A Firework Dance of Red & White....


I don't know know about you but I am a music addict.
I just love music and life without music is like a black and white photo with no chance of color at all. I love all kinds of music except Techno and Heavy Metal.
I don't consider these two to be musical. A cacophony perhaps but not music.

Have you ever tried scratching the bottom of a saucepan with a knife? Well that is heavy metal for me.
And techno is like a disharmonious zigzag in my head. It actually gives me a headache just thinking about it.
But apart from these two reservations, music in general gets my spirit soaring and I do not fear the heights either...
For instance one of my favorite classical pieces is Bach double violin concerto. A genius of a masterpiece for all times.
Since am on the subject of classical music, I played another of my favorites today, a series of Waltz pieces...
Of course the one I can listen to for a whole day and never tire of is D.Shostakovitch no.2 and naturally second in line would be J.Strauss.

Waltz music helps me unwind...
It has something ethereal to it. All the characteristics of air...a breeze if you like, a whiff of a gentle wind...It makes me feel as light as a feather...floating high above...

I reclined comfortably back in my armchair, closed my eyes and let the melody transport me...Each note dancing with the other.
I allowed myself to go with the flow, like a sailing boat with no rudder...
Just perfect...until...

I saw pages from books flying high up, torn pages....white pages...high up like balloons.
Whirling, twirling, swirling in a vertiginous spin ...thousands of them...
And names were raining down like fire drops.
Al Farabi, Al Jahiz, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Arabi...Voltaire, J.J.Rousseau, Moliere... Shakespeare, D.H Lawrence, Chaucer...and Dante. Droplets of fiery black ink...

And like in a blast of incandescent fireworks, limbs flew into the air...
An arm, a leg, a head, a torso, fingers, feet... sparks of human flesh, bright red...
Mingling with the emptied white pages. Landing heavily, back on the ground,like balls of lead. Piercing through a dark thick curtain of grey caustic smoke, amidst staggering, stunned survivors...
The pages followed through, swaying, touching down and covering the dead...

Yes, It was Al-Mutannabi street (named after a famous poet) which an explosion ripped apart into a blazing inferno three days ago. Over 50 Iraqis dead and more than 150 injured...They were browsing through the books of al-Mutannabi street.

The music continues...

Another explosion propels more into the air. Another gigantic firework of detonated bodies. Over 30 Iraqis dead and countless other injured...They were on a pilgrimage, chanting sacred devotional tunes and that was yesterday.

And today, another in the series of fireworks...
Over 40 Iraqis sitting in a cafe, listening to their favorite song, sipping tea, playing dominoes or backgammon, puffing on their final smoke...blown into tiny pieces, red morsels of flesh... and God knows how many more injured.

And the music continues...

I am now listening to "La Marche Persane" by J.Strauss...which I have renamed "La Marche Americo-Persane"...
Maliki is shaking hands with Bush and Ahmadinajad and framing a few unwanted parliamentarians who are anti-occupation (iranian or american occupation or both?)
Remains to be seen in the next pyromaniacal exhibition of Fireworks.

The music has stopped.

I feel too giddy...My head feels heavy... Must be all this wind coming from the "new" Iraq.
I don't think I will listen to any Waltz again.
Maybe I should settle for Techno - Heavy Metal instead.
I no longer want my spirit elevated into the Iraqi firmament.

Painting: Iraqi female artist, Betool Fekeiki.

Comments

I like Waltzes too esp Strauss :) particularly the Blue Danube and Die Fledermaus(sp?)

I like Techno a lot there are different types they are similar (they all go thud thud hsst hsst) but different (hardcore is different to Trance for example)


I like most kinds of music faves though are (not necssarily in this sequence depends on mood)
Classical (esp Strauss, Mozart)
Techno (esp Hardcore Happy Hardcore Trance Hard Trance and Hard House)
Dance (similar to Techno but different) esp 90's Dance like The Real McCoy (Another Night, Runaway)
Other kinds like Pop, Country etc etc I'll listen to as well.
Re what I don't like tends to be more about individual singers James Blunt has to be switched off right away if he comes on the radio.I find his singing voice really (x100) irritating

Re the explosion :( this is one of the things that makes me want to beat the crap out of anyone who is pro-occupation (among many) because that is the reason for the explosion. I don't recall this happening in 1998 for example.
It's >:( :( when someone can't walk down the street,window shop,sit and have a coffee without being blown to bits.
Anonymous said…
Layla my sister,

Music like your writing is the key to the heart. I love just about all music if it's good except rap. I am a drummer, and I also play harmonica and flute. I also write lyrics and sing. Yes I love music. Most of all I love, love songs.

My dear sister you are music to my ears so keep singing your song Gentle Dove.

Savage American Warrior
Anonymous said…
what about the arabic nasheeds layla? they sound so animalistic and savage like, its the worst of the Arabs.
Anonymous said…
Ironically, the fall of the Shah left Iran open to Iraqi attacks and from Feb. 1979 ( Bahman 1357 ) to September 1980 ( Shahrivar 1359 ) there were over 200 recorded Iraqi attacks. The first attack on Baneh (Kordestan) resulted in 15 deaths and 9 prisoners.

On September 22, 1980 ( 31 Shahrivar 1359 ), Iraqi fighter aircraft attacked ten air bases in Iran. Their aim was to destroy the Iranian air force on the ground. They succeeded in destroying runways and fuel and ammunition depots, but much of Iran’s aircraft inventory was left intact. Simultaneously, six Iraqi army divisions entered Iran on three fronts in an initially successful surprise attack.
On the Northern front, an Iraqi mountain infantry division captured Qasr-e Shirin, a border town in Kermanshahan Province, and occupied territory 30 kilometers eastward to the base of the Zagros Mountains.
On the Central front, Iraqi forces captured Mehran, on the western plain of the Zagros Mountains in Ilam province, and pushed eastward to the mountain base.
The main thrust of the attack, however, was in the south. Iraqi armored units easily crossed the Shatt al Arab waterway and entered the Iranian province of Khuzestan. While some divisions headed toward Khorramshahr and Abadan, others moved toward Ahwaz, the provincial capital and site of an important air base.
Supported by heavy artillery fire, the troops made a rapid and lightening advance – almost 60 kilometers in the first days.
In the battle for Dezful in Khuzestan, the Islamic regime was forced to halt the execution of hundreds of Iranian pilots accused of participating in a failed coup d’etat attempt in July 1980 and suspected of being loyal to the late Shah. It was these pilots who despite the serious deterioration of the air force were able to curtail the Iraqi advance with their heroic and skilled flying. However, it must be remembered that the Iraqi aggression took place at a time when the Islamic regime had purged the Imperial Armed Forces of many of its top command, officers, specialists and the most educated personnel. More than 2550 executions took place between 1979 and September 1980 with more than 1050 of them coming from the armed forces.
By not maintaining the high tech radar system the revolutionary authorities allowed the Iraqis to penetrate Iranian air space and placing Iran’s population under the threat of enemy bombardment. As the war continued, the revolutionary government had to admit its need for the professional services of many of the purged officers to lead the armed forces in defending the country.

History will record that during the 1970s, imperial Iran developed one of the most impressive military forces in the Middle East but the catastrophic events of islamic regime in 1979 weakened the armed forces and allowed the impossible to happen.
The war that H.I.M. Mohammed Reza Shah had averted in 1975 when Iran and Iraq signed a non-aggression pact was torn by Saddam Hussein in 1980 and ushered a war that was to cost over a million Iranian lives and 500,000 wounded casualties and billions of dollars of damages.
But let us not forget that it was the criminal incompetence of the mullahs and their systematic destruction of Iran’s armed forces that allowed the war to go on for eight long years.

List of IIAF Pilots who were killed in the Iran/Iraq War


Not included:
Pilots who ejected and became POW
Pilots who ejected and were rescued
This list needs to be completed,
I request everyone to help me to complete this list.
Anonymous said…
It was November of 1980, I was in a bus (Mihan Tour) traveling from Turkey going to Tabriz. It was about 3:00 o'clock on a clear and sunny afternoon, when I heard from the radio we're under Iraqi aerial attack and all cars on the road should immediately pull to the side. So naturally I scanned the sky to see the Iraqi planes, and sure enough about 4 miles toward the south I saw two aircraft. At the same time our bus driver stopped and we happen to be next to Tabriz Airport runway which houses the 2nd Tactical air base, there I saw two F-4E turning onto the runway with the canopy not fully closed, I heard the afterburner kicking in. Following the path of the runway the lead Phantom took off in a 45 degree angle but my eyes were glued to the wingman, second F-4, as he did what is known as Viking take off. Almost a 90 degree angle and immediately turned to its side! About a quarter of a mile I saw white smoke coming from the F-4, thinking something was wrong not realizing that it fired a missile ( educated guess it was an AIM-9 sidewinder) following the trail smoke of the missile, and seeing Iraqi plane twist and turn trying to avoid the missile, bam!!! A hit on Iraqi plane (later found out it was a MIG-21) shortly after I saw a white parachute in that direction, which indicated the Iraqi pilot had ejected. Everyone was very emotional and people start running toward the approximate landing zone of the Iraqi pilot with what ever tool they can find (to use as a weapon ). Soon I heard the radio announcer pleading with the people not to kill or harm the Iraqi pilot until authorities arrive. Mean while the second Iraqi plane was chased by the other F-4 and that was quickly followed by a sonic boom from the Iraqi aircraft, I guess he knew not to stick around!
Alan the Red said…
Listen Layla, first you need some inspirational music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bM_l443VV4

You say you live in Egypt. When was Egypt the most powerful empire in the world, from where many wonderful inventions came? When it was Pagan.

Any country that starts worshipping the one god always falls into rapid decline. America is now re-enacting the Spanish Inquisition, but they are too dumb to see it.

"Manifest Destiny" works both ways. You can meekly submit to the manifest destiny of pathetic poodle god, or start manifesting your own destiny. Now don't you start giving up. Keep manifesting back. Death to poodle-god and his followers. Poodle god was not "The Creator". You're an artist. Do you destroy your own creations? Creators do not destroy. Poodle-god is a lie.

L.C.A.
Alan the Red said…
Hey Layla, your name is getting around. People are hearing you.

http://europe.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/41412

Christians as werewolves, eh? I always think of them as Vampires, sucking our blood.

L.C.A.
Layla Anwar said…
Lord Abbas, I don't believe in poodle or cat Gods for that matter...
nor in sheep...
Did I say I lived in Egypt? you mean in my profile...Yeah am a woman of all lands.
Thanks for the youtube will check it out.
Layla Anwar said…
Janice, how can you stomach techno music? Does it not give you a headache?
Layla Anwar said…
Lord Abbas, watched youtube...the kind of music one wants to commit suicide to. Thanks but I shall pass. I hate the sex pistols.
Layla

Re Techno giving me a headache? No I really like it a lot of people think I'm insane LOL If I'm out of a night and a Techno or Dance song comes on I'm first on the dance floor :)

I'm listening to a lot recently I've just been at Assheads (I only go there to take the piss/for a laugh) taking the piss out of Bauer the Jew's sense of rhythym (none) I invented a special form of techno for them Jewcore cos they can't dance to the other types :P (I'm a bitch ;))
P.S

I hate the Sex Pistols too they suck
Layla Anwar said…
I will teach you how to belly dance Janice...from underneath a chador...the height of sophistication! lol
Layla

LOL :)

The Jews at AA think I wear one already either that or a burqa
Montag said…
Crikey! Coincidence!
I did a poem for Valentine's Day.
I swiped the artwork from your site as easily as if it were the Baghdad Museum.

And, it appears I may have swiped some of my inspiration for the words from Al Mutanabbi.

I wrote "does the heart know its own color?"
Al Mutanabbi wrote "does al Hadath the red recognize its own color?"
(hal AlHadath alHamra' ta'rif launaha?)

Of course, Al Hadath was a frontier post where the soil was red...I did read it a long time ago..

I shall have to make amends.
Thankx.
I recommend the 2nd Clarinet Concerto by Carl Maria von Weber.
iamnasra said…
A very daring blog I enjoyed being here - hope I can visit again
Layla Anwar said…
Hello Nasra,thanks for visiting.
I visited your 4 blogs...very nice indeed...lovely poetry.
Layla Anwar said…
montag, is that a good or bad omen?
Layla Anwar said…
Peter, I don't know Carl Maria von Weber, is it like contemporary classical music?
Anonymous said…
YES!

Now you have touched upon a true nerve for me.

I too, love music.
Music of all genre.

Yes, I like heavy metal, but as you know....I have a temper.
When I listen to metal music it helps to drain the anger from me.
Rather than act upon my violent feelings I will lock myself away in my room or put on head phones and the anger of the metal music takes away my own feelings of angst.

BUT, my own personal collection is of many, many types of music.

Classical, my favorite is The Moonlight Sonota.
(It has personal meaning for me and memories of my lost love from Moldova)

Bluegrass, R&B, Blues..

As you said Layla, it is etheral.
Music elevates me.
Music calms the savage beast.

And the Sex Pistols?
Well...I have to admit I do have some of their works.
The history of the band and what brought them together (revolt against the monarchary) is what started my interest in them....I used to not like them either until I saw a biography of how they met and under what circumstances and the problems they had in their short lived career.

SAW, I also love Native American flute and the chanting done by the elders.
I have a very small amount of Cherokee in my blood and a GREAT appreciation for the race and their ways of life.

I actually have a song that I have wanted to post the lyrics to here on the blog.
It was written during the American Civil War by a Confederate General.
I relate it to my own feelings about how life is here today in USA.


GOOD O'L REBEL
Oh, I'm a good old Rebel,
Now that's just what I am;
For this "fair land of Freedom"
I do not care a damn.
I'm glad I fought against it-
I only wish we'd won.
And I don't want no pardon
For anything I've done.

I hates the Constitution,
This great Republic too;
I hates the Freedmen's Buro,
In uniforms of blue.
I hates the nasty eagle,
With all his brag and fuss;
But the lyin', thievin' Yankees
I hates' em worse and worse.

We got three hundred thousand
Before they conquered us.
They died of Southern fever
And Southern steel and shot;
And I wish it was three million
Instead of what we got.

I can't take up my musket
And fight' em now no mo',
But I ain't a-goin'to love' em,
Now that is certain sho';
And I don't want no pardon
For what I was and am;
And I won't be reconstructed,
And I do not give a damn.


That song just sort of defines me.

Yes.
Music sweet music.

It is healing for the spirit and mind.

Peace Layla,
Ike
Layla Anwar said…
Hey Ike, how is it going ? Why don't you compose something for us Iraqis...along the same lines?
Stay safe and Peace.
Anonymous said…
Ike my brother,

Yes very good. I think it is good to be proud of who you are. Must mostly that your connected to the red road. Keep your spirit high and stay in the hoop my brother.

Saw
Alan the Red said…
It's not the Sex Pistol's music ability, but the attitude. Why the hell does anybody trust the British government? They've oppressed us English since 1066, so why the hell does anybody expect them to not oppress anybody else?

The funniest of all are those Yank Republicans. They actually went to war to get free of "HM's government" and their oppressive ways, yet now they think Poodle-boy Bliar is the bee's knees, and they are so proud that Bush is related to the Queen; our German Queen. Yea right! And they actually believe "intelligence" provided by the British government. This song is about the British Government:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0ryRksbQvU

Note the chorus:
"Bad Company, I won't deny.
Bad Company, till the day I die."

I just can't wait for the day we get some of that "freedom and democracy" they were talking about. It's been an awful long time coming.

L.C.A.
Montag said…
Good omen.

I like it a great deal when things from the long ago past come back and they are just like new.

It made me go back to things I have not seen nor listened to for a long time.

My favorite is a poem by As Sama'ul where he speaks of a woman from an opposing tribe:

"She makes fun of us, and says we are too few!
So I yelled to her "Indeed, noble men are few!"

Sort of grabs you by the heart.
It's a good slogan for any time.
There are echoes ringing back and forth through the ages, finding a home in the things you write about, too.

If nothing is new under the sun, I think I shall try to copy the words and acts of noble men and women.

Popular posts from this blog

Diss Information.

Endless Beginnings...

Why ?