"Just before the fall. Not here, not there, a temporary break between past and future, a vacuum. I found refuge in the transit camp "Arénas" in Marseille. The archival recordings from the 60s, the hums and mutterings of immigrant women, and melodies interrupted by a baby's cry, an embarrassed laugh, the clatter of pots... a trembling sentence and the voice of a woman continued to echo in my head, creating an avalanche of new words... This is how the Arénas music project was born."
Bridging Time, Distance and Distrust, With Music
By Aida Alami | March 26, 2021
"It is that work of bridging gaps, across time and nations and in particular drawing attention to women artists"
Christopher Silver
a historian at McGill University in Montreal and an expert on North African Jewish history.
“It’s only the music that connects the dots.”
omar Boum
an anthropologist at the University of California Los Angeles, who specializes in Jewish-Muslim relations.
ilana salama ortar
Reconstruction of a barrack of Le Grand Arénas in the exhibition at Herzliya Museum, 2005
Shrbil my love bought me
Arrived from Taza
The dove residing in exile
Refuses to return home
We began in G-d's name
Bismillah I began
To tell myself and tell the tale
I had imagined
And to again tell myself
As though it happened to me
A photo I found in your home
Comes to me as from the past
As the dove who was in exile
Still refuses to go home.
Timeless Tune: A Song That
Echoes Through Generations
Carrying Loss Through Music: A Song of Mourning
Hawa Hawa
I gathered the hatred for you my love
As your absence grew long and the zealots ruined you
The same who separated you from me
And this separation, love, is hard on me
You are the vessel of perfection within which all prayers are received
One whose mother and sisters are blessed…
You are the soul which visits my dreams
My enemies sought you, but came up short
Bless his mother and bless his sisters
And bless the dove who carried his words
I wanted you, my love, and you wanted me
But we argued and you forsook me
I'll reunite with you in Paradise
Just come to me my love with the beautiful eyes
I've waited so long and still am
Shifting Perspectives: A Song's Transition from Male Admiration to Female Celebration
A Lala ya yma
Come home all those whose pain lies in their soul
Glasses of mahia and sticks of incense spread their scent
Come to our home all those in love
For all who wish are welcome
I'll distance all those who've betrayed me
He shall be as air, the one who did not want me
Who let you out, like a fish from the water?
To run among the trees until you find the fruit
Come you folk, behold this beauty
The best of the women and the most charming
Here, she draws near, her hair in the wind
If there were fifty more like her
Her cousins shall respect her
G-d keep evil from her home
Spreading her wings in her sky
A free woman needs no one to control her
Translating Love: From the Song of Songs to darija
A ha ya lala You are two stars
A ha ya lala In a shining sky
A ha ya lala The Goddess of Joy
Who resides forever in you
Queen of the Garden
Open the door for me
I shall remove the seeds from its fruits
Tell me they are from Paradise
Oh, love of my youth
My head holds all the moments from it
While your image is with me
I remain unharmed
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding place of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
let me hear your voice
For sweet is your voice,
and your face is beautiful.
Ziyarah: Women's Liberation Through
the Worship of the Tzadikim
Connecting the Dots: New Lyrics from a Muslim Poet to an Old Jewish Tune
The Impact of Migration on Our Past and Future
With trust and hope – we came
No belongings, not stability – we came
Strangers without a language – we came
With faith and thought – we came
With hands raised -we came
From the pains of exile – we came
Without our neighbours – we came
With G-d in our hearts – we came
What can we do?
What hope is left?
A home, some quiet, and safety
No more fear ever
Seeking God – we came
Our hands held by strangers – we came
From the land of our fathers – we came
From one desert to another – we came
What can we do?
What hope is left?
A home, some quiet, and safety
No more fear ever
Slaves to the authorities – we've become
Lost with no direction – we've become
Closed off from the world – we've become
To suffering and loneliness…
We came
