Anyone who’s read Keep on Pushing, this blog, my recent columns, or if you’ve read or heard any of the Keep on Pushing interviews, you know that in addition to collecting the origins of anti-oppression songs, traditional protest songs and contemporary topical songs of peace, justice and non-violent resistance, I’ve been in search of a new freedom anthem that concerns the survival of all the people–throughout the world. In a recent column (my Crawdaddy! column, Origin of Song has been appearing once a month on the Crawdaddy! blog at Paste Magazine), I suggested that “We Shall Overcome” the anthem that was, could serve as the anthem that is, and always shall be. But I changed my mind: “Ce N’est Pas Bon” by Mali’s Mariam and Amadou, is clear in its vision and intent, and you barely even have to know French to understand it. Hypocrisy, demagogy, and dictatorships are not good—nous n’en voulons pas. “Du respect pour le peuple, de l’amour pour le peuple, de la paix pour le peuple.” ” Ce N’est Pas Bon” is from Mariam and Amadou’s 2009 Nonesuch album, Welcome to Mali (which I was happy to discover was released on vinyl): C’est magnifique.
Filed under: Keep On Pushing, Mali, Occupy Wall Street, freedom songs, liberation music, Mali
Denise Sullivan 