April 3, 2008 | 4:53 pm

Francky Perez’ hip-hop ‘Hatikvah’ en Français

Posted by JewishJournal.com

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I can’t feature this video on our home page yet because it’s only in Hebrew and French (no English) but this hip-hop version of ‘Hatikvah’ by Francky Perez et Broadway is stunning.

Stay tuned for a subtitled version in two weeks, Francky says.

Meanwhile, here are my subtitles:

Hatikvah, English:

As long as in the heart, within,
A Jewish soul is yearning,
And to the edges of the East, forward,
An eye gazes towards Zion,
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem

Hatikvah, transilterated:

Kol od baleivav p’nimah
Nefesh y’hudi homiyah
Ulfa’atei mizrach kadimah
Ayin l’tziyon tzofiyah

Od lo avdah tikvateinu
Hatikvah bat sh’not alpayim
Lihyot am chofshi b’artzeinu
Eretz tziyon viyrushalayim

Francky Perez raps:

If you knew how I love her, you’d see how I feel
If you know where I’m from then you know what Is-real
If you’ve bled like we’ve bled, died like we’ve died
Seen what we’ve seen and cried like we cried.

You know how we love her, treat her like a son does his mother
Or a father does his son, and the brothers do each other
For every stone we move, and all the land we lose
As life get hot like the desert sands in June

And everywhere is the same, and the only real change is
Everyday new faces that feel the same hatred
It’s like we’re caught in the Matrix, we need The One to save us
The can bomb us, the can kill us, but they will never break us

The beach air is so clear, and the sand is like cotton
In a land that’s been foresaken but has never been forgotten and
I turn to the East and pray as the sun warms my skin
The voices of my elders and the places they have been

We have overcome the wait, overcome our fate
Underestimated and overcome the pain
5000 years of history, whether you know it or not
That’s why we defend the Land like it’s all that we’ve got

‘Cause it’s the only safe place to raise my kids
The family how can it be so hard to let us live
They welcome me with open arms, even though times are hard
As peace is like a memory that drifts between the songs

We built this city out of blood, made buildings out of mud
That’s why I wrote this song—for respect and out of love
For my descendants, every like every sentence
It’s time for us to celebrate our independence

This is God’s city, Jerusalem—Yerushalayim
The only place where we live without the fear of dying
Doctor, mothers, sons, prophets and teachers
Believe is what we do—od lo avda tikvateinu

—The Web Guy