K'naan - A Voice for Average Somalis
Host: When we talk about Somalia on this program, the news is often about 1)warlords and violence, or, as we heard earlier, pirates 2)hijacking ships off the coast. Well, here’s a different kind of Somali news. A rapper named K’naan is trying to change the way his country is viewed. He’s become an artist to watch in the world of hip-hop.
主持人:每当我们在这个节目中谈及索马里时,新闻里总少不了军阀和暴力,或者像我们早前听到的——海盗在沿岸劫持船只。以下是一则与众不同的索马里新闻。说唱歌手克南试图改变世人对其祖国的看法。他已经成为嘻哈音乐界一颗备受瞩目的新星。
The Early Life 早期生活
K’naan grew up in Mogadishu, on what he calls “the meanest streets in the universe.” In one song on his new CD, he calls his hometown the “risky zone,” full of pistols and Russian 3)revolvers.
K’naan: The song’s called ABCs. And it’s about how, you know, being born in a certain place that changes everything, and…and your destiny. When you hear the song, I got the kid’s choir singing, “They don’t teach us the ABCs / We play on the hard 4)concrete / All we got is life on the streets.” And…and for us, that is very true.
Somalia is one of the poorest and most violent countries in the world. 5)Malnutrition and clan warfare are 6)rampant. According to 7)Amnesty International, some 6,000 civilians were killed in fighting in 2007 alone. K’naan wants to use his music to raise
consciousness about what’s happening there.
K’naan: The people of Somalia just do not have a voice. They…they are to me the most forgotten people in the world.
K’naan left Somalia in 1991 with his mother and older brother. He was a teenager. The country was in a civil war involving with 8)factions fighting each other.
K’naan: Mogadishu was…was burning, and the government had just…just…is falling. And all the 9)embassies are packing out, and my mother is able to get 10)visas to…to the United States.
Saleem Mohammed is not a music critic. But, like K’naan, he knows all about growing up in extreme circumstances.
Mohammed: I, I think one of the thing that I’m drawing to K’naan music is he lives it – he talks about the truth.
Saleem Mohammed grew up in an 11)orphanage in Kenya. Today he’s a community organizer in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in East Africa. He met K’naan when they worked on a cable TV show together.
Mohammed: He just doesn’t sing for himself. He sings for us. That’s the most important thing. And when you hear him speaking, it’s a voice of so many coming out of him.
克南成长于(索马里首都)摩加迪沙,在他所说的“全世界最糟糕的街道”上长大。在其新专辑的一首歌里,他将家乡称为手枪和俄式左轮手枪随处可见的“危险地带”。
克南:这首歌名叫《ABC》。它讲的是,你知道,你的出生地将会改变一切……以及你的命运。你听这首歌的时候,我加入了童声合唱:“他们没有给我们打基础 / 我们在硬水泥地上玩耍 / 我们过的就是街头生活。”而……对于我们来说,这就是真实状况。
索马里是全世界最贫穷、暴力事件也最频繁的国家之一。人们普遍营养不良,部落战争时有发生。根据国际特赦组织的报告,仅2007年一年就有约6000名平民死于战乱。克南想用自己的音乐引起人们对该国情况的关注。
克南:索马里的人民根本无法表达他们的心声。他们……在我看来,他们是世界上最被忽视的人群。
1991年,克南跟随母亲和哥哥一起离开索马里。那时候他还是一名少年。当时由于不同派系相互倾轧,索马里陷入了内战。
克南:摩加迪沙……燃起了熊熊战火,政府……分崩离析。所有的使馆官员都在撤离,而妈妈拿到了去美国的签证。
萨利姆·穆罕默德并不是乐评人。但和克南一样,他也很清楚在极端环境下长大是什么滋味。
穆罕默德:我想,克南的音乐吸引我的原因之一就是他经历了这一切——他唱的都是事实。
萨利姆·穆罕默德在肯尼亚一所孤儿院里长大。如今他在基贝拉——东非其中一个最大的贫民窟——担任社区组织员。在一次为有线电视节目工作时,他认识了克南。
穆罕默德:他并不是为自己歌唱。他为我们歌唱。这才是最重要的。你听他说话的时候,那其实是许多人呐喊的心声。
A Rapper of His Own Kind 独树一帜的说唱
K’naan writes in a variety of music styles. But
before he moved to North America – before he spoke any English – his first love was American rap.
K’naan: (rapping) “I came to the door / I said it before /
I never let the 12)mic 13)magnetize me no more / But it’s…” I had it memorized just like that. But, of course, I didn’t know what “door” meant.
K’naan could not be mistaken for an American rapper – at least not a gangster rapper. He wears no “bling注,” though he is stylish – he has a kind of
14)vintage 15)Bohemian look. K’naan doesn’t think American gangster rap has much credibility, because even the toughest American neighborhoods aren’t nearly as dangerous as Mogadishu.
K’naan: Where rocket-16)propelled 17)grenades are fired around you on a daily...you know, a guy 18)bragging about, standing on TV, and…and talking about how gangster he is and how, you know, he will do… For us, it’s more a source of entertainment.
It’s more like a comedy or something that we…we watch. And we say, “Oh wow, that’s...that’s kind of cute of American gangsters” or something. But it isn’t 19)hardcore; it isn’t that bad. You know, it’s like…let’s 20)get things in perspective, you know?
Lately, K’naan has been talking about the Somali pirates who’ve been hijacking ships from Western countries off the Somali coast. Because, he says, there’s more to that story, too.
克南所写的歌曲风格多样。但是在他迁往北美之前——在他会说英语之前——他最喜欢的是美国说唱音乐。
克南:(说唱)“我来到大门前 / 我曾经说过 / 我不会再被麦克风迷住 / 但是它……”我就这样背了下来。但是,当然了,我当时还不知道“door”是什么意思。
人们不会把克南与美国说唱歌手搞混——至少不是黑帮说唱歌手。他从不穿金戴银,虽然他也很时尚——他带着些许复古波西米亚风。克南不认为美国黑帮说唱有很大说服力,因为即使是全美最凶暴的街区,也不及摩加迪沙那么危险。
克南:在一个每天都有火箭推进的手榴弹在你身边炸响的地方……你知道,一个家伙站在电视机前自吹自擂,说自己是多么坏的黑帮分子,准备怎么做之类……对我们来说,这更像是一种娱乐。它更像是一部喜剧,或者演给我们看的东西。我们会说:“喔,这真是……美国黑帮真可爱”之类的。但其实那并不彪悍,没那么严重。你知道,这就像……我们得对事情有正确的认识,对吧?”
最近,克南也在关注索马里海盗在海岸劫持西方船只的事件。因为他说,这个事件背后还有别的故事。
注:“bling bling”一词最早源自黑人说唱歌曲,指闪亮耀眼的戒指、项链等饰物,后来被广泛运用在日常对话中。
Link: Wavin’ Flag (The World Cup Version)
链接:《飘扬的旗帜》(世界杯版)
Give me freedom
Give me fire
Give me reason
Take me higher
给我自由
给我激情
给我一个理由
让我高飞
See the champions
Take the field now
You define us
Make us feel proud
看着冠军
驰骋绿茵场上
你们是我们存在的证明
让我们备感自豪
In the streets are
Heads are liftin’
As we lose our
Inhibition[禁制]
在大街上
昂首前行
我们终于摆脱
心中的束缚
Celebration
It’s around us
Every nation
All around us
普天同庆
感染你我
天下万邦
围绕身旁
Singin’ forever young
Singin’ songs underneath the Sun
Let’s rejoice in the beautiful game
And together at the end of the day[最终]
We all say
歌颂永远的年轻
在太阳下尽情放歌
让我们陶醉于动人的比赛
我们终将
一起高唱
*When I get older
I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom
Just like a wavin’ flag
And then it goes back
And then it goes back
And then it goes back
And then it goes*
*长大以后
我会变得更强
人们以自由为我命名
仿佛旗帜在风中飘扬
一切荣耀终将回归
一切荣耀终将回归
一切荣耀终将回归
荣耀回归*
Repeat* 重复*
