Hunergeha Welat and the Andrea Wolf Institute of the Jineology Academy produced a music video to celebrate women all over the world on International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Hunergeha Welat (‘The Art Atelier of the Country’), a Kurdish music academy in North and East Syria (Rojava) and the Andrea Wolf Institute of the Jineology Academy have come together to produce a unique international music project called ‘Ballem’ (Let’s Dance’). It is dedicated to 8 March, International Women’s Day.
The song is presented in four languages – Catalan, Spanish, German and Kurdish – and is dedicated to all women in the world who are engaged in resistance. “This song is dedicated to all the women who have resisted, resist and will resist patriarchy. For the women’s revolution which we have already begun, we will keep on fighting. Now they cannot stop us” is the message of the video, directed by Zîlan Cilêltî and published on YouTube.
Xweza Devi, Masim, Nûjîn Derya, Diyana Mûrad and the Kurdish opera singer Mizgîn Tahîr performed the song, which was written by Xweza Devi, Masim and Nûjîn Derya and composed by Masim. The musical arrangement was by Serxwebûn Zeyno.
The English translation of the song was made available:
“Roots growing, our ancestry …
Generations of women in resistance.
Seeds left for those who come next.
The mother, grandmother, sister and herself.
History is alive, but they hide it.
They fear us: for this, they burnt us.
But what they don’t know is that we are fire,
the burning flame which never dies.
Let’s dance! Let’s make witches circles.
We will recover stolen knowledge.
Let’s organise: we are strong together.
We will liberate ourselves from patriarchy!
Questioning, we walk, because the way is the way when we see.
Our struggles are answers evolving whilst we walk.
Struggles united: borderless!
Resistance is life: our resistance grows!
And yes, we are many and we are everywhere.
In the cities, in the forests, in the villages, heval.
Laughter, a whisper, a starlit night.
Witches united: we lit a fire!
Giving birth and also undoing: memories which act as refuges and protect us.
Like birds, they fly.
Thoughts, freedom, sorority.
from Rojava until the end.
Comrades of pain, of hope, of heart.
We are stronger under the moon.
We are the same: the wind, lightning.
I stand up, I share: we fight and in the end, we win.
We throw sparks of self-defence,
like we always did in our youth.
If they touch one of us, we will all respond!
We want us alive! The night is ours!
With the legitimacy of the right to life,
All women in the world shout.
Together, hand in hand.
Women in resistance:
Writing the story of their existence!
Women support each other.
From the embrace of a mother
To the horizon of knowledge.
Jin Jiyan Azadî! – Women, Life, Freedom!
