Judith
from I Dreamed An Island by Piers Faccini
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about
Delving into one History book after another as I began writing the songs for the album, I became fascinated by the cycles of peace and violence between the different peoples of the Mediterranean and how sooner or later, moments of prosperity and co-habitation would tragically descend into fear and loathing. Al-Andalus in Spain and its capital Cordoba at the turn of the 1st millennium was, for almost three centuries, a place where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in relative peace and harmony, creating an unrivalled centre of artistic and scientific learning that would influence the rest of Europe for centuries to come. The song describes the end of this apparent ‘golden age’.
In the song, Judith walks into market to sell the fruit from her orange groves. Berber soldiers of the Almoravid dynasty man the walls of the city. With their new regime, the old and tolerant ways of the previous Caliphate are gone and soon families of Jews and Christians, who have lived in Cordoba for centuries, will be forced into exile. Judith, with one last symbolic act, gets into the city by peeling an orange for one of the soldiers manning the wall, but sadly for her, “Gone are the old ways that she knows, the mournful call of exile blows.”
I wrote the lyrics to this song with the British poet Francesca Beard, with whom I had my first band in the late 90’s, Charley Marlowe.
In the song, Judith walks into market to sell the fruit from her orange groves. Berber soldiers of the Almoravid dynasty man the walls of the city. With their new regime, the old and tolerant ways of the previous Caliphate are gone and soon families of Jews and Christians, who have lived in Cordoba for centuries, will be forced into exile. Judith, with one last symbolic act, gets into the city by peeling an orange for one of the soldiers manning the wall, but sadly for her, “Gone are the old ways that she knows, the mournful call of exile blows.”
I wrote the lyrics to this song with the British poet Francesca Beard, with whom I had my first band in the late 90’s, Charley Marlowe.
lyrics
Sunrise up the muezzin call
Some to prayer and some to toil
Some fight for love and some for gold
In Cordoba our story’s told
Round valley ringed by mountains bare
In fig and lemon scented air
There winds Al Wadi Al Kabir
That now we call Guadalquivir
Here’s Judith on the road
With fresh fruit from the groves
Where all prayers are granted under arches
Horseshoe and arabesque
She walks along the mountain pass
Where Berber soldiers block the path
They greet Salaam Alaikum
She peels an orange just for him
And in his mouth the nectar sings.
For now this gift her fortune brings
But gone the old ways that she knows
The mournful call of exile blows
Here’s Judith on the road
Her story left untold
Her tender smile was perfume to the sunlight
A ghazal of snow white rose
Praise be to the sky spread out like a bed
Blessed all who love and lovers all blessed
Lapis Indigo and Sapphires blue
People of the book Al Andaluz
So the books decreed
Hope must sow its seed
That saplings and their roots
Grow and bear their fruit of divine sweetness
To feed us in our weakness now
Nine hundred ninety years old
Judith and her orange grove told
Some to prayer and some to toil
Some fight for love and some for gold
In Cordoba our story’s told
Round valley ringed by mountains bare
In fig and lemon scented air
There winds Al Wadi Al Kabir
That now we call Guadalquivir
Here’s Judith on the road
With fresh fruit from the groves
Where all prayers are granted under arches
Horseshoe and arabesque
She walks along the mountain pass
Where Berber soldiers block the path
They greet Salaam Alaikum
She peels an orange just for him
And in his mouth the nectar sings.
For now this gift her fortune brings
But gone the old ways that she knows
The mournful call of exile blows
Here’s Judith on the road
Her story left untold
Her tender smile was perfume to the sunlight
A ghazal of snow white rose
Praise be to the sky spread out like a bed
Blessed all who love and lovers all blessed
Lapis Indigo and Sapphires blue
People of the book Al Andaluz
So the books decreed
Hope must sow its seed
That saplings and their roots
Grow and bear their fruit of divine sweetness
To feed us in our weakness now
Nine hundred ninety years old
Judith and her orange grove told
credits
from I Dreamed An Island,
released October 24, 2016
Piers Faccini: voice, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Bill Cooley: oud, psaltery
Luca Tarantino: baroque guitar
Loy Ehrlich: guembri, awicha
Simone Prattico: drums, percussion, acoustic guitar
Piers Faccini: voice, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Bill Cooley: oud, psaltery
Luca Tarantino: baroque guitar
Loy Ehrlich: guembri, awicha
Simone Prattico: drums, percussion, acoustic guitar
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Piers Faccini France
If my songs were maps I'd want them to stretch from the English moors to the Saharan dunes via the plains of the Mediterranean.
shows
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May 21Paris, France
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May 22Paris, France
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May 23Paris, France
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May 24Paris, France
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Jul 20Béziers, France
discography
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Dec 2023 -
Jan 2022 -
Nov 2021 -
Apr 2021
contact / help
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