Author: Bambi

Bambi is grateful to the reader/friend who emailed her a grandiose song by Mr. Christopher Tin (featured in an earlier post shown below). In turn, with his permission, she is posting this musical masterpiece on this blog for your own pleasure.

For those of you who are not of Christian culture or faith, you may not know what is the Lord’s prayer. The latter was taught by Jesus to his disciples. It goes likes this in English: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

As for the Swahili language, according to Britannica (https://shorturl.at/ReZ9K), it is “a Bantu language spoken either as a mother tongue or as a fluent second language on the east coast of Africa in an area extending from Lamu Island, Kenya, in the north to the southern border of Tanzania in the south (The languages form a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family)”. Of note, Swahili is greatly influenced by the Arabic language (https://shorturl.at/ReZ9K).

Bearing the above in mind, along with Mr. Christopher Tin and the arrangement by Mr. Derek Machan, the song and video were made possible, thanks to several highly talented artists (as per the description of the YouTube video below). Bravo and thanks to all of them!

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“I Lift My Eyes”/Psalm 121 in Arabic: bravo to Ms. Abeer Nehme and Mr. Christopher Tin (from “Old World”)!

Bambi learned from French (https://shorturl.at/eaMT3) and Canadian (https://shorturl.at/1c7U5; https://shorturl.at/mhEUb) media articles about the vandalism and intimidation that happened at Concordia University, in the so-called name of the Palestinian cause.

Indeed, a group of about 20 masked demonstrators occupied a building on campus for about an hour, chained its doors, and “considerably” damaged walls and glasses with graffiti. The police was called by the university administrators. It did not have to make any intervention though, as these so-called demonstrators left on their own.

Why do such demonstrators think that they can free Palestine by chaining university doors in Canada? If they are truly convinced by their demands, why are they resorting to intimidation, instead of effective communication, and why are they hiding their faces?

Thank Goodness, Québec Higher Education Minister, Ms. Pascale Déry, said a clear NO to this violence (https://shorturl.at/mhEUb): “C’est assez! Des actes inacceptables que je dénonce vivement. Une fois de plus, j’en appelle au calme. Il existe tellement de moyens de s’exprimer sans verser dans l’intimidation, l’incitation à la haine et le saccage dans nos campus” [“Enough is enough! Once again, I appeal for calm. There are so many ways to express ourselves without resorting to intimidation, incitement to hatred and vandalism on our campuses“].

Will these radicalized demonstrators, whether true students or not (and the organizations funding or endorsing them) listen to Minister Déry this time? If not, what’s next not only at Concordia University, but in all our institutions of higher education?

By pure serendipity, Bambi just came across a musical masterpiece. She could not help not to share it with you immediately. The song is in standard Arabic with English sub-titles. She hopes you will enjoy it as much as she did.

To begin with, here is a list of the talented artists behind this beautiful performance (taken from YouTube): “Composed by Christopher Tin Performed by Abeer Nehme with Christopher Tin and the Angel City Chorale “I Lift My Eyes” is a collaboration between Abeer Nehme and Grammy-winning American composer Christopher Tin, and is a setting of Psalm 121 in Arabic.  It’s the main menu song for the strategy game ‘Old World’, by Mohawk Games. Director – Tayo Amos DP – Matthew Wilder Producer – Mackenzie Lyle, Tayo Amos Production Company – Sapelo Productions 1st AD – Brian Robau  1st AC / 2nd Unit DP – Ariana Hoshino 2nd AC – Luka Stojcic Steadicam Op – Lars Struck Drone Operator – JP Isaacs Percussionist – Jamie Papish Grip – Davy McCall Grip/ Swing – David “Danny” Fern BTS – Kyle Sykes, Dallas Crane Makeup Artist/ Hair – Ciarra Pringle Wardrobe Coordinator – Tosha Hartzog Editor – Seamus Finnegan Colorist – Sohil Vaidya Production Assistants – Rogelio Salinas, Alazar Aklilu, Mackenzie Ross Red Dress Designer – Mariane Bechara Backing vocals: Angel City Chorale (Sue Fink, dir.) Duduk: Sandro Friedrich Percussion: Jamie Papish Strings: Budapest Scoring Orchestra Engineer: Rich Breen Mastering Engineer: Gavin Lurssen Music Producer: Christopher Tin”.

Of note, in the last scene of the YouTube video featuring the song in question, one can read the following: “For Lebanon“. These words moved Bambi’s heart, especially on another day of an absurd ongoing war, in addition to the same political and economic impasse. Yes, tragically, two brothers who are shepherds, lost their lives today (https://t.ly/IgmwA). May God know how to comfort their family in facing its double tragedy.

To conclude, before leaving you with the song, here is an English translation of PSALM 121 (taken from YouTube):

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where my help comes from

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

from now until the end of time“.

Today, the “nation of Québec” (to use the words of its Prime Minister, Mr. Jean-François Legault) said good-bye to Mr. Jean-Pierre Ferland with a moving state funeral (government organizing website: https://shorturl.at/LBcvk; CPAC streaming: https://shorturl.at/uQouN).

Even if Bambi left Québec 20 years ago, Québec still lives in her. Indeed, this morning she was busy driving between Sackville, Chediac, and Moncton. Even if she could have spent more time out of town, she preferred to rush back home to watch Mr. Ferland’s funeral online. It was her small way of paying tribute to this French-Canadian legend.

Even if Mr. Jean-Pierre Ferland’s music will outlive him, his death closes a chapter of Québec’s history. Bambi did not want to miss this symbolic moment. Appreciated by all for both his talent and sweet personality, Mr. Ferland was known as the “Petit roi” [The Little King]. And what a cultural monarch! He was an inspiring writer (a productive poet) who wrote over 450 songs and released over 30 albums. Thanks to CPAC and City News for sharing this impressive information.

Ferland’s funeral included amazing tributes by family members, colleagues, musicians, friends, politicians, and priests. It was fully attended and we could see the moved faces of known artists as well as politicians (municipal, provincial, and federal). One thing is sure, everyone is a fan of Mr. Ferland.

Of note, all the eulogies were beautifully expressed. All the singers who performed Mr. Ferland’s songs were extraordinary (the CPAC link above shows them all). This being said, there were two performances that ended with standing ovations at the cathedral. One of them was the extraordinary Ms. Ginette Reno singing Un peu plus haut [A bit higher] (https://shorturl.at/ldowf). The other performance was a heart-wrenching yet beautiful duo of Une chance qu’on ça [Thank goodness we have each other] by Ms. Melissa Bédard and Ferland’s spouse, Ms. Julie-Anne Saumur. Bravo (https://shorturl.at/C2npz)!

In addition to the above, Bambi was touched by Mr. Claude Dubois singing Si Dieu existe [If God exists] (https://shorturl.at/lRJ28).

To conclude this post, thanks to the government of Québec for honouring Mr. Ferland with a state funeral. Many thanks to his beautiful family for generously allowing us to publicly share their sorrow. Lots of courage to them. As for Mr. Jean-Pierre Ferland, may his soul rest in peace and may his memory be eternal.

This musical post shares an uplifting bilingual performance by Mr. Marc Hervieux.

The selected song is My Way, which was originally written in French as “Comme d’habitude” by Mr. Jacques Revaux and Mr. Gilles Thibault, along with Mr. Claude François (the singer).

Of note, It was Mr. Paul Anka who came up with the English lyrics for this beautiful melody (https://shorturl.at/kHoga). My Way was popularized in 1969 by Mr. Frank Sinatra (https://shorturl.at/kHoga).

In the language of Shakespeare, My Way is about one’s creativity and agency. In the language of Molière, Comme d’habitude tells the story of a couple’s separation, namely the end of love that united Mr. François and Ms. France Galle for three years (https://shorturl.at/8uPOZ).

May you keep creating the life you love to live. May your relationships, with both yourself and others, be enriching and inspiring. Happy weekend to all of you!

No school, whether secular or religious, should be the target of shooting.

Neither a Jewish nor a Muslim school.

No to intimidation and criminality against any human being, especially children.

Parents of Jewish heritage deserve to feel safe and dignified in their country, like everyone else. They do not need to have to worry about the safety of their children.

Four days ago, a shooting occurred in a school in Toronto (https://shorturl.at/8B18D). Today, it happened again in Montreal (https://shorturl.at/4xujI).

Enough is enough!

UNIFIL stands for the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon.

Today happens to be Peacekeepers’ Day (https://shorturl.at/wHP3u).

Thus, Bambi thanks all the “soldiers of peace” who are serving around the world. A heartfelt thank you to UNFIL, which operates in South Lebanon.

Of note, UNIFIL originates from about 50 countries. It is composed of 330 men and women who work to de-escalate tensions to prevent fighting and wars (https://rb.gy/vim4x2).

Do UNIFL peacekeepers always succeed in their de-escalation efforts on the ground? Of course not. Even if at times they do, sometimes tensions are too powerful or there is literally an ongoing war, including the latest one since October 8, 2023. How could UNFIL’s mission succeed when spokes can be added to their wheels at any time? Indeed, as reported in an older post (shown below), UNIFIL peacekeepers were attacked in a cowardly way on December 15, 2022. This resulted in the death of Mr. Seán Rooney. May his memory be eternal.

Yet, despite the challenges on the ground, UNIFIL peacekeepers try to remain focused on helping implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Specifically, the latter “calls for the full cessation of hostilities, the deployment of Lebanese forces to Southern Lebanon, parallel withdrawal of Israeli forces behind the Blue Line, strengthening the UN force (UNIFIL) to facilitate the entry of Lebanese Forces in the region and the establishment of a demilitarised zone between the Blue Line and the Litani River. It also calls for UN Secretary-General to develop proposals to implement the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords as well as Security Council Resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006) and imposes an arms embargo on Lebanon” (https://rb.gy/vim4x2).

Last but not least, in addition to its mission, UNIFIL regularly provides a much appreciated humanitarian assistance to Lebanese civilians who are struggling with harsh living conditions since October 2019.

For all the reasons mentioned above, many thanks to UNIFIL and, by extension, to all the peacekeepers who have contributed to peace around the world, not just in South Lebanon. This includes 125,000 fellow Canadians (https://tinyurl.com/dx8ecx26). May peace, and ideally love, prevail everywhere!

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Lebanon: Peacekeepers deserve to be thanked, not killed

Who hasn’t dreamed of seeing the face of a lost lover or of a deceased loved one?

Mr. Jean-Pierre Ferland wrote a heartfelt song about his beloved’s face. It was released in 1960 and its music was composed by Mr. Paul de Margerie. This French-Canadian song is entitled “Ton visage” [“Your Face”].

Ahead of his national funeral (https://shorturl.at/BQe1j ; https://shorturl.at/ayQdN), which will take place at the Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral Basilica (June 1st, 2024; Montreal, Québec), Ms. Elaine Thibert paid tribute to Ferland by recording “Ton visage“. Bravo to her for the moving performance. Congratulations to the talented pianist, called Mr. Emmanuel Pitois, and thanks also to “groupe Paradoxe” for this beautiful production.

Following the YouTube video below, if you are interested, you can listen to the original song by Mr. Ferland himself. For those of you who do not understand French, you can find a quick English translation at the end of this post. Bambi is grateful to her friend Mr. Google Translate who stayed up late with her to help translate it :).

May Mr. Ferland’s memory be eternal. May Québec and Canada always cherish not just his pen and his voice, but also his unforgettable face.

“Brown eyes for the day, green eyes for love, your face

Eyes that I will love, for two eternities, your face

A mouth forever, sweet like a secret, your face

It’s beautiful, it’s warm, it’s the flower of my skin, your face

Closing my eyes, I sense it in the hollow of the clouds

I had to close my eyes, I should have tied a knot to the clouds

The wind turned and the rain blew me away, your face

And I got drunk, to try to forget your face

But it remains stuck, established on my past, which misses your face

I redraw it and the wind blows it back, your face

I am the captain of a boat of sadness that will never sink

I have twice the sorrow, of a hundred captains who will no longer embark

And I got drunk to try to forget your face

And I get drunk again, sober and starboard, what a trip

Yesterday was tomorrow, tomorrow will always be your face

It persists in sticking, like a wet flag, in retreat

I redraw it and the wind blows it back, your face

Brown eyes for the day, green eyes for love, your face

Eyes that I will love, for two eternities, your face

It’s beautiful, it’s warm, it’s the flower of my skin, your face

Closing my eyes, I sense it in the hollow of the clouds

Brown eyes for the day, green eyes for love, your face“.

Thankfully, laughter is free. Thus, the latter is accessible to all who have a sense of humour. Indeed, Bambi could have being writing to you now about serious issues of the world, including the endless conflict in the Middle East among many other matters. This post could have been about worrisome domestic stories in Canada like shooting at a (Jewish girls’) school yesterday. She preferred to spare you (and herself) all this, hoping to make you smile with Mr. Yannick Lemay (or “Ygreck”)’s cute cartoon, which was published this morning in the Journal de Montréal.

Before sharing Ygreck’s cartoon below, a few words about the drama unfolding on many university campuses are perhaps needed to provide some context. There are encampments here and there, at times called in the media pro-Palestinian and at other times anti-Israel. Whether there are truly this or that, or both or whatever, they have been going on for too long now. Administrators seem to be reluctant to act to end them, even if they are on private properties. Mayors, like Ms. Valérie Plante in Montreal, seem to be reluctant as well (so no police’s intervention), lawyers and judges seem to be shy as well in their judgments (which means more camping at least until July 2024; https://shorturl.at/NGArr). As a result, the situation seems to have become absurd, to say the least.

Of course, you may be someone who is cheering for such camps or finding them offensive. The latter could be perceived as a form of an imposed freedom of expression on private properties, or intimidation if you want, with odd slogans like “à bas l’empire“,which means “down with the empire” (unclear which empire though? The American, the Québécois, the Israeli?). Some other slogans, at times written in Arabic are clearly more offensive like “free Palestine from the river to the sea“, etc. As a reminder, some university students have families or friends living between the river and the sea. How would they perceive the latter, regardless of the intentions behind them?

Anyhow, if you are curious to know, Bambi happens to be someone who is not surprised at all by those encampments. She saw them coming way before the latest tragic fiasco of the Middle East. Indeed, at the height of the BLM agitation on campuses and on the streets, close to the climate justice agitation (perhaps even when her censorship saga was unfolding), she predicted (in a private conversation with her spouse) that the next cause du jour will be the Palestinian cause. Of note, the latter replaced the Ukrainian cause, which sadly is still existing.

What is sad for Bambi is how the true suffering of the Palestinian people is used by some people, despite the authentic care of some other people. As she has mentioned in a previous post, she does not believe that silencing, cancelling, and stonewalling are healthy strategies. She prefers bridges of exchanges instead to solve problems and move forward in life. This is why, on Friday evening, she happily signed a circulating petition against the Boycott of Israeli academics. In the same vein, she is against the boycott of Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian, Saudi, Chinese, or other academics (or artists) from other parts of the world, regardless of the awful actions (or reactions) of their governments.

Anyhow, enough of serious blahblahblah by Bambi. Time to laugh now with the talented “YGreck”, if you are not too shocked by what she just shared :). The title of his cartoon is: 2024 Camping Season. This couple is wondering where to go for their summer camping: McGill university or UQAM (“Université du Québec à Montréal”)? Check the flag on the backpack of the guy, it helps to understand the context of the joke.

To conclude this post, once again, for Bambi what matters the most in life is what lies deep in our hearts (our convictions and core values). Ideally, this would congruently translate into our behaviour when interacting with others. Bambi is talking about values like respect, compassion, and even love for all. For instance, we can have the utmost respect and compassion for the suffering of people, and wanting justice for them, even without any public demonstration on any private or public property. We can choose to publicly denounce an injustice while also naming another one. Yes at the same time. It is called seeing the big picture. Plus, we can respect the individual choices of people, even if ours are different (to cite a different example, it can be the choice of not using any gender pronoun for ourselves while accepting the choices of others, and vice versa). Despite the need for clever champions of social justice in our world, let’s also remember to be thinkers before being activists or to be thoughtful activists, so to speak. Let’s keep in mind that we do not solve injustice in the world by creating newer ones elsewhere. Above all, let’s keep our sense of humour, and thus perspective, alive.

Mr. Nicola Ciccone’s voice makes Bambi’s heart melt. Maybe he touches her heart because of his sensitivity mixed with his artistic talent? Maybe because his moving and beautiful voice sings for beauty in the world, love, friendship, happiness, coping with domestic violence, autism (i.e., he is the spokesperson for the “Fédération québécoise de l’autisme“), and many other meaningful topics? Who knows? Maybe also because of sweet memories of the genuine peer he had been in graduate school?

Anyhow, Bambi was happy to discover today Mr. Ciconne’s new song, which is entitled “Tu sei la voce“. She wished she could understand all the Italian lyrics (she can get a word here and there). Maybe those of you who understand this beautiful language can translate it for her one day :)?

Until then, she would like to imagine that this song is about being the voice of truth, love in the world, healing, and of humanity. May each one of us be the best voice we can be, that is our own unique voice. May our voice know how to listen to all the other voices. May other voices also know how to respect our voice.

Wherever you are, Happy weekend, whether it is a short or a long one for you. More specifically, for those of you who may be reading this post from out of the United States, Happy Memorial long weekend to you!