all must fight
Now if you want you could fight for integration
But I go dead for my people's liberation.

Ash Wednesday Meditation: Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande [Song]

Uploaded by sgtalageri
MOKO KAHAN DHUNDHERE BANDE
Sung by Bhupendra

Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Man, where do you seek me? I am within you
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Man, where do you seek me? I am within you
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me?

Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein, Na Ekant Niwas Mein
Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons, neither in solitudes
Na Mandir Mein, Na Masjid Mein, Na Kabe Kailas Mein
Not in temples, nor in mosques, neither in Kaba nor in Kailash
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me?

Na Mein Jap Mein, Na Mein Tap Mein, Na Mein Barat Upaas Mein
Not in prayers, nor in meditation, neither in fasting
Na Mein Kiriya Karm Mein Rehta Nahin Jog Sanyas Mein
Not in yogic exercises, neither in renunciation
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me?

Khoji Hoye Turat Mil Jaoon Ik Pal Ki Talas Mein
When sought I am available instantly within a moment
Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Mein To Hun Viswas Mein
Says Kabir, Listen O Sadhu, I am in your faith within.
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Man, where do you seek me? I am within you
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me? ..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Bhupendra for this stunningly beautiful and haunting interpretation of the poem by Kabir.

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the start of the Lenten season and many of my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in the faith will be making their way to the churches to have the ash placed on their foreheads. This ash is produced from the burning of palm fronds saved from last year's Palm Sunday. This ash symbolises the rejection of sin.

Priest: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." -Mark 1:15

Kabir: "Man, where do you seek me? I am within you."

I know that the ash being placed on our foreheads is as divine and as earthly as the soot from the canne brûlée, as the residue of our cremated dead, as the cinders of Sodom and Gomorrah and every holocaust whether natural or man made, and the dust of every extinguished dream/hope/life.

Priest: "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." -Genesis 3:19

Kabir: "Man, where do you seek me? I am within you."

Spiritual materialism is not a higher form of materialism. It is materialism plain and simple and we should guard against it because it can be as addictive as the pursuit of worldly gain. We can find ourselves accumulating prayers, or putting notches in our belts every time we meditate or fast or enter the doors of a church or seven churches in succession. We do even worse when we pity or imagine ourselves somehow above those who do not appear to be consuming the spiritual as voraciously or as publicly as we are.

Priest: "Repent, and hear the good news!"
Kabir: "Man, where do you seek me? I am within you."

Who was Kabir?

"Born in Benares around 1440 to Muslim parents, Kabir became a disciple of Ramananda, a Hindu ascetic. His poetry depicts the influence of both religions on him. He was a weaver by profession, but in the eyes of his followers he was both a Sufi and a Brahman saint. The following translation is from Songs of Kabir translated from the Hindi by Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet and philosopher who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. In 1915 Tagore’s translation of the Songs of Kabir was published and introduced these mystical poems to the world outside of India.

O servant, where dost thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside thee. I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash: Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation. If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabir says, "O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath."

These lines are quite similar to Jesus' words in the gospel of Luke 17:20-21 And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. From the Gospel of Thomas: His disciples said to Him, "When will the kingdom come?" "It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, ’Look, here!’ or ’Look, there!’ Rather, the Father’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don’t see it." SOURCE

Can't Stay Away [Song]

Uploaded by trinijunglejuice
CAN'T STAY AWAY
By Skhi (2012)

Or hor! Yeah man! Yeah man!
Who lime like we in T&T? Woyyyyyy!

Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago
Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago!

Trinbago sweet, man, this is a fact
Once tourist come, they want to come back
Nuff people leave home and bound to return
For a good lime, they does really yearn
You tell me man, what you drinking?
We done have a bottle of puncheon
A beer is a Carib or a Stag
And this is the best place to be slack
Friday does start from a Thursday
Almost every month is holiday
No one could party like Trini
And dem woman have such beauty!

Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago
Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago!

You could get a tabanca for Trini bake and shake
Pelau and phulourie
Maracas Bay is de life
And in Tobago you bound to have a time
You done know St. James always lively
So we heading by Smokey & Bunty
When it come to wine, none could test
And we Carnival is the best!

Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago
Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago

From de Cannival [Can't stay away]
From dem fetes and dem [Can't stay away]
From Panorama [Can't stay away]
A doubles and coconut water [Can't stay away]

Ey!! Forged from the love of liberty
African, Indian, Syrian, Chinee
Check out we live in unity
Man is a vibes we have in T&T
Kaiso, soca, rapso, chutney
And the pan of course in its glory
Doh care what go on in this country
Trinbagonians always happy!

Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago
Can't stay away from Trinidad, oh gosh, I can't stay away
From mih land, Trinidad and Tobago!

All in Tobago [Can't stay away]
Of course in Sando [Can't stay away]
All in Arima [Can't stay away]
From Chaguanas to San Juan [Can't stay away]
By Rick & Mala [Can't stay away]
Drinking hard wine or Monster [Can't stay away]
From Port of Spain, oh gosh! [Can't stay away]
Where the lime again? Uh hmm [Can't stay away]
Carenage and Diego [Can't stay away]
T&T, I love you so! [Can't stay away]
Trinbago, I love you so! [Can't stay away]
T&T I love you so! [Can't stay away]

[Can't stay away, can't stay away]
[Can't stay away, can't stay away]
[Can't stay away, can't stay away]

Oh god, doh care what dey say [Can't stay away]
Trinbago, I love you bad! [Can't stay away]
When I stay 'way, boy, I sad.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Skhi! Beautiful song and video!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Can't Done [Song]

Uploaded by mrrawkusmusic
CAN'T DONE
By 3CANAL

Can't done, can't done, can't done, can't done,
Can't done, can't done, can't done, can't done,
Can't done, can't done, can't done, can't done,
Can't done, can't done, can't done, can't done!

So much things to say right now, so much things to say
So much things to say right now, so much things to say
So much things to say right now, so much things to say
So much things to say right now, so much things to say!

No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no
No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no

The vibes can't done, lyrics can't done,
Songs can't done when rapso man come
Sing a happy song, sing 'bout love
Sing song for healing without a doubt
The vibes can't done, lyrics can't done,
The songs can't done when rapso man come
Sing 'bout corruption, sing 'bout guns
Sing 'bout believing without a doubt
Sing 'bout believing, sing 'bout healing
Sing 'bout truth and all it revealing
Sing 'bout truth, sing 'bout light
Sing 'bout justice, sing 'bout rights
Sing 'bout knowledge, knowledge is power
Sing 'bout the power, bring down the power
Bring down the power, the power of love
Sing 'bout love, sing 'bout love.

No!

No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no
No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no

No!

Answers, questions, 3 Canal come down, new direction
Rise! with no compromise
Time to pull the wool from your eyes
No! We making a statement
Now is the time to occupy the pavement
Shine! let your light shine
Shine in the power of the love divine
No! I will not still my voice, I have too much to claim
No! I will not step aside and hang my head in shame
No! I will not live a lie and play your foolish games
No! I will not still my voice, still so much things to say!

So much things to say right now, so much things to say!
So much things to say right now, so much things to say!
So much things to say right now, so much things to say!
We got so much things to say right now, still so much things to say!

No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done!
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no
No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done!
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no

How you expect me to stop when the place corrupt
Rotting from the top down, no, we can't done
The vibes can't done, the lyrics can't done, the vibes can't done
Them bloody vampire, sucking deceivers coming to bleed us
How you want me to done?
The vibes can't done, the lyrics can't done, the songs can't done
Dividing the nation, total confusion, real frustration
How you want me to done?
The vibes can't done, the lyrics can't done, the songs can't done
And now the walls coming down, I just cannot run,
There's work to be done, oh no, we can't done!
The vibes can't done, the lyrics can't done, the songs can't done.

No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done!
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no
No no-no no-no, no no-no no-no, we can't done!
No-no no-no, no no-no no-no

The vibes can't done, the lyrics can't done,
The songs can't done, the love can't done
The vibes can't done, the lyrics can't done,
The songs can't done, the love can't done

The love can't done, the love can't done,
The love can't done, the love can't done,
The love can't done, the love can't done,
The love can't done, the love can't done!

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, 3CANAL.

"The love can't done."

Happy Valentine's Day, Trinidad and Tobago.

Allah Ke Bande [Song]

Uploaded by gudduansari1
ALLAH KE BANDE
by Kailash Kher

Toota toota ek parinda aise toota, ki phir jud na paya
Broken, broken, one bird has broken such that it could not be put together again
Loota loota kisne usko aise loota, ki phir ud na paya
Stolen, stolen, who has stolen it such that it was not able to fly again.

Oh ohh oh, toota toota ek parinda aise toota, ki phir jud na paya
Oh ohh oh, broken, broken, one bird has broken such that it could not be put together again
Loota loota kisne usko aise loota, ki phir ud na paya
Stolen, stolen, who has stolen it such that it was not able to fly again.

Girta hua voh asman sey, akar gira zameen par
Falling from the sky, it came and fell on the ground
Khwabon mein phir bhi badal hi they voh kehta raha magar
In dreams, there were still clouds but he kept saying...

Ke Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega.
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.

Kho ke aapne par hi to usne tha ud naa sikha
After losing its wings, it had learnt how to fly.
Kho ke aapne par hi to, oh oh oh...
After losing its wings, oh oh oh...
Kho ke aapne par hi to usne tha ud naa sikha
After losing its wings, it had learnt how to fly.
Gham ko aapne saath mein lele dard bhi tere kaam aayega
Take the sorrow with you. This pain will be of use to you.

Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.

Aa aa aaa... Tukde tuke ho gaya tha har sapna jab woh toota
Aa aa aaa... Every dream got shattered when he broke down.
Tukde tuke ho gaya tha, aa aaa aa...
It was shattered, aa aaa aa...
Tukde tuke ho gaya tha har sapna jab woh toota
Every dream got shattered when he broke down.
Bhikre tukdon mein Allah ki marzi ka manzar paayega.
On these scattered pieces, you will find God's wishes.

Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.

Toota toota ek parinda aise toota, ki phir jud na paya
Broken, broken, one bird has broken such that it could not be put together again
Loota loota kisne usko aise loota, ki phir ud na paya
Stolen, stolen, who has stolen it such that it was not able to fly again.
Girta hua voh asman sey, akar gira zameen par
Falling from the sky, it came and fell on the ground
Khwabon mein phir bhi badal hi they voh kehta raha magar
In dreams, there were still clouds but he kept saying...

Ke Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
Allah ke bande hansde, allah ke bande, allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
Allah ke bande hansde, Allah ke bande, Allah ke bande hansde,
God's children, laugh, God's children, God's children laugh,
Jo bhi ho kal phir ayega
Whatever happens, tomorrow will come again.
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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Kailash Kher, for this joyful song. Faith in the endurance and triumph of Good above all else is an endangered element in our world.

....AJOUPA CALLING....

ABOUT THE GULL

Guanaguanare: the laughing gull

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