Rim Banna (Arabic: ريم بنا 8 December 1966 – 24 March 2018), was a Palesti… Read Full Bio ↴Rim Banna (Arabic: ريم بنا 8 December 1966 – 24 March 2018), was a Palestinian singer, composer, arranger and activist, best-known for her modern interpretations of traditional Palestinian songs and poetry.
Banna was born in Nazareth, where she graduated from Nazareth Baptist School. She lived in Nazareth with her three children.
She died on 24 March 2018, aged 51, in a hospital in her hometown of Nazareth, Palestine following a lengthy and brave battle with breast cancer, which she openly shared with her numerous fans through social media. She met her husband, Ukrainian guitarist Leonid Alexeyenko, while studying music together at the Higher Music Conservatory in Moscow and they married in 1991, and divorced in 2010.
Banna first achieved popularity in the early 1990s, after recording her own versions of traditional Palestinian children's songs that were on the verge of being forgotten.
Banna also composed her own songs and set Palestinian poetry to music. Her message is often focused on the suffering of Palestinians. Her music is described as "haunting, emotional, at times bordering on kitsch." She described her music as a means of cultural self-assertion:
A part of our work consists of collecting traditional Palestinian texts without melodies. So that the texts do not get lost, we try to compose melodies for them that are modern, yet inspired by traditional Palestinian music.
In this way, Banna does more than mimic the traditional techniques and representations of the pieces she interprets. She blends them with modern singing styles because,
Oriental singing techniques are mostly ornamental… But my voice is more two-dimensional, thicker. I try to write songs that fit my voice. I want to create something new in every respect. And that includes bringing people elsewhere closer to the music and soul of the Palestinians.
She performed live in the West Bank and she reached audiences in Gaza through live webcasts. She performed her first concert in Syria on 8 January 2009 and also performed in Tunisia on 25 July 2011. Her first concert in Beirut took place on 22 March 2012.
Banna's popularity in Europe began after Norwegian music producer Erik Hillestad invited her to participate on the CD Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2003) and Norwegian singer Kari Bremnes, who also took part on this production in a duet with Rim Banna, invited her to Oslo. Banna accepted the invitation, and the two artists did a show together.
The album, dubbed "a musical antiwar message to U.S. President Bush from female singers in Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and Norway," brings these women together with others from North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and Afghanistan, to sing traditional lullabies from their lands in duet form with English-language performers whose translation allows the songs to reach a Western audience.
The Mirrors of My Soul, which was dedicated to all the Palestinian and Arab political detainees in the Israeli prisons, is a stylistic departure from her previous body of work. Produced in cooperation with a Norwegean quintet, it features "Western pop styling" fused with Middle Eastern modal and vocal structures, and Arabic lyrics.
Although the style differs from previous recordings, the subject matter has basically remained constant. The album includes "songs of despair and hope" about the lives of "a struggling people, and even a song about late Palestinian leader and PA president Arafat in a way that is both thoughtful and subtle".
Discography
Jafra (1985)
Your tears Mother (1986)
The Dream (1993)
New Moon (1995)
Mukaghat (1996)
Al Quds Everlasting (2002)
Krybberom (2003) Rim Banna & SKRUK
Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2003 – Various female artists)
The Mirrors of My Soul (2005, Valley Entertainment)
This was not my story (2006) Rim Banna & Henrik Koitz
Seasons of violet (2007)
Songs across Walls of Separation (2008 – Various artists from the Middle East, Africa, Central America, North America, and Europe)
April Blossoms (2009) an album for children, was dedicated to the children martyrs in Gaza
A Time to cry (2010), was recorded in one of the houses in Sheikh Jarrah under constant threat of eviction from the part of their house (with three Palestinian singers)
"Tomorrow" (Bokra) 2011, a single song of the American legend composer Quincy Jones, who chose Rim Banna to represent Palestine in this project which will be released in an Album and a video clip in September 2011
Revelation of Ecstasy and Rebellion (2013); produced by Bugge Wesseltoft
Songs from a Stolen Spring (2014, Valley Entertainment/Kirkelig Kulturverksted - Various Artists), featuring "Break Your Fears"
Banna was born in Nazareth, where she graduated from Nazareth Baptist School. She lived in Nazareth with her three children.
She died on 24 March 2018, aged 51, in a hospital in her hometown of Nazareth, Palestine following a lengthy and brave battle with breast cancer, which she openly shared with her numerous fans through social media. She met her husband, Ukrainian guitarist Leonid Alexeyenko, while studying music together at the Higher Music Conservatory in Moscow and they married in 1991, and divorced in 2010.
Banna first achieved popularity in the early 1990s, after recording her own versions of traditional Palestinian children's songs that were on the verge of being forgotten.
Banna also composed her own songs and set Palestinian poetry to music. Her message is often focused on the suffering of Palestinians. Her music is described as "haunting, emotional, at times bordering on kitsch." She described her music as a means of cultural self-assertion:
A part of our work consists of collecting traditional Palestinian texts without melodies. So that the texts do not get lost, we try to compose melodies for them that are modern, yet inspired by traditional Palestinian music.
In this way, Banna does more than mimic the traditional techniques and representations of the pieces she interprets. She blends them with modern singing styles because,
Oriental singing techniques are mostly ornamental… But my voice is more two-dimensional, thicker. I try to write songs that fit my voice. I want to create something new in every respect. And that includes bringing people elsewhere closer to the music and soul of the Palestinians.
She performed live in the West Bank and she reached audiences in Gaza through live webcasts. She performed her first concert in Syria on 8 January 2009 and also performed in Tunisia on 25 July 2011. Her first concert in Beirut took place on 22 March 2012.
Banna's popularity in Europe began after Norwegian music producer Erik Hillestad invited her to participate on the CD Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2003) and Norwegian singer Kari Bremnes, who also took part on this production in a duet with Rim Banna, invited her to Oslo. Banna accepted the invitation, and the two artists did a show together.
The album, dubbed "a musical antiwar message to U.S. President Bush from female singers in Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and Norway," brings these women together with others from North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and Afghanistan, to sing traditional lullabies from their lands in duet form with English-language performers whose translation allows the songs to reach a Western audience.
The Mirrors of My Soul, which was dedicated to all the Palestinian and Arab political detainees in the Israeli prisons, is a stylistic departure from her previous body of work. Produced in cooperation with a Norwegean quintet, it features "Western pop styling" fused with Middle Eastern modal and vocal structures, and Arabic lyrics.
Although the style differs from previous recordings, the subject matter has basically remained constant. The album includes "songs of despair and hope" about the lives of "a struggling people, and even a song about late Palestinian leader and PA president Arafat in a way that is both thoughtful and subtle".
Discography
Jafra (1985)
Your tears Mother (1986)
The Dream (1993)
New Moon (1995)
Mukaghat (1996)
Al Quds Everlasting (2002)
Krybberom (2003) Rim Banna & SKRUK
Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2003 – Various female artists)
The Mirrors of My Soul (2005, Valley Entertainment)
This was not my story (2006) Rim Banna & Henrik Koitz
Seasons of violet (2007)
Songs across Walls of Separation (2008 – Various artists from the Middle East, Africa, Central America, North America, and Europe)
April Blossoms (2009) an album for children, was dedicated to the children martyrs in Gaza
A Time to cry (2010), was recorded in one of the houses in Sheikh Jarrah under constant threat of eviction from the part of their house (with three Palestinian singers)
"Tomorrow" (Bokra) 2011, a single song of the American legend composer Quincy Jones, who chose Rim Banna to represent Palestine in this project which will be released in an Album and a video clip in September 2011
Revelation of Ecstasy and Rebellion (2013); produced by Bugge Wesseltoft
Songs from a Stolen Spring (2014, Valley Entertainment/Kirkelig Kulturverksted - Various Artists), featuring "Break Your Fears"
After you left
Rim Banna Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
مِنْ بَعْدِك
لا شَيءَ يَهمّْ
ضوءُ القَمَرِ
هُدوْءُ اللَّيلِ
أوْ لَونُ الخَدّْ!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
لا شَيءَ يَهمّْ
ارتجافُ القَلبِ
اللَمْعَةُ في العَيْنَيْنِ
أوْ لَمْسَةُ اليَدْ!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
لا شيءَ يَهمّ
طَعْمُ القَهوةِ
سِحرُ التّبغِ
أوْ نَشْوةُ المَوْجَةِ
في الجَزْرِ وَفي المَدّْ!
من بعدك
لا شَيءَ يَهمّْ!
لا شَيءَ يَهمّْ
ضوءُ القَمَرِ
هُدوْءُ اللَّيلِ
أوْ لَونُ الخَدّْ!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
لا شَيءَ يَهمّْ
ارتجافُ القَلبِ
أوْ لَمْسَةُ اليَدْ!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
لا شيءَ يَهمّ
طَعْمُ القَهوةِ
سِحرُ التّبغِ
أوْ نَشْوةُ المَوْجَةِ
في الجَزْرِ وَفي المَدّْ!
من بعدك
لا شَيءَ يَهمّْ!
After you left,
Nothing matters anymore.
The moonlight,
The calmness of the night,
Or the color of the cheek!
After you left,
Nothing matters anymore.
The trembling of the heart,
The sparkle in the eyes,
Or the touch of the hand!
After you left,
Nothing matters anymore.
The taste of coffee,
The magic of tobacco,
Or the ecstasy of the wave,
In ebb and flow!
After you left,
Nothing matters anymore!
Line by Line Meaning
مِنْ بَعْدِك
After you left
لا شَيْءَ يَهمّْ
Nothing matters
ضوءُ القَمَرِ
The moonlight
هُدوْءُ اللَّيْلِ
The tranquility of the night
أوْ لَوْنُ الخَدّْ!
Or the color of the cheek!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
After you left
لا شَيْءَ يَهمّْ
Nothing matters
ارتجافُ القَلبِ
The trembling of the heart
اللَمْعَةُ في العَيْنَيْنِ
The sparkle in the eyes
أوْ لَمْسَةُ اليَدْ!
Or the touch of the hand!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
After you left
لا شَيْءَ يَهمّْ
Nothing matters
طَعْمُ القَهْوَةِ
The taste of coffee
سِحْرُ التَّبَغِ
The magic of tobacco
أوْ نَشْوَةُ المَوْجَةِ
Or the ecstasy of the wave
في الْجَزْرِ وَفِي الْمَدّْ!
In the ebb and flow!
مِنْ بَعْدِك
After you left
لا شَيْءَ يَهمّْ!
Nothing matters!
Writer(s): Alex Ben-abdallah, D'anthony Carlos, Matthew Mccalla
Contributed by Maya M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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Ophelia
RIP. I’ve known this song for a long time but i never knew Rim was the artist until I watched Damascus With Love recently and it had this track in it. Allah yr7ma
Sarah Ali
This is really nice. A beautiful voice too :)
クリボーKuriboh
Passionnant ☺️❤️
Swiss snapshots
من بعدك لاشيء يهم ، لروحك السلام ريم بنا ❤️❤️❤️❤️ الله يرحمك
Tasnim Gamal
من بعدك لا شيء يهم يا امي ❤️
Ramy Hammady
ايه الجمال ده !!
Nada H. Sarhan
من بعدك لا شيء يهم 💔🌿
Gakat Noor-nib
سنشتاق لصوتك لكلماتك وللحنك
Othman Barahmeh
لروحك الطاهره الف تحيه وسلام.
ولذكراك الخلود.
A. Shah
اشتقنالك ريم.. الله يرحمك...