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Translation
Algiers Cries
I'm mixed-blood: a little colonist, a little colonized
A little darkened dove, a little discoloured raven
Médine is a metis: Franco-Algerian
Double identity: I am a schizophrenic of mankind
Old enemies coexist in my genetic code
Single-handedly, I embody a credits-less history
Unfortunately, sorrows are retroactive
When the French part of me speaks up in the mike of life
Did you think that our ears were behind the bars?
And that our eyes saw history through Aussaresses'1?
Did you think war was merely Moorish?
That only the Arabs' fate would be memorialised?
We never wanted any separation, any crisis,
For our only choice to be between our grave or our bags
Neither did we want a French Algeria,
Nor a France drowning its indigenous in the Seine
And yet I remember! The NLF2 who with panic and hatred,
Responsible for a rightful cause using Manichaean means,
Cut off the nose of those who said no to the cuttings3
Stared at, 'cause neutrality turns you into a stranger
Not all Frenchmen were part of the machine,
Practitioners of death, avengers of Indochina
We wish the Algerians what we wanted ten years ago
For ourselves, the liberation of some human dignity
We weren't all Jean Moulins4, but still far from not giving a damn
Close to Jean-Paul Sartre and people who were ready to go 'till the end
At times communist, traitor 'cause I carried a suitcase
At times mere sympathiser of the independence movement
I refuse to be associated with the degenerated generals
My grandparents will never be responsible for the evil done
It's hard to accept that History makes me want to throw up
That on both sides of the Mediterranean, everything has worsened
[Chorus]
Algiers dies, Algiers lives
Algiers sleeps, Algiers screams
Algiers fears, Algiers prays
Algiers cries, Algeria
[Verse 2]
I'm mixed-blood: a little colonist, a little colonized
A little darkened dove, a little discoloured raven
Médine is a metis: Franco-Algerian
Double identity: I am a schizophrenic of mankind
Old enemies coexist in my genetic code
Single-handedly, I embody a credits-less history
Unfortunately, sorrows are retroactive
When the Algerian part of me speaks up in the mike of life
Did you think we'd forget all about the torture?
That the real reason behind the invasion was fuel?
Did they really think that petroleum hid in our guts,
To plough through our bodies like you plough through a vast domain?
We can't forget the code for 'indigenous'
We can't hide our shame from the shock of torture5
To electrocute men for six or seven hours in a row
Naked bodies on an iron mattress connected to the mains
We can't forget the blood-immaculated djellabas
The removed masculine dignity of a castrated man
Wood-picking up chores, to dig one's grave before putting it to use
We can't forget those who were mutilated in more than thirty spots of their body
The hails of kicks, the Chinese water torture
The boot prints on the Djounouds' honour
We can't forget the bites of the dog-squad
And the uncircumcised genitals in our daughters' bellies
You can't silence the laws with the law of silence
The steely national hand crushes the Mohammedan laws
And the gathering centres for muslim people
The concentration camps by the end of the Second Wolrd War
We can't forget our enemies,
The factories of death, the Sésini Villa6
My shoulder is draped by my mostly green banner
My word, from human memory: executioners will never have the nice role
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
My blood is honey-dewed, three quarters caramelised
Naturalised, carbonised identities
Médine, but who's that guy?
Mediterranean?
Or salty Northern Sea?
Labelled "Made in a damned land"
The hardest part of war is putting an end to it,
For peace to be a ratified worth
The old enemies are feeding an everlasting rancour
If Algeria catches a cold, it means that France sneezed
And so we discuss, clearing our throats
And remembering the dead with the cutting edge
We write down the score after each new scratch,
Recount the bodies after each new try
From the martyr to the Harki7, from the colonist all the way to the native
Who fought for their homeland? And who for their assets?
From the Pied-Noir8 to the Resistance member, we're all longing for history
Algiers the White, Algiers the Black
[Chorus]
- 1. French Army general, who fought during the Algerian War.
- 2. National Liberation Front, a political party in Algeria.
- 3. More like 'trenches', but for the sake of the pun...
- 4. Member of the French Resistance during WWII.
- 5. 'Gégène' is military slang for torture via electroshock.
- 6. Place where NLF members were held captive and tortured.
- 7. Algerian soldier loyal to France.
- 8. Frenchman born in Algeria (when it was still colonised).
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Submitted by 
crimson_antics on 2013-03-23
crimson_antics on 2013-03-23Added in reply to request by 
Vimto12
Vimto12 ✕
Médine: Top 3
| 1. | Don't laïk |
| 2. | Alger Pleure |
| 3. | Gaza Soccer Beach |
Comments
About translator
I can't guarantee I got all the typos :P
verse 2, line 17 (from the bottom): matTress
line 14: choreS
line 11: honour/honor
verse 3, line 2: naturalised
hehe I remember being taught the word 'pied-noir', I think you're right about it's meaning