First Fly

test.002

Scratchin Menace - Sidelines

Gush Mine - Fuck This Shit (instumental)

You can find a transcript below the abstract.

ABSTRACT

A history of persistence is a summary of the resistance of the Algerian people in regards of social struggles, corruption and misery by putting in parallel two differents songs; "S'hab el baroud" by the bard Hanani and "La casa del Mouradia" by the group of supporter Ouled el Bahdja; to explore how these modes of storytelling can function and what their societal uses are and how they changed, shifted, or adapted in a contemporary context.

TRANSCRIPT

[Sound from Célébration du centenaire de l’Algérie française, Alger 12 avril 1930. Centennial festival. Filmed on April 12, 1930.]
I want to talk about a history of persistence.
In 1931, during the occupation of Algeria by France, a bard called Hanani came up with a song called "S'hab el baroud" (People of the Powder)
It was made during celebration of the hundred years of Algeria's colonisation by the French. this poem, this song, is not a simple denunciation of the established order or a simple statement of position. It is call to popular consciousness, a call to take arms:
"The companions of the powder / The people of the powder and rifle / They carry the powder / And have lit the fuse ...".
[Hanani - S'hab el baroud playing]

[La casa de papel - Bella Ciao scene playing]

In Algeria, a group of supporters of the Sports Union of the Medina of Algiers, the Ouled el-Bahdja (Litt. "The sons of the radiant") used a song inspired by the original scenario of the famous Netflix TV show La Casa de Papel, to allude to the embezzlement of public money accused of the inner circle of Algerian power which sits in the palace of El Mouradia, hence the title “La Casa del Mouradia”.

[Ouled el Bahdja - La Casa de Mouradia live playing]
F-al-uwla nqūlū ǧaz-t, ḥšaw-ha l-na b-al-ʿušriya
F-al-ṯāniya al-hkāya bānet, La Casa Del Mouradia
F-al-ṯālta al-blād šyān-t, b-al-maṣāleḥ al-ššaẖṣya
F-al-rābʿa al-pupyya māt-t, u māzāl-t al-qaḏyya

The first [mandate], we'll say it's over
They got us with the [black] decade
In the second, the story became clear
La Casa d´El Mouradia
In the third, the country grew thinner
Because of personal interests
In the fourth, the doll is dead but
The case is ongoing …

These young people have been one of the spark plugs of the popular uprising that has shaken Algeria for over a year.
These supporters of the US of the Medina of Algiers, willingly present themselves as the custodians and guardians of the memory of the revolution which symbolically brings them together in their historic stronghold of the Kasbah.
[Ouled el Bahdja - La casa del Mouradia playing]