Land Far Away by Muslim female rap duo, Poetic Pilgrimage, is a remix of the reggae classic Satta Massagana by the Rastafarian musical group, The Abyssinians.
Land Far Away - Poetic Pilgrimage
My first impression was that mixing Islam with Rastafarian themes was odd until I really started thinking about how the Quran also deals with the subject of the Exodus of the children of Israel to the Promised Land. Furthermore, the general themes of land and migration show up in other Islamic contexts as well, from the travels of Abraham (as), to the Hajj to Mecca, to the hijra which marks the turning point of the Islamic calendar, to the Night Journey to al Aqsa (the "farther mosque" so literally a Land Far Away), to the "minor hijra" in Abyssinia, to the Garden. We are always traveling.
Satta Massagana - Abyssinians (the standard "studio" version)
Satta Massagana - Abyssinians (a "rootsier" version from a documentary about Rastafari)
Happy Land - Carlton & the Shoes (an earlier song which inspired Satta Massagana)
Land Far Away - Poetic Pilgrimage
My first impression was that mixing Islam with Rastafarian themes was odd until I really started thinking about how the Quran also deals with the subject of the Exodus of the children of Israel to the Promised Land. Furthermore, the general themes of land and migration show up in other Islamic contexts as well, from the travels of Abraham (as), to the Hajj to Mecca, to the hijra which marks the turning point of the Islamic calendar, to the Night Journey to al Aqsa (the "farther mosque" so literally a Land Far Away), to the "minor hijra" in Abyssinia, to the Garden. We are always traveling.
Satta Massagana - Abyssinians (the standard "studio" version)
Satta Massagana - Abyssinians (a "rootsier" version from a documentary about Rastafari)
Happy Land - Carlton & the Shoes (an earlier song which inspired Satta Massagana)
