Month: November 2022

According to the American University of Beirut (AUB)’s website (https://bit.ly/3fQ7ff1), Mr. Zaki Nassif 1916-2004)’s “rich and vibrant musical heritage” included “1,100 songs and pieces of music belonging to various genres and styles. He may be considered the founder of a new Lebanese Arabic school of compositions, unique in a genre that combines words, music, orchestration and dance“.

One Mr. Nassif’s most influential songs was composed at the end of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990). It is entitled “Raje’h Yit’Ammar Loubnan” [“Lebanon will be rebuilt again”]. It became a VERY famous song, even rivalling the Lebanese national anthem, imagine, as per his biography published on the AUB’s website (https://bit.ly/3fQ7). This song will be perhaps featured in future posts about Bambi’s birth country.

However, today, Bambi will focus on another melody. She will share with you a few interpretations, by some of Lebanon’s talented artists, of one of Mr. Nassif’s most beautiful songs. The latter is a love poem about a lover of flowers. Below you can find an English translation of the Arabic lyrics. Of note, the last video is musical only.

To conclude this musical post, may Mr. Nassif’s memory be eternal. Now, if she may, Bambi would like to dedicate this song to all those who love flowers, including one of her beloved aunts. Yes, today is her birthday and Bambi is thinking of her ❤️; she will forever cherish those memories of “Amto Renée” with her lovely bouquets of flowers, coming to welcome her at her arrival to Beirut during family trips over three decades.

Lover of Flowers (taken from: https://lyricstranslate.com)

“Oh, lover of roses,

If you are keeping your promise,

Your love is waiting for you,

Oh, lover of roses.

Dazed, he awaits, his heart weary,

What is the hill, what is the moon,

What is joy, what is vigil,

If you were to go back to worrying,

Wandering through the horizon,

Bathing in the twilight?

For your searching will do no good.

There was a happy star in the horizon,

And I thought “Today, and not tomorrow,

So let the promisor keep his/her word.”

Oh, inspirer of chatter,

Commiserating will not help you,

For your beloved does not love any roses,

But the roses of the cheeks”.

Today, Bambi came across a short documentary by Mr. Michael Moubarak on “the financial crisis in Lebanon and whatever lead to it” (words taken from the description on YouTube). If she may, she would like to thank Mr. Moubarak for his talent in telling us the unfolding story of this tiny Mediterranean country. What future for Lebanon, she cannot help not to wonder?

In a radical interpretation of Islam, homosexuality is “haram“, which means forbidden because it is not “halal” (or kosher). It is not surprising then to learn from a CBC article (https://bit.ly/3EhZE2j) that Qatar Soccer World Cup Ambassador expressed the following opinion: “Homosexuality is ‘damage in the mind’… “Gays ‘will have to accept our rules‘ and homosexuality “is a spiritual harm’ “. Shocking, isn’t it?

Now, what is wokeism or the woke culture saying about homosexuality? The words below come from out of a respectable university in France where homosexuality seems to be at the centre of an LGTBI workshop.

Indeed, the Université de Toulouse II is advertising this workshop entitled “Towards a racial history of sexuality in Europe” with the following (translated) words: this workshop proposes to “hustle a whitened history of (homo)sexualities” and study “the problem of degenerate anuses”, and “the emergence of ‘a colonial homosexual discourse’ “. Does the latter make sense to you? If it does, please feel free to leave a comment to help Bambi understand what looks like a highly absurd language to her.

This being said, if you understand the French language, you may wish to read the original text, which was re-tweeted by Dr. Mathieu Bock Côté. Thanks to him for keeping us informed about what is happening in France. He is currently living there lecturing and hosting a successful TV show.

To conclude this post, once again, the words out of Qatar come without any surprise to Bambi. As for France, this country usually knows how to resist odd or extreme ideologies. Therefore, it is troubling when our collectively insane times seem to have also reached its universities.

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In addition to its magnificent landscapes, Canada is blessed with an incredible biodiversity. Indeed, according to our federal government’s web page (https://bit.ly/3EbYSnb), there are “about 80 000 species known to exist in Canada, excluding bacteria and viruses“.

Bearing the above in mind, the current post is meant to share with you the following: (1) two pictures of Canada’s wildlife taken by Gina; and (2) a third picture featuring the autumn’ sky taken by Diana. Both Gina and Diana generously accepted to share their pictures with you, dear readers of Bambi’s blog.

After watching her friends’ pictures, one song came to Bambi’s mind. Yes, it is “L’hymne à la beauté du monde” [The hymn to the beauty of the world], interpreted by the moving Ms. Isabelle Boulay. The lyrics of this meaningful French-Canadian song, by Ms. Diane Dufresne, include a beautiful sentence that goes like this in English: “Let us make the earth a great garden for those who will come after us“. In the spirit of the latter wish, and if she may, Bambi thanks all those who devote funds, time, and energy to preserve Canada’s wildlife; not only for us, but also to “those who will come after us“, as per the song.

Bambi wishes you the following, dearest Robine:

“Sana helwa, mama” ! “Oui, Joyeux Anniversaire, maman d’amour”!

May you have a beautiful day ? !

Bambi would like to thank Louis for sharing this job advertisement (ad) at a university that was supposed to be strictly French-speaking. You can see this ad below, along with the website, all in English.

What seems to matter more to this university is the so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) mantra or slogan. Perhaps some funds came from the federal government, along with an ideology that would likely exclude intellectual diversity. Anyhow, DEI or not, where is the French, UOF?

This university’s website: https://myuof.ca/

Bambi came across one of the two pictures shared below by Ms. Roula Azar-Douglas on her Twitter account. She fell under the charm of Beirut in the autumn at sunset. She immediately communicated with Roula to express her appreciation of her tweeted picture. Because this journalist [and sister :)] has a generous soul, she immediately sent Bambi this picture, along with another one. She also kindly accepted to share them with all of you.

So, without further ado, below you can see Roula’s pictures of Beirut. If you wish, you may also listen to a joyful Lebanese song entitled “Shta’nalik ya Beirut” [meaning “We miss you Beirut“]. Bravo to Ms. Pascale Sakr and Rodge for their production meant to honour the memory of Mr. Elias Rahbani!

Related to Beirut, Bambi knows of at least two friends who love and miss the Lebanese capital. Well, both of them happen to be celebrating their birthdays today. If she may, Bambi would like to offer them Roula’s pictures, along with respective personalized birthday songs: one in French and meant for a “Nina“; the other in Finnish and meant for kids. Happy birthday Piia and Nina. Bambi loves you both beyond words, regardless of the language of birthday songs ?? !

As for Roula, Bambi thanks her for being an inspiring sister ?. She hopes she will always appreciate beauty, despite Lebanon’s endless crises and political vacuum.

To conclude this post, long live friendship and sisterhood. May Beirut’s sun rise and shine again. May safety, peace, prosperity, health, justice (for the banking crisis, for the Beirut blast), AND love prevail. Yes, may LOVE shine not just in Beirut, but also in the world, namely in war-torn countries and everywhere. Last but not least, may our hearts be filled with both love and beauty, like in Roula’s pictures.

It is never too early for Bambi to begin enjoying a Christmas carol :). Well, she would like to thank her Lebanese-American internet radio station for making her discover this new song auto-generated on YouTube and released a week ago, thanks to the following team contributions: “Associated Performer: Pentatonix feat. Hiba Tawaji Composer: Felix Mendelssohn Composer: Charley Wesley Engineer, Producer: Ben Bram Lyricist: Ghady Rahbani Producer: Oussama Rahbani Co- Producer: Alex Missakian Mixing Engineer: Ed Boyer Mastering Engineer: Bill Hare”.

Thank you Aline for sharing your magnificent pictures taken this morning, at 7:40 AM, in the neighbouring Amherst, Nova Scotia.

To honour those pretty pink shades of our beautiful sky, here is “Le ciel est à moi” [meaning “the sky is mine“] by the talented Ms. Marie-Élaine Thibert.

As for you Aline, it is Bambi’s hope that this beauty will inspire your painting (as shown in an older post further below)!

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Ms. Aline Acaf found her passion for painting during the lock down!

Bambi would like to thank her talented friend Brittany for capturing magical moments in the skies of our beautiful New Brunswick.

To celebrate our long, beautiful, and warm fall season, this post will first start with Brittany’s pictures and her brief video, which was taken in the South-East part of our maritime province. Last but not least, it will end with music to celebrate the fascinating sunshine, the wonderful world around us, and the beauty of life!