Hal Ard Lamin? / هالأرض لمين؟

by Yousef Kekhia

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eugeneh I don't understand Arabic. But the mood itself is thought-provoking.

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“Hal Ard Lamin?”, translated to English: “Who Owns This World?”, asks Syrian singer-songwriter Yousef Kekhia on his very first solo release. His song is a powerful yet vulnerable manifesto against the concept of borders, both physical and mental. Borders from which the artist struggles throughout his life. Especially after the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, forcing him to leave his hometown Aleppo. “Hal Ard Lamin?” questions what should not be questioned and claims what should be self-evident: that the human dignity is inviolable – no matter where one comes from and which passport one is holding. In an era of rising racism and and open violence against refugees Yousef Kekhia screams out the pain of being reduced to something less than a human being. “Hal Ard Lamin?” gives a voice to those, who are talked about a lot, but heard very little. To translate his anger and despair visually Yousef Kekhia worked with contemporary dance artists Victor Stoljarow and Melisa Palacio López, who developed an impressive choreography reflecting, what has become the most defining question of our generation: Who owns this world and who has the right to set the rules in it?

“Hal Ard Lamin?” is the first single of “Monologue”, what will become Yousef Kekhia’s first album. With “Hal Ard Lamin?” Kekhia is also announcing a crowdfunding campaign in order to finance his solo debut as an independent art project. On the record he combines Western Indie-Folk and electronic elements with Arabic lyrics that reflect his perspective on both, personal and universal, topics. “Monologue” not only struggles with global refugeeism, but also with disease and hope, depression and love – written as experienced by the artist. It is an artist's soliloquy, but one to be shared with the public – a schizophrenic act, but no contradiction. In this way “Monologue” becomes a dialogue to create new life, new chances and plant new seeds.

lyrics

English below.

هالأرض لمين؟

اسأل حالك
عن فكرة الحدود
كسور سجنك
مين حط الحروف؟

ارفع راسك
مانك لاجئ بحور
روح وين بدك
الأرض مالها حدود

هالأرض لمين؟
هالأرض لمين؟
هالأرض لمين؟
هالأرض لمين؟

هروب من الموت
سياسة تهجير
مع ورقة بسبور
بتوقعك بالبير

معقول كل هالحدود
كل هاد تقسيم
مشان يشعلو حروب
و نعيش ميتين

هالأرض لمين؟
هالأرض لمين؟
هالأرض لمين؟
هالأرض لمين؟

فيك تحط بسبور
فيك تحط حدود
فيك تحط جنود
مارح تمنعني

فيك تعلي السور
فيك تخبي وجوه
فيك تغسل عقول
مارح توقفني

هالأرض لمين؟ (هالأرض ألي)
هالأرض لمين؟ (هالأرض ألك)
هالأرض لمين؟ (هالأرض ألها)
هالأرض لمين؟ (هالأرض النا)

الأرض الي

Who Owns This Earth?

Ask yourself
 about the concept of borders
 Break your prison 
Who wrote those orders?

Raise your head
 You're not a refugee of the oceans  
Roam wherever you want to 
Because this earth has no borders

Who owns this earth?  
Who owns this earth?
 Who owns this earth?  
Who owns this earth?

Escaping from death  
Migration politics 
And this paper called “passport”  
Will imprison you

Are they real, all these borders? 
All these divisions
 To stoke the fires of war
 And make us live like we’re (already) dead

Who owns this earth?  
Who owns this earth?  
Who owns this earth?
 Who owns this earth?

You can impose passports  
You can build borders  
You can send soldiers 
You won’t deter me

You can make the fence higher  
You can hide faces 
You can brainwash the masses 
You won’t stop me

Who owns this earth? (This earth is mine) 
Who owns this earth? (This earth is yours) 
Who owns this earth? (This earth is hers) 
Who owns this earth? (This earth is ours)

The earth is mine.

credits

released October 26, 2018
Written by Yousef Kekhia
Composed by Yousef Kekhia
Mixed by Yousef Kekhia
Mastered by Calyx Mastering

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Yousef Kekhia Berlin, Germany

Yousef Kekhia is a singer-songwriter from Aleppo, now based in Berlin.

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