Media Type:
Songs
Title
"Graffiti" by Yasser Elmanawehly
أغنية "جرافيتي" لياسر المناوهلي
Subject
Song
Description
Through this song, Yasser Elmanawehly, one of the voices of the 2011 revolution, expresses his dismay at the erasure of street graffiti by the authorities. He sings that even if the revolution's graffiti is erased from the walls, the regime will not be able to erase the memory, the colours and ideas of the paintings from collective memory. The song was screened on al-Nahar TV in January 2013 and was later made into a YouTube clip in 2017 showing much of the graffiti around Tahrir Square which was erased over and again.
Creator
Yasser Elmanawehly
Source
Publisher
YouTube
Date Published
Rights
YouTube Standard License
Related Resources
Format
YouTube video.
Language
Arabic
Date Created
12/01/2013
Tags
Citation
Yasser Elmanawehly, “"Graffiti" by Yasser Elmanawehly,” Politics, Popular Culture and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, accessed December 21, 2024, https://egyptrevolution2011.ac.uk/items/show/29.
Media
Translation
“Why would you erase graffiti?
Those are my paints,
And my walls
That red is the colour of my blood
The black is from my sorrows
I miss the green
With it I drew my dream
The white is the colour of tomorrow
Inspired with ideas
Sad with the memory
Add to the path of my dream
Why would you erase graffiti?
Those are my dreams
And my sacrifices
The years of unfairness
Are clear in my scribblings
Egypt has brought us the hero
Who never bowed when hurt
His dreams are painted on the walls
He cares not for a bullet amid the madness
He flew on the wings of his dreams
Far away
Far away
No winds can shake his wings
The whole world is his
Holding a pen despite his pain
Expressing the pain in a graffiti
Why would you erase graffiti?
Those are my paints,
And my walls
These are my memories
And my present
My dream for my country that has me captivated
Once, I swapped my house
For this wall
It consoles me
A sign for you
Why would you erase a painting inside me?
Who would you erase a word in my song?
Graffiti
Graffiti”
Those are my paints,
And my walls
That red is the colour of my blood
The black is from my sorrows
I miss the green
With it I drew my dream
The white is the colour of tomorrow
Inspired with ideas
Sad with the memory
Add to the path of my dream
Why would you erase graffiti?
Those are my dreams
And my sacrifices
The years of unfairness
Are clear in my scribblings
Egypt has brought us the hero
Who never bowed when hurt
His dreams are painted on the walls
He cares not for a bullet amid the madness
He flew on the wings of his dreams
Far away
Far away
No winds can shake his wings
The whole world is his
Holding a pen despite his pain
Expressing the pain in a graffiti
Why would you erase graffiti?
Those are my paints,
And my walls
These are my memories
And my present
My dream for my country that has me captivated
Once, I swapped my house
For this wall
It consoles me
A sign for you
Why would you erase a painting inside me?
Who would you erase a word in my song?
Graffiti
Graffiti”
Duration
3.50 min.
Player
