Valentine (kind of) rhymes with Palestine

Valentine’s Day is taking the world by storm as a commercial celebration of romantic love. In its origins, it is a Christian religious celebration of a saint known as Valentinus. However, we live in the day and age of Capitalism as the dominant ideology. Many people around the world seem to have embraced it as their new religion. Consequently, Valentine’s Day has now turned into a business opportunity for vendors. It enables them to increase their sales of chocolate, flowers, and other objects that are suitable gifts for (aspiring) lovers.

Party Time?

You barely need to read between the lines to feel that I am no fan of this type of thing. Much the same has happened to Halloween, which originally also has roots in religion (All Hallow’s Eve). Now, it’s read as “Party Time!”, having youths in all parts of the world rushing to doss a variety of costumes and partying till the break of dawn.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t really want to be the ‘party pooper’. Go ahead and celebrate, I don’t want to spoil your fun. However, what I don’t like about it is that this phenomenon reflects neo-colonial realities that I do frown at. It’s not like it’s a two-way street, where people in the West are rushing to paint their faces in flashing colors to celebrate for instance Hinduism’s Festival of Light, Diwali, with the same enthusiasm.

The way I read it, youths of the Third World are mostly embracing these typically Western celebrations in order to emulate Westerners. I can’t help but to read that as a form of an inferiority complex. There is no way that unipolar Western economical and military dominance on the planet can be counterbalanced in any comprehensive way, if youths consider their own culture to be inferior.

Cultural Colonialism

Okay, please don’t get too riled up, I’m not going to go all Malcolm X on you folks. I myself am someone who embraces cosmopolitanism as well, but with great respect and admiration for the culture of my ancestors. This is why you find me putting out funky music, while simultaneously putting out songs of original Palestinian folklore (for instance my songs on the shibbabeh, the Palestinian flute).

Personally, I do draw the line at Valentine’s and Halloween. I do, however, see how others might draw that line differently. Bottom line is: I hope you try not to lose yourselves, and don’t forget who you are. Why would you surrender yourself to an imposed inferiority complex? If you manage to do those things while remaining proud of your heritage and your original culture, you have no issue with me.

Commercial celebration of carnal desires

Anyway, let’s get back to Valentine’s Day. Let’s for a minute forget that it’s a Western Christian Holiday. Let’s forget that something that was born in spirituality and pureness, has been converted to a multi-million dollar making celebration of carnal desires. Some evolution: straight from church to booty calls, who would have thought it?

Here’s how I celebrate Valentine’s Day. What?? After this flaming polemic, I myself turn out to be commemorating Valentine’s Day on a yearly basis? Well, wait until you hear me out.

My Lovely Palestine

In 2003, I adapted the jazz-classic “My Funny Valentine” to my own liking, by changing its words to “My Lovely Palestine”. I recorded it while playing and singing it live on piano, and put it on my Musical Intifada website. It got quite a good number of downloads. Recently, I found that recording again. I decided to put it on Youtube with footage of the landscape of Palestine.

So, that’s my Valentine celebration, Palestine-style. Sure, in the back of my mind I hope that people’s increasing commitment to Valentine’s Day serves as a vehicle for drawing more traffic to the song. There you go, how is that for disclosure? However, there is no commercial goal involved, as I don’t make any money whatsoever from my songs. Also, I don’t consider this to be my song, all I did was change the words and play it. To give credit where credit is due, the original was written by Richard Rodgers. Valentine or not, I personally think his original is one heck of a song that sure deserves to be heard.

So, without further ado, here is: My Lovely Palestine!