Did ‘Hungry’ make a difference? Ask a Genie!

The Musical Intifada does not have a section where emails from fans and visitors are routinely published. After all, this site is not a ‘magazine’. However, I received an email from a fan that I found so thought-provoking that I decided to publish some of the communication here, with permission of course.

The sender calls herself ‘Genie’, which apparently is her artist name. I did not know of her before, but she is a poet who publishes her poetry on her blog called ‘Palestine Rose’ under this handle. Her poems are deep and very expressive; sometimes she skillfully manages to convey an entire complex emotion with relatively few words. My personal favorite is ‘Tempest’, and I invite you all to check out her work. For now, I wish to call your attention to the email that she sent me through the website.

She wanted to buy the song ‘Hungry’, but the settings at the Soundclick repository have recently been changed, so at the moment it is not possible to buy singles. In her message, she explained why she wanted it:

“I especially want to buy: Hungry. Brilliant song. I’m a poet, so I have certain songs and poems speak very deeply to my heart and that song does.”

I replied:

“Hi ! I received your email, and I am sending you the remastered version of my song ‘Hungry’. Feel free to mail me again, I will send you any song you wish to have ! Keep it up with your poetry, very nice, didn’t have time yet to check it all out but I will soon.

Best wishes
Doc Jazz”

This is where it gets interesting. To my surprise, Genie attached a value to this song that I had never even anticipated.

“WoW! Shukran. I am addicted to this song! I kept playing the video so that I could listen to it over and over.

The use of: the Damned Fourth Reich, is brilliant. The music is so catchy, there is something about this song that goes straight to the soul and invokes the urge for Justice.

I believe the song was a major factor in the zionist regime agreeing to release Samer Issawi in eight months. [not that the terror entity has any Justice in its ice-blood-dracula-veins, however, the public pressure and your song were the causative factors].”

Believing that Genie was giving the song way too much credit, I wrote back:

“Dear Genie,

Your words have touched me, and I am thrilled that you attach so much value to my song. I am sure that many activities played a role in the pressure, and I can only hope my song contributed to the struggle, but I don’t think it goes as far as what you described !”

Still, Genie insisted that this song has played a special role. She wrote:

“Dear Tariq,

I want to give you the reasons as to why I do fully believe your song was the causative factor in the zionist regime releasing Samer Issawi in 8 months is the following:

Your usage of: the Dammed Fourth Reich, has Context for its usage, which is the first time I have seen it used in context, yes, some cartoonists have used it, example: (see picture on the right, ed.)

However, you use it and associate it with the Geneva Convention, etc. and add: Damned. By adding the word Damned, the entire use of Israel = Fourth Reich is dramatically changed. The term Zio-Nazi has been over-used and words become watered down and have no meaning when overdone, by your new term, it’s brought vigour to the term and the impact of that is dramatic.

Remember, words have started wars and words can end wars, and songs, well, they have the most power because they combine the power of words and the power of song, mix that with video footage that is truth telling and it changes the paradigm. The terror entity had no choice but to make arrangements for his release – because the thing ‘it’ hates the most is the association of being like the Nazis – as perceived by world opinion in an effective way. And your song in the video was extraordinarily effective – Samer is going to be free!”

Let me tell you, I was really stunned. Not only by her insistence, or by her opinion itself. What really thrilled me is to see someone having such a belief in the effect of art, in this case more specifically of musical activism. Could I ever have received a stronger message of support for my work, in fact, for the entire concept of my Musical Intifada? The best endorsement so far for the song had come from Dubai TV, but it seems a little far-fetched to think that that broadcast had such an impact.

 

 

I’m leaving it up to my readers to decide whether Genie is right. It would be quite something if she is, wouldn’t it?

Genie is not the only one who has commented on my use of ‘Damned Fourth Reich’. I previously published the comments of one of the editors of Jews for Justice for Palestinians on the website, with my response to it. Could it indeed be that my song had more impact than I thought it had?

I asked Genie if I could publish her email comments. I’m not expecting you all to adopt her opinion, and with a statement so bold it’s only fair to expect a good degree of skepticism. However, what I mainly hope is that this message makes you think about the potential impact of art upon activism, and more specifically, that of music. If you have read this, and if it has made you imagine how a message in a song can have an impact on the way people think, or the way they experience things, then that already satisfies me.

As for Genie, you must agree with me that our world should cherish such amazing people as she is. You may say: she’s a dreamer. But she’s not the only one.

Doc Jazz