Friday, December 6, 2013



A Palestinian rapper comments on Israelis trying to adopt the keffiyeh.

Shadia Mansour and M-1 - The Kufiya is Arab 

'Good morning, cousins.
Come and honor us with your presence.
What would you like us to offer you, Arab blood or tears from our eyes?
 I believe that's how they hoped we would greet them. Look how they grew confused when they realized their mistake.
That's how we wear the kufiya, the black and white kufiya.
They began playing a long time ago by wearing it as a fashion accessory. No matter how creative they become, no matter how they change its color,
an Arab kufiya will remain Arab.
Our kufiya: they want it. Our culture: they want it.
Our dignity: they want it.  Everything that's ours: they want it.
No, we won't be quiet for them. We won't permit them.
No, no. It suits me.
 Thank you. The thing isn't theirs. It's got nothing to do with you.
They mimic us in how they dress. This land is not enough for them.
They're greedy for Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Learn how to say "humanity!"
Before you wear the kufiya, we have come to remind you who we are.
And whether you like it or not, it's our kufiya.

CHORUS
  This is how we wore the kufiya (because of patriotism), the kufiya, the Arab kufiya.
This is how we wore the kufiya (our fundamental identity), the kufiya, the Arab kufiya.
Come on, raise the kufiya (Raise this kufiya for me!), the kufiya, the Arab kufiya.
Raise it, bilaad ash-shaam [Greater Syria, i.e. Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine]! The Arab kufiya will remain Arab.

There is no group like the Arab people.
Show me any nation in the world that's more influential!
The picture is clear. We're the civilization.
Our history and our heritage are the witness to our existence.
In this way, we wore the Palestinian thawb.
From Haifa, Jenin, Jabal an-Nar to Ramallah
Let me see the kufiya, the white and red one.
Let me raise it up to the sky.
I am Shadia the Arab. My tongue stabs like a knife.
My earthquake trembles uncontrollably. My words are a letter.
Record it! I am Shadia Mansour and the kufiya is my identity.

From the day I was created, Sir, and this people is my responsibility.
That's how I was brought up - between the West and East,
between two languages, between the [rich] miser and the poor man.
I saw life from both sides.                                                                                                                         I'm like the kufiy
No matter how you wear me, and wherever you take me off, I will remain as my origin: Palestinian.

CHORUS x2 
This is how we wore the kufiya (because of patriotism), the kufiya, the Arab kufiya.
This is how we wore the kufiya (our fundamental identity), the kufiya, the Arab kufiya.
Come on, raise the kufiya (Raise this kufiya for me!), the kufiya, the Arab kufiya.
Raise it, bilaad ash-shaam [Greater Syria, i.e. Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine]! The Arab kufiya will remain Arab.


M-1 finishes the song with a verse in English

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