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"

The Voice the Fragrance and the Figure
Rim Banna Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

يا جذر جذري، إنني سأعود حتماً فانتظرني
إنتظرني في شقوق الصخر والأشواك
في نوّارة الزيتون في لون الفراش
يا جذر جذري، إنني سأعود حتماً فانتظرني
إنتظرني في شقوق الصخر والأشواك
في نوّارة الزيتون في لون الفراش

وفي الصدى والظلّ في طين الشتاء

وفي غبار الصيف في خطو الغزال
وفي الصدى والظلّ في طين الشتاء
وفي غبار الصيف في خطو الغزال
وفي قوادم كلّ طائر

يا جذر جذري، إننـي سأعود حتماً فانتظرني
إنتظرني في شقوق الصخر والأشواك
في نوّارة الزيتون في لون الفراش
وفي الصدى والظلّ في طين الشتاء
وفي غبار الصيف في خطو الغزال
وفي الصدى والظلّ في طين الشتاء
وفي غبار الصيف في خطو الغزال

شوق العواصف في خطاي
وفي شرايني نداء الأرض قاهر
شوق العواصف في خطاي
وفي شرايني نداء الأرض قاهر

أنا راجعٌ، فاحفظن لي صوتي
ورائحتي وشكلي
أنا راجعٌ، فاحفظن لي صوتي
ورائحتي وشكلي
يا أزاهر، إحفظن لي صوتي
ورائحتي وشكلي
يا أزاهر، يا أزاهر
يا أزاهر، يا أزاهر

تحاصرني مرايا الروح
وأنا أرحل مني إلي
تحاصرني مرايا الروح
وأنا أرحل مني إلي
تحاصرني مرايا الروح، مرايا الروح
تحاصرني مرايا الروح، مرايا الروح

مرايا الروح، مرايا الروح
(مرايا الروح، مرايا الروح)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Rim Banna's "The Voice, the Fragrance and the Figure" express the singer's connection to her homeland and her longing to return. The repeated refrain of "ya jizr juzri, innani sa'aoud hataman fanetathirni" ("oh root of my roots, I will return definitely, so wait for me") emphasizes this sentiment. The imagery in the song paints a picture of the different beauty found in every season and element of nature - from the cracks in rocks and thorny bushes, to the colors of the olive trees and the dust kicked up by a graceful deer. The singer wants all of these things to remember her by when she eventually returns.

The second half of the song shifts to a more introspective tone, with the singer acknowledging the struggles she faces in returning to her roots. The line "shauq el-awasif fi khatai, wa fi shiraini nidai el-ard qaheir" ("the storms' longing in my steps and within me, the call of the earth is overpowering") suggests that though the singer may be physically away from her homeland, inside her heart and mind she is always connected to it. The final lines refer to the mirrors of the soul that entrap the singer and serve as a reminder of her past, as she prepares to finally return.

Line by Line Meaning

يا جذر جذري، إنني سأعود حتماً فانتظرني
Oh my root, I will definitely come back, so wait for me

إنتظرني في شقوق الصخر والأشواك
Wait for me in the cracks of rocks and thorns

في نوّارة الزيتون في لون الفراش
In the bright green of the olive groves and in the shades that give rest

وفي الصدى والظلّ في طين الشتاء
In the echos, darkness, and cold mud of winter

وفي غبار الصيف في خطو الغزال
And in the dust of summer, in the gentle steps of the deer

في قوادم كلّ طائر
In the flight path of every bird

شوق العواصف في خطاي
The longing for storms is in my steps

وفي شرايني نداء الأرض قاهر
And in my veins, the call of the earth, conqueror

أنا راجعٌ، فاحفظن لي صوتي
I am coming back, so keep my voice, my scent, and my looks safe

يا أزاهر، إحفظن لي صوتي
Oh flowers, keep my voice, my scent, and my looks safe

تحاصرني مرايا الروح
The mirrors of the soul surround me