Cradle of Civilisation - LowKey, Mai Khalil

I remember when I was growing up, if my mother got angry or frustrated with me,

she’d say…"oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya"

…and the basic translation of that is «Oh, how beautiful is freedom»

But where is freedom?

(Oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya) x3

Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying

(Oh, esh ked heluwa el hurriya) x3

Where is our freedom?

This is for Baghdad, the place of my mothers birth

The cradle of civilization, for what it’s worth

The land I’ve never seen, culture I’ve never known

Iraq is in my heart, my blood, my flesh and bones

The air I’ve never breathed, fragrance I’ve never smelt

The pride I never had, the nationality that I never felt

Saddam was bad, are the American’s even more so?

They made me groan like I was missing part of my torso

But I never picked up a grenade in my garden

I never saw people I love die starving

I never saw my family die through many years of sanctions

While the ruler’s family lived in palaces and mansions

Never had a family member kidnapped for a ransom

Never lost a friend to violence that was random

Bombings, occupation, torture, intimidation

A million dead people doesn’t equal liberation

Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying

Listen!

Where is our freedom?

Forget division based on ethnicity or religion

Whether you Sunni, Shia, Kurdish or Christian

Pain is still pain if you’re a person that’s missing

We all deserve a life in this earth that we live in

Is there enough words that can say

How deeply Baghdad is burnin' today

And it’s not about pity, hands out or sympathy

It’s about pride, respect, honour and dignity

Babies being born with deformities from uranium

Those babies aren’t just Iraqi, they’re Mesopotamian

What I view on the news is making me shiver

Cause I look at the victims and see the same face in the mirror

This system of division makes it harder for you and me

Peace is a question, the only answer is unity

So many dreams about this place that I’ve never seen

The place my family had to leave in the 70's

Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying

Where is our freedom?

It rains white phosphorus in Fallujah

This is for those that won’t live to see the future

Sorry that I wasn’t there, Sorry that I couldn’t help

I’m sorry for every tear, Sorry you’ve been put through hell

Still I feel like an immigrant, Englishman amongst Arabs and an Arab amongst

Englishmen

Like I said they never gave me the culture

But they did give me Kubbat Halab, Hakaka and Dolma

Ana isme Kareem

Wa ohmre thalatha wa-'ishrun

Umi min Baghdad, wa abuya min Dover

And that’s the combination that I carry on my shoulders

Still I rep, till my death, till they kill and steal my flesh

From now all the way back to Gilgamesh

Such a villianized and criticized nation

You will always be the cradle of civilization

Close my eyes, I can still hear my ummi saying

Where is our freedom?

In my sleep, in my dreams Motherland I can still feel you calling me

In my sleep, in my dreams Motherland I can still feel you calling me

In my sleep, in my dreams Motherland I can still feel you calling me

I can still feel you calling me

I can still feel you calling me