outlandish...

Those of you who know me well more than likely know that I don't particularly care for hip hop or R&B music. Ok -- maybe I liked it when I was like 9 and 10 years old -- but now... now is a different story. So when the prospect of going to a big R&B/hip hop concert (or party/"hafla" as the Palestinians call it since there is not a word in Arabic for concert) came about I was a little apprehensive; however I have told myself that I want to experience as many different facets of life in Palestine as I possibly could. So... on the internet I went to check out this band Outlandish, who are from Denmark and whose group members originally come from Morocco, Pakistan, and Peru and consist of 2 Muslims and 1 Catholic respectively. There music is nothing special -- just kind of chill out, mellow stuff; however I must say that the lyrics were intelligent and atypical of what one usually gets from this type of music (that was a total stereotype). They sung about the love for their god, the love for their wives, political issues (including the Palestinian situation), and such. Their lyrics are extremely positive and I have to say it was a breath of fresh air. I must admit that I kind of liked what I heard. I was surprised.

On Thursday I went with O and V and then later Mamoun to the "party." I felt like I had stepped into a completely different world where girls were scandalous and wore revealing clothing and smoked freely in public and where everyone spoke English with an American accent. I felt like I was in high school all over again. It was strange. The explanation for this could be a combination of things. More and more lately, Palestinians who lived abroad are moving back to their "homeland." Typically those Palestinians are the ones with money and the ones who can afford to send their children to a concert such as this one. In addition, Outlandish is quite big in the U.S., especially amongst the Arab and Muslim community -- by the way, the group sings in English, Spanish, and very little Arabic. On top of this, a lot of Palestinians who live in Israel came to Ramallah just for the concert. Hailing from Israel they have a tendency to be a bit more liberal - hence the revealing clothing and smoking.

We all started the show sitting; however Outlandish proved to be quite danceable and by the second song we couldn't resist getting out of our seats and shaking are butts. I find myself wanting to dance all the time in Palestine. I don't know what it is. Maybe its that Arab music is just amazingly danceable or maybe its just the atmosphere. The other day I found myself moving to the sound coming from the church bells in Bethlehem - what is that? So for the rest of the evening I danced and had a wonderful time. As you can see by the picture of other people dancing, it seems I wasn't the only one. Everyone was so happy to have an event like this in Palestine that it seemed that for one night social taboos were thrown out the window. Boys were dancing with girls in the same place! Wow... that's a big deal here! Other than the cheesy one liners that the guys from Outlandish kept spitting off, all in all a wonderful evening and one that does not come often for Palestinians. That, in and of itself, is a cause for celebration!