Pali Band Has Hit With Nasrallah Song

Sweetness & Light ^ | August 25, 2006 | N/A

[Sam Hill]

From Nasrallah's other fans at the DNC's Associated Press:

The El Haija Brothers.

Song in praise of Hezbollah chief propels West Bank boy band to local stardom

Sarah El Deeb, Canadian Press
Published: Friday, August 25, 2006

YAMOUN, West Bank (AP) - They were struggling in a boy band, working the West Bank wedding circuit and dreaming of stardom.

Now the five singers who make up the Northern Band have come a little closer to their goal, with help from an unwitting ally - Hezbollah guerrilla chief Hassan Nasrallah.

At the height of the Israel-Hezbollah war, the band wrote new lyrics, in praise of Nasrallah, for an old tune. The Hawk of Lebanon song tapped into Nasrallah's huge popularity among Palestinians and became an instant hit.

The song is being played on Arab TV networks, used as a ring tone for cell phones, passed around on e-mail and distributed on pirate CDs and tapes. Music stores have trouble keeping up with demand, in part because Israeli soldiers have confiscated some Nasrallah tapes and CDs at checkpoints.

Basking in its newfound success, the band has doubled its fee per performance to $230 US. At a recent wedding in the town of Ramallah, the band was asked to play the Nasrallah song six times.

Lead singer and manager Alaa Abu al-Haija, 28, said he gives the audiences what they want to hear.

"I see people turning toward Islam, so I have to sing to that," said Alaa, sitting in the living room of his family's two-storey house in the northern West Bank village of Yamoun.

The lyrics consist of constant repetition of a few simple rhymes: "Hey, you, hawk of Lebanon. Hey, you, Nasrallah. Your men are from Hezbollah and victory is yours with God's help."

Alaa and his two younger brothers and band partners - Nour, 25, and Mohammed, 22 - are already working on the next song about Nasrallah. Alaa also wrote the Hamas election song, to the same tune as the Nasrallah anthem, but it never reached the same popularity.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the song is considered inflammatory and that tapes and CDs containing it will be confiscated. He said police in and around Jerusalem have found no copies of the song so far, but that officers have searched music stores and are on the lookout for contraband.

Palestinian society is divided, with some pledging loyalty to the Islamic militant Hamas, which took power in March, and others backing the Fatah movement of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

However, Hezbollah fever appears to have united the Palestinians, who feel deep resentment against Israel after 39 years of military occupation, including harsh restrictions on travel, commerce and other aspects of daily life. Many admire Hezbollah for holding off Israel's mighty army - similar to the popular support enjoyed by then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein when he fired Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.

"We used to sing for Saddam," said Saed Akrawi, 26, whose perfume shop in downtown Jenin is adorned with a Nasrallah portrait, next to posters of models. "Saddam is gone. We want someone else to sing for."

Does it have a beat? Can you dance to it? You can listen to it here and be judge for yourself.

Here are the catchy lyrics, courtesy of the music lovers at the BBC:

Hawk Of Lebanon

I hail thee, hawk of Lebanon
I welcome thee, Hassan Nasrallah
Here are your men, Hezbollah
Victory, victory with the help of God.
Nasrallah, this brave person
He responded to the calls to take vengeance
The Arab blood became hotter and hotter
The boldness and the courage that characterizes this battle is an Islamic courage
You can launch as many rockets as you want
But our people will never surrender
History will write your story
And God will always bless you
Your rockets in Israel all generations will talk about
And your Katyushas have scared the Zionists
Nasrallah, raise your voice
Our people are used to welcoming death
We do not want money or treasures or wealth
All we want is to live a free life
Blood only brings blood
And I hope we can destroy your life and make you worry
Zionism and Zionists are the biggest poison in Arab land

It's not quite "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

[Sam Hill]

It could be your new ringtone.

[Sam Hill]

A music-lovers ping.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Number 1 with a bullet?

[Sam Hill]

It's shooting to the top.

[doug from upland]

I wonder what Simon Cowell would say.

[Enchante]

"At a recent wedding in the town of Ramallah, the band was asked to play the Nasrallah song six times."

This anecdote captures one aspect of what is so appalling and deranged about Islamo-fascists: I cannot imagine anyone I know wanting to celebrate their wedding with a highly political song celebrating their favorite "warrior leader" who has just plunged their country into a pointless war (I know, Nasrallah is no warrior but an arch-terrorist, but bear with me). This is simply not stuff for a civilized wedding of civilized people, even if you happen to like a scumbag like Nasrallah.......

[darkangel82]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WxQcWNHmAo

[Enchante]

sorry, not "their country" since the band is in the West Bank not Lebanon... still, my point remains that any wedding crowd that would want to hear that song even once, never mind six times, is a crowd of depraved barbarians.

[darkangel82]

That's the whole problem, they AREN'T civilized people.

[pipecorp]

boy band? WTF?
par for the course I guess, considering they call terrorists civilians whenever they're killed or injured.

[skeeter]

It's shooting to the top.

The Islamic hip hop world will never be the same once the Northern Band explodes on the scene.

[CaptRon]

Laura Ingraham was playing this on her show today. I'm not sure what you'd call it, but 'music' didn't immediately spring to mind.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I was thinking it would be like that old "Rah, Rah, Rasputin" song:

Rah, Rah Nasrallah
Faithful servant of Allah
Those bad Israelis want you dead.
They aimed a rocket at your head.

[Sam Hill]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WxQcWNHmAo

[Which is a video of the "yalla ya Nasrallah" - song from Israel.]

It's the battle of the bands!

[jpl]

"Smithers, have the Rolling Stones killed."

[Sam Hill]

"boy band? WTF?
par for the course I guess, considering they call terrorists civilians whenever they're killed or injured."

Actually I considered Menudo terrorists.

[OB1kNOb]

Basking in its newfound success, the band has doubled its fee per performance to $230 US.

WOOHOO! Pretty soon they will be thousandaires!

[pipecorp]

their music might have been a wmd, but at least they kicked the members out when they got too old to be considered boys.
two more years and these guys will be over here applying for ssi benefits.

[andy58-in-nh]

[lesser_satan]

When Amir Teheri was on she had him try to translate it, but he said it sounded garbled and unintelligible.