Recently I found this wonderful CD titled Allah Knows. Ever since Haqim was hooked on I Look, I See, I had always tried to find something similar to Yusuf Islam's CD. Which basically means an Islamic English musical CD that would appeal to children.
And I found it - in Allah Knows. Zain Bhika is just brilliant and his songs are simply awesome! They tackle issues more complex than those in I Look, I See and appeals to youths as well. It's a shame not many people know of him and his songs. His songs deal with greed, drugs, being a Muslim today and many others.
Try google the man, he is a South African who really does make beautiful music. And the vocals are also fantastic!
Everyone has his own favorites now but one that has a special place in my heart is Slowly Slow.
You see, I have a rather complicated realtionship with my first born. I love him no doubt, but perhaps the fact that he is at that 'difficult' age makes things somewhat sticky between him and us sometimes. He gets his foot in his mouth a lot, and he hardly stops to think of the consequence of the things he says and does - May well be what a 14 year old kid does by nature...But I do worry about him so. I worry that he may make rash decisions in life and I worry that he doesn't know that I love him.
Anyhow, I found this song to be perfect. I made him listen to it, with the beautiful lyrics in his hand.
To Shaf, you'll always be the coolness in my eyes...and I love you, more than you'll ever know....
Slowly Slow
Slowly slow my child
The world waits for you
And your window of time
Will come shining through
Slowly slow, don’t rush you know
It’ll all come easy
There’s some things you can’t take back
No regrets for what you wanna get
Needs some thinking down the line
Slowly slow my darling I’m here for you
And every stumble, every fall
Breaks my heart in two
I only want the best for you
And every step makes up the mile
Even though it takes a while
And God will always smile on you my child
Chorus:
So have faith, have faith
Just like the bird who feels the sun
And sings before the dawn has come
Have faith, have faith
Slowly slow my boy
I see you’re strong
And everybody wants to find
A place where they belong
But don’t you find yourself someday
In a cold and dark and lonely place
And you wonder how you got there
I know it gets clouded in your mind
And you wanna move faster
It seems that you’re running out of time
But I love you
Together we’ll get through
Don’t you know
Slowly slow Slowly slow my son
You wanna be a man
And I guess those days are gone
When I used hold your hand
Cause this is the age of winks and smiles
And butterflies deep inside
But you’ll always be the coolness of my eyes
Chorus
Slowly slow my child
The world waits for you
And your window of time
Will come shining through
Slowly slow, don’t rush you know
It’ll all come easy
Monday, November 12, 2007
BM, English, BM, English
I would like to comment on the current issue brought up by the good Senator with regards to switching back to Bahasa Malaysia for the subjects of Math and Science in schools.
I disagree that we switch back to Bahasa. As a parent I feel our children are constantly at the losing end. In the long run they do not benefit if we keep changing policies at the whim and fancy of some politician.
Some say we should agree with the Senator’s suggestion quoting that the Japanese and Korean “masih boleh hebat di kacamata dunia walaupun kekal dengan bahasa ibunda masing masing”. All I can say is this - masaalah nya bangsa malaysia tak sama dengan Bangsa Jepun.
The sad fact is the Malaysian mentality – more specifically the Malay mentality is nothing like the Japanese or the Koreans. In general we lack that drive to succeed and that burning passion to reach for the stars. The sooner we are able to admit to that, the quicker we can all truly move forward.
The generation of my parents all studied in English, at a time when they had no tv, much less Astro. They had little access to English books without any large bookstores around other than what they had at the school libraries. Their means of speaking English were generally confined to within school hours where they interacted with their teachers. Now, have they all turned out forgetting how to speak Bahasa Malaysia or God forbid become totally westernized and forgotten their roots? I don’t think so.
If anything, when our children enter universities, local or abroad, they will not be intimated when they suddenly find themselves with learning materials that will be in the English language,. The fact is they will be able to communicate with ease when they join the workforce because when you begin life as a working adult English is widely spoken, whether we like it or not.
One does not abandon one’s culture that easily. We are all proud to be Malaysians – studying Math and Science in English is not going to make these kids any less Malaysians…dear Dato’. We have much bigger issues to fret over, let’s put that energy to better use. Finding capable teachers would be a good start.
I disagree that we switch back to Bahasa. As a parent I feel our children are constantly at the losing end. In the long run they do not benefit if we keep changing policies at the whim and fancy of some politician.
Some say we should agree with the Senator’s suggestion quoting that the Japanese and Korean “masih boleh hebat di kacamata dunia walaupun kekal dengan bahasa ibunda masing masing”. All I can say is this - masaalah nya bangsa malaysia tak sama dengan Bangsa Jepun.
The sad fact is the Malaysian mentality – more specifically the Malay mentality is nothing like the Japanese or the Koreans. In general we lack that drive to succeed and that burning passion to reach for the stars. The sooner we are able to admit to that, the quicker we can all truly move forward.
The generation of my parents all studied in English, at a time when they had no tv, much less Astro. They had little access to English books without any large bookstores around other than what they had at the school libraries. Their means of speaking English were generally confined to within school hours where they interacted with their teachers. Now, have they all turned out forgetting how to speak Bahasa Malaysia or God forbid become totally westernized and forgotten their roots? I don’t think so.
If anything, when our children enter universities, local or abroad, they will not be intimated when they suddenly find themselves with learning materials that will be in the English language,. The fact is they will be able to communicate with ease when they join the workforce because when you begin life as a working adult English is widely spoken, whether we like it or not.
One does not abandon one’s culture that easily. We are all proud to be Malaysians – studying Math and Science in English is not going to make these kids any less Malaysians…dear Dato’. We have much bigger issues to fret over, let’s put that energy to better use. Finding capable teachers would be a good start.
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