East West Global

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A new addition to the list of East/West duets?

In the beginning there were the Ravi Shankars and the George Harrisons, .... singing of global peace.

Then there was the Pussy domination of "Jai Ho"(e), the signature tune of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, a song and dance number in which A.R. Rahman appeared subordinated by the PussyCat Dolls. 

The song had a purely aesthetic value and was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

The latest in the line of East West duet is Peter Gabriel and Atif Aslam's song from Mira Nair's 2012 movie, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (based on the novel by Moshin Hamid).

The song is a beauty; the words sing of the individual's place in a world gone complex. It's a good place as long as the individual resists its commandeering by the forces that be.

As translated, the song is:

Speak, for your lips are yet free;
Speak, for your tongue is still your own;
Your lissom body yours alone;
Speak, your life is still your own.
Look into the blacksmith’s forge:
The flame blazes, the iron’s red;
Locks unfasten open-mouthed,
Every chain’s link springing wide.
Speak, a little time suffices
Before the tongue, the body die.
Speak, the truth is still alive;
Speak: say what you have to say.