Redemption Song

January 14, 2009 — Jihad Saad
We will talk a lot about Bob and the Redemption Song in this blog.But for now, and to start with, I propose to give you a small feel of the song, just to warm up the mood.How many times have we heard people playing this song on guitare? Everywhere I traveled, and anywhere I saw people play music, whether in the Pont des Arts in Paris, or in remote beaches of Indonesia, I heard this song play. For wherever there is a guitare, and a singing heart, there is the Redemption Song!
Most of us download the chords from the internet, memorize the lyrics, and play the song. G C Am F, thats how we know it. First we play the Sol, then the Do, then La mineur, and then Fa, and we repeat! The good players among us can even play the introduction notes. And those who have good voice, can sing it in tune.But for Bob, it is different.He havent heard it on the radio, nor in the Legend CD. He heard it in his own heart.
No one taught him the chords, no one showed him the notes. The chords and the notes are the sound of his own feelings.
It is him who the pirates rob, and sell from the bottomless pit.
And yes it is his own hand that was made strong, by the hand of the Almighty.And he addresses us, he urges us, he screams to us: liberate yourselves from mental slavery, have no fear..
And he shouts out his pain: how long would the good people be killed, our prophets, himself..
And with resignation he surrenders to his destiny: we have to fulfill the book..

And finally, he asks us one thing, one last thing, for this song is his last song, on his last album. He asks us to help him sing, the songs of freedom.

Because all he ever had, is Redemption Songs.

Let us watch, let us hear, let us feel… this Song of Freedom.

Posted in Catch a Fire, Inspire Yourself. Tags: , , . 2 Comments »

Yes We Can

January 13, 2009 — Jihad Saad

Once upon a time, in a country called America, there were elections to choose the President of the country. A young man from African orogins presented himself, against all odds. Very few people took him seriously.

He started well his campaign, but then his opponent, a prominent figure in the democratic party, took the lead. He appeared to have lost all chances. He was told to forget about it, to renounce his ambition, and to leave the floor to more serious candidates.

This is how he responded.

Thanks to my friend Arif who passed me this clip a year ago. When I watched it, I felt a ray of sun going into my heart.

Posted in Believe, Heal the World. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Song to my habibi

January 2, 2009 — Jihad Saad

He came to me, he was crying
Just seeing him, melted my heart

And i asked him
Oh dear, love of my love
Are you wounded?
Is the World making you cry?

Come to me
Rest in my arms
Forget yourself
Just you and I

For you are my love
Heart of my heart
Your pain is my pain
When you cry, I cry

Close your eyes
And rest, oh dear
Sleep, dont worry
Trust me, I am here

And he fell on my knees
He vanished in my arms

…

Oh wind blow in my veins
Oh fire burn in my heart
For my habibi is hurting
My love is about to die

And so with one hand I took the World
And I shaked it up for my habibi

Oh magma boil the earth
Oh thunders strike the skies
Oh waves crush the shores
Oh rain flood the lands

And i wispered to the World
Oh World,
Do you think I created you..
to make my habibi cry?

And with my second hand
I was caressing my habibi’s hair

…

And when the winds calmed down
And the waves retreated
When the heavens appeased
And the land returned dry

The sun shone back again
And my habibi woke up
He opened his eyes gently
And rainbows filled the sky

He smiled to me
Oh he was bright
His eyes filled with light
He had wings to fly

He jumped back to the World
How he missed his beloved ones
I watched him shine
I watched him love
I saw him happy

And when my habibi is happy
So am I

…

Dedicated to all those who ever fell on their knees, to cry

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From Concrete Jungle to One Love

March 25, 2008 — Jihad Saad

No sun will shine in my day today
The bright yellow moon won’t come out to play
Darkness has covered my light
And has made my day into night
Where is the love, to be found?
In this concrete jungle..
Where the living is hardest!
These are the words of Bob, in Trenchtown, in year 1971, many years before he became a superstar. The song is called Concrete Jungle.

Trenchtown is the suburb of Kingstom, the capital city of Jamaica. It is a poor guetto consisting of adjacent concrete blocks where people live packed in poverty. This is where Bob comes from. Originally Bob was born in St. Ann, a beautiful mountain village in the hills of Jamaica, but he had to move with his mother to Trenchotown when he was ten years old. Bob was abandoned by his father who was a white English man, and at age 13 his mother left him too and went to America to look for a job and a future. Bob grew alone, in Trenchtown, in the middle of the guetto violence and the rude boys. It is there when they used to sit, in the government yard in Trenchtown, and then Georgie would make a fire light, and it would be burning through the night… Who could have guessed that few years later the whole world would be singing these Trenchtown memories with Bob? Who would have believed that this man, coming from the harsh and violent guetto, would one day carry the message of “One Love” to the whole world? This is but a small testimony to Bob the musician, Bob the man, and Bob the spririt..

Back to the Concrete Jungle.

No chain around my feet, but i am not free
I know i am bound, in captivity
Never know what happiness is
Never know what sweet caress is
But i’ll be always smiling, like a clown
Love, sweet love, must be found somewhere
In this concrete jungle!
Where the living is hardest.

Did you grow up too in a Concrete Jungle? Did you wake up to life surrounded by buildings from all sides, rarely feeling the sun, rarely seeing the moon? Did you grew up between people killing and shooting each other? Did your home town look like Trenchtown? Or Beirut during the civil war?

Then Bob is also singing for you!

But you know what? This is not the end! Cause Bob made it out of the captivity of his ghetto. In the years to come, not only he would sing for his own liberation, but also for that of his country and for his people. He will sing for the poor, he will sing for the enslaved, he will sing for the colonised, and he will continue to inspire millions around the world. Yes Bob did break out from the Concrete Jungle and he reached the four corners of the earth. In his brief life, he would tour the world from US to Europe, from Scandinavia to Japan, from Africa to New Zealand, and people from all races and religions would gather to dance to his music and sing with him:

“One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel alright!”

From Concrete Jungle to One Love.. That’s the Uprising Spirit!

…

Listen to this live beautiful version of Concrete Jungle and go back to Trenchtown where it all started!

Posted in Catch a Fire, Love. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

14 March 2005 – 14 March 2008

March 24, 2008 — Jihad Saad

Today is the 14 March 2008!
Three years already since the start of our revolution.
Revolution?
Is it revolutionary in this millennium to want to be free and independent?
Is it revolutionary to want to decide our own destiny? To choose the way we want to live?
Is it revolutionary to refuse that our people, journalists and intellectuals be killed on their way back home?
There is nothing revolutionary about wanting our basic human rights.
But it is a huge revolution to want to be free in the middle of totalitarian and military regimes, to want to be prosperous in the middle of poverty, to want to feel the joy of life in the middle of terrors and horrors, to want to be a mixed and tolerant society in the middle of extremism and fanaticism, and to want to have peace in the middle of wars.
Yes this is our Revolution that we started.
14 March 2005 was and will remain the expression of our Uprising for Life.
The uprising of our free will against the power of oppression.
The uprising of justice against impunity.
The uprising of our faith in ourselves against our fears and our doubts.
Yes, that is what it was.
A Lebanese Uprising in its context. But oh so Universal in its appeal.
How many people and nations have had to go through their own uprising too?
And how many are still oppressed and enslaved? Having not yet started to stand up!
Three years have passed, and our struggle is still ongoing.
Three years have passed, and our freedom is still not earned.
Three years have passed, and our blood is still spilling.
But in this day we feel blessed and grateful because we are still alive and free in our hearts.
And in this day we feel happy because we know, and we believe, that the rainbow is yet to come.
And in this day we remember our martyrs one by one. And we promise them not just a victory, but a Beautiful Victory.
A victory that will make them smile in their graves, and cry from happiness, and dance from joy.
Yes this is what we feel today.
And this is what we promise.
And this is how we continue, today, and always.
Hasta la Victoria, Siempre
…
To all of us who are fighting their way through life, and rising up for what we love and for what we believe.
Jihad
With love
🙂
Posted in Rise Up. Tags: , , , , , . 2 Comments »
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