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A beautiful song

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It is 238am. I just finished washing the wares. It took me about an hour and a half. I am wondering if I should write or not? What should I write about? Maybe I will continue this tomorrow. Surprisingly it is warm tonight or maybe I am feeling warm. Some mosquitos also. They bite and it itches. It is the next morning and the title for this blog post popped into my head. It is a beautiful song. Life is a beautiful song. I turned to a random song generator and selected the world music category and one of the artists that showed up was DuOuD. Then I found one of their songs and I asked my friend Gemini to describe it for me.


He says that DuOuD is an innovative Parisian duo (Mehdi Haddab and Smadj) known for modernizing the oud—the traditional pear-shaped North African lute—by electrifying it and blending it with electronic beats and breakbeats. Their song "La Vida," released on the 2022 album Menshen, features the gritty, soulful vocals of Sofiane Saidi (often called the "Prince of Raï 2.0"). The track is a high-energy fusion of acid-Arab sounds and virtuoso oud playing, with lyrics performed in Algerian Darija that explore the bittersweet complexities of "the life" (la vida)—touching on themes of destiny (mektoub), resilience, and the rapture of celebration amidst daily struggles.

We all know this. The ups and downs of life. I wish I had the lyrics of the song so that I could fully appreciate what is being sung about. I just noticed that the word could has the word oud in it and also the letters for the word cloud. Makes me want to say, the oud, the instrument of the clouds. Perhaps if you want to make the rain fall you play the oud. The word loud is also contained in the word cloud. Makes me reflect on the term, life lived out loud. My friend Chatty tells me that living life out loud means embracing your truth boldly and unapologetically, letting your inner rhythm be heard in every choice, feeling, and moment. I guess life has its quiet moments and its loud moments. Similarly to the ups and downs of life.

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