April 13 is a day of mixed feelings, both sad and happy. Indeed, it is the 48th anniversary of the Lebanese civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990. Yet, this day is a beautiful day on which Rita, one of Bambi’s precious childhood friends, was born in Beirut.
While remembering war, Bambi will now devote this strictly musical post to Rita. Of note, one of this blog’s recent posts was also devoted to the same friend, as shown further below.
Today, as a birthday tribute to Rita, Bambi will offer her a few songs. She hopes that some English, French, and Spanish melodies will make her smile while others will make her pause to honour her birth country in both Arabic (with Mr. Marcel Khalifé) and French (with Mr. Mario Pelchat). Sadly, Lebanon remains an unfinished dream country, which is currently bankrupt. Last but not least, Bambi found a YouTube surprise-melody of a mysterious guy who keeps calling Rita’s name : ) as well as a kids’ song , which honours friends.
To conclude, Happy Birthday to dearest “Ratrout” [Little Rita, in Lebanese-Arabic] ❤️! This old friendship has enriched Bambi’s life while growing up in Beirut. It is now connecting her with Rita across the borders of their respective host and beautiful countries, Canada and the United States of America.
Two days ago, Bambi paid tribute to Mr. Gilbert Montagné, as shown in the post further below. Today, thanks to YouTube, she discovered a masterpiece of “La vie en rose” [“Life in Pink” in reference to the rose-tinted glasses, which make us perceive the world more lightly when we are in love].
The fun part was that Ms. Léa Désandre surprised Mr. Montagné with his preferred Piaf’s song. Her pure voice singing “La vie en rose” is not only moving, but also uplifting. If you watch the video until the end of her performance, you can appreciate a spontaneous duo of the two great artists.
May the memory of Ms. Édith Piaf be eternal like her songs. Long live love in all its forms and shapes. Long live music!
Mr. Gibran Khalil Gibran died 92 years ago, precisely on April 10, 1931.
In the Garden of the Prophet, Mr. Gibran expressed his sadness to see Lebanon divided into tribes, instead of being unified: “Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation“.
Unfortunately, many in Gibran’s and in Bambi’s birth country still put their “tribe” first. The latter can be one’s religion and/or political affiliation.
Tragically, in today’s North America, we see a comparable danger, stemming from modern identity politics, where societal forces seem to insist on defining us by our identity and to trap us into it. We are no longer uniquely rich individuals. We are a mere extension of our skin colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc.
Bambi’s heart aches because we do not seem to want to recall the lessons history tried to teach us about the danger of playing with identity politics while forgetting how to love one another. Will we pay the price for this collective amnesia one day? Or will we wake up to re-learn to treat ourselves and thus others with respect, love, unite, and… to put our country, not ideologies, first?
Not only he excels in singing “Les sunlights des tropiques” and “On va s’aimer“, Mr. Montagné paid an incredible tribute to Piaf. Bravo for his interpretation of the “‘Hymne à l’amour” [Hymn to Love]!
Mr. Gilbert Montagné, Bambi just discovered a masterpiece on YouTube, which is 12 years old. What a performance!
Thank you for singing Piaf in this most moving way. If she may, Bambi would like to offer your version of her “hymn to love” to all the lovers of the world.
For the translation of the lyrics of this eternal song, Bambi did not have to bother her friend Mr. Google Translate. She found the English lyrics at this site: https://bit.ly/3GuAdv8 .
Easter is almost here…. May it be a Soothing Easter! To the readers of this blog who happen to believe or care, Bambi will say in Arabic “Al Massih Kam” [Christ is Risen]!
Yes, Easter is surely almost here. However, SADLY, Joey’s Italian Restaurant & Bar is no longer among us in Sackville, NB (https://bit.ly/3ZTsRb2). Same for the jobs of some of our fellow citizens, the apartments of five young and older adult residents, and a historic building (Bambi is thinking of its landlord now).
If she may, Bambi would like to use this post to send her heart to all those directly affected by the fire tragedy, their loved ones, and literally all of us by extension. Can you imagine losing your apartment, precious personal items, business, and jobs all of a sudden?
Yes, Bambi is thinking of all the Joey‘s actual family as well as its “family” of staff, including you Roxane (if you ever happen to be reading this post one day. It was an honour to have the chance to wave and receive back a heartfelt hello from you in the parking lot a few days ago only). Of course, Bambi’s thoughts are also with all Joey’s clients over 35 years of existence (including you Azi who wrote a beautiful tribute on the Warktimes), all those who worked hard to extinguish the fire (from Sackville and even beyond it), and ALL those who have been offering a much needed support to those affected by the disaster. Bravo to all of them.
All this being said, perhaps the piece of good news of this tragedy and its big losses is that no one was physically injured. For this, Bambi will say: Thank God… and thanks also to our clever firefighters!
To come back to Joey’s Restaurant, it has/had been (hopefully will re-become?!) a monument, not just a successful business in Sackville, NB, since 1988. The words of its owner reported in the Warktimes (https://bit.ly/3ZTsRb2) and in the mainstream media are inspiring, to say the least: From out of the early moments of his business tragedy, the owner wrote on social media: “As we navigate this difficult transition one thing is sure, we will keep the spirit of Joey’s alive as we move forward one day at a time“. Yes, the spirit of Joey’s will be eternal. We will keep honouring it, along with beautiful memories we all had at your restaurant… please consider it like a collective promise.
Related to the above, Bambi and her family/friends, in Canada and in Beirut are all sad, especially her spouse and her parents who visited Sackville, and its Joey’s, during their last four trips back to Canada. Bambi et al. share everyone’s sorrow and stand in full solidarity with all those affected by this disaster.
Bearing the above in mind, this post will now end with an Easter Youtube video link Bambi received from a friend last year [hello Nadim : )]. The scene occurred at a mall in Beirut a few years ago. It was a celebration of Easter with a Byzantine joyful brief chant in both Arabic and Greek. It may seem a bit odd to watch such a spiritual expression in a public place like a mall. However, this is the Middle East, from which Christianity originated. Plus, it is maybe amusing to witness the happy reactions of people. Bambi can surely relate to their joy in singing “El Massih kam” [Christ is risen]! Even if she celebrates with the majority where she currently lives, next week she will surely rejoice again :). Indeed, whether we use the Gregorian (this weekend) or the Julian calendar (next weekend), whether the two events overlap or not, Easter is ONE celebration! The joy expressed in this video is all what Easter is about; yes, this is the case before the eggs, chocolate, the maamoul desert, the meals with family or friends, etc. Bambi is saying so and God knows how much she adores all the latter :)!
Today is Good Friday, whatever this may or may not mean to you. For Bambi, it simply means the world; of course she is highly biased by the faith in her heart and by those beautiful Orthodox chants of her childhood. This is why she will allow herself to cheat today :): she will share the Good Friday’s lamentations she just discovered on Youtube. She will do so even if the Orthodox Good Friday is only next Friday (yes chocolate and the maamoul desert will be eaten twice!). Those chants took place in Saint George Church in Beirut in 2018. Thanks to a certain Mr. Anthony Freije for making the link public. May this day be filled with inner peace, hope for brighter days, and love…
It is supposed to be an overlapping time of spirituality, not of violence: Ramadan, Passover, and (the first) Easter. When will I finally succeed in warming everyone’s hearts with love and peace?
According to L’Orient Today, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the “UN chief condemns rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon, calls for ‘restraint’ ” (https://bit.ly/3KgqQjB).
In the media article cited above, Bambi read the following: “Israel has accused Palestinian groups of firing rockets from Lebanon on the Jewish Passover holiday, which coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this year, just over a day after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside Islam’s third-holiest site”.
Enough of dangerous escalation in the region… and hands off Lebanon, please. It already has TOO many crises, including an economic tragedy and a political vacuum.
Let people enjoy Ramadan, Passover, and Easter. Whatever happened in Jerusalem is sad, but increasing the spot of sadness to an entire region is not the most brilliant idea that will solve conflicts and bring justice. It will rather bring blood, tears, and more conflicts.
Lebanon has paid a huge price for this eternal, unfortunate, and unfair Israel-Palestinian conflict. It does not need to be re-dragged into war again.
May restraint succeed. May violence stop. May peace prevail. May ONLY love have the final word in the Middle East and everywhere, that is in ALL current and future armed conflicts of the entire world.
To end this post in music, it will be Ms. Christiane Najjar’s soothing voice singing Fairouz’ prayer Wa Habibi [My love, Jesus] at the eve of the Good Friday. May the latter bring love to people’s hearts and faith in humanity, whether they are Christians or not, believers or not, whatever… may it just bring love, forgiveness, unity, and diplomacy to solve and prevent the world’s problems.
Happy Holy Friday to Bambi’s readers who will highlight Good Friday ❤️.
May the sunshine of justice finally shine on your case Professor Cumberland. Enough of cancel culture in NB and Canada!
Bambi keeps standing in full solidarity with biologist and professor Rod Cumberland who was fired for his teaching position at the Maritime College of Forest Technology in Fredericton (New Brunswick) a while ago.
Indeed, Professor Cumberland was the NB provincial deer biologist. During his tenure, his findings seemed to have shown that glyphosate spraying may be a major contributor to the declining deer numbers. Following an industry-sponsored event in which he expressed himself about the potential harmful impacts of glyphosate, he was fired from his position without due process.
Can you imagine? Presenting one’s findings and/or expert opinion makes you lose your job in our province? Sadly, this is the outrageous extent of censorship (or cancel) culture we live in in our beautiful province… and by extension country.
In an earlier post shown further below, Bambi wrote the following: “Biologist Rod Cumberland spoke about the effect herbicide spraying has on the health of deer and moose in the province. Bambi thanks him for caring for her and all her fellow deer (and indirectly of NB citizens, including those who are trying hard to silence him). In addition, he also spoke about the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s failure to protect the public from harmful herbicides and pesticides. Bambi also thanks him for caring for his fellow NB human beings“.
“… we should be ashamed of ourselves for not being wise enough to know how to listen to and respect all opinions on any given topic and regardless of whether we agree with it or not.
“Stated differently, everyone has the right to freely express his or her opinion, whether the latter is scientific, medical, political, religious, etc. Powerful pressure groups, governments, and individuals must urgently re-commit to this basic principle of common sense in communication and in human rights, if we want to still keep calling ourselves a democracy”.
You may perhaps wonder why Bambi is devoting a third post to Professor Cumberland’s case. Well, it is because she received an update about his case today, as one of his numerous supporters.
During the last days of his trial, Chief Justice Tracy DeWare expressed her hope to have her decision rendered before the end of March, 2023. It is April 5 today and there is no decision made yet. When will we hear about the latter? And will Professor Cumberland be publicly vindicated AND compensated enough for what was unfairly done to him, to his students who were deprived of him… and to us all his fellow citizens in NB, both humans and deer?
To conclude this post of solidarity, Bambi wishes you Professor Cumberland all the best. Please keep your inspiring integrity in life. We all so badly need it. You/your family members seem to have a deep and beautiful faith in your hearts. Just like Jesus whom you believe in will rise from the death soon, may you “rise” from your adversity AND may you be compensated to the highest extent you deserve; whatever the amount will be, you surely deserve more!
Bambi would like to wish her readers who will celebrate Passover from tomorrow and onward a “Happy Pesach“! Whether they are observant Jews or not, it is hard not be touched by a beautiful story of freedom, especially when it involves ancestors and… food with loved ones 🙂 ❤️.
While driving on the New Brunswick Trans-Canada highway yesterday, Bambi listened to music and sang to songs of different languages and themes. One of these melodies was Fairuz’ famous Li Beirut song, which brought tears to her eyes. Indeed, she could not help not to think of all the tragedies in her birthplace throughout history.
One of Beirut’s surrealistic yet still unaccountable recent tragedies of criminal neglect was its port blast, which caused 218 deaths (including toddlers), 7500 injuries, 300, 000 homeless people, 150+ permanently disabled individuals, including children who lost their eyes, over 3/4 of destruction in the Lebanese capital, 4 hospitals totally destroyed, US$15, 000, 000, 000 worth of damage, trauma of that doomed August 4, 2020, and massive migration around the world, including Canada.
May the memory of Beirut’s innocent victims be eternal. As a musical tribute to all of them, this post will feature Li Beirut with Mr. Omar Kamal’s soothing voice. The Youtube video shown below includes beautiful pictures of the Lebanese capital.
