citoyenne du monde entier

Zap Mama...I know I have posted about her before but she really is my FAVorite! I suppose technically Zap Mama is the group and the fabulous WOMAN I speak of is Marie Daulne. If you are ever feeling down I prescribe watching one of her videos on YouTube. 100% guaranteed to cheer you up with no side effects or your money back :-) Love love love her. She is my heroine.

Here is a video of the song Gati from the album Supermoon.

and the lyrics for which I attempt a translation according to my limited French:

citoyen, citoyenne du monde entier !!

citizen, "citizeness" of the whole world !!

ce chant

this song

cette melodie jolie

this pretty melody

le pouvoir

has the capacity

de nous faire danser

to make us dance

le pouvoir

has the capacity

de nous faire chanter

to make us sing

...

si vous ete pret

if you are ready

on va commencer

we will begin

alors soulevez vous

so rise up!

...

je vais les faire

I am going to do

mon....danser

my... dance

avec le peuple

with the people

nous sommes le peuple de dieu

we are the people of God

Allah u Akbar, dieu il et grand

Allah u' Akbar, God He is great

Allah u Akbar, dieu n'est pas petit

Allah u Akbar, God He is not small

The video is so happy but the song has its roots in a very tragic event! I just read this on Wikipedia:

Marie Daulne, the founder and leader of Zap Mama, in Isiro, (pronunciation: "ee SEE roh" or [IPA] /i 'si ro/), one of the largest cities in the north of Orientale, Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo,[4] the fourth child of Cyrille Daulne, a Walloon (French-speaking Belgian) and Bernadette Aningi, a Bantu woman from Kisangani, formerly Stanleyville, the third largest city in Congo Kinshasa.[1] When Marie was only a week old, her father was attacked and killed by Simba rebels, who were opposed to mixed-race relationships.[1] ... Her mother escaped into the jungle...Daulne pays tribute to those pygmies who rescued her family in the song "Gati" from Supermoon.[6] "They saved my family and many others during the Congolese rebellion," Daulne says, "and they deserve recognition for that."[6]
Marie and her sisters were eventually airlifted out to Kinshasa with their mother and flown to Belgium because their father had been a Belgian citizen.[1] "... What I know that I learned from my mother is to be strong and to stay positive in any kind of situation; that's the best weapon to survive. That's what I learned, and this is the main message I pass into my music," says Daulne.[2]