When our class discussed how the portrayal of middle easterners is incredibly unbalanced in the media, the most immediate thought I had was, of course, music-related, because music is normally always on my mind. Specifically, one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands - "Suha," by Xiu Xiu. The lyrics, which appear on the bottom of my post, describe a middle-eastern woman who lives a miserable life being abused by her husband, her children, and nearly everyone around her. To describe her as nihilistic and suicidal would be be giving her too little credit; it's essentially the exact opposite of what Shihab Nye describes in all of her poems. As for Xiu Xiu themselves, it'd be a stretch to even refer to Xiu Xiu as a "rock" band, as they incorporate the more avant-garde elements of electronica, classical, traditional Japanese music, and folk, among others, into their sound, but Stewart's beautifully written and occasionally surreal prone is always at the forefront. He has a knack for getting into the head of the characters he rights about, and there are many, whether they be a gay jock-hating teen who secretly harbors lustful thoughts towards his high school's star quarterback or the androgynous young girl looked at with contempt by all her peers, with "Suha" only being one of these characters he portrays expertly. This Suha character is not at all like any of the characters Shihab Nye writes about: Suha has no time to indulge nostalgia (does she even have any positive memories to relive?) like her father does, no sense of pride like her grandmother, and absolutely none of the creative trappings Shihab Nye has, herself. I feel like Shihab Nye's vision of the middle east and its people, while true, is no more true than the depressive and ennui-crippled state of the Suha character in Xiu Xiu's song. They are both showing two sides to the middle eastern paradigm - both sides which need to be addressed by virtually everyone should a lucid picture of the middle east's going-ons be seen without trouble.
Some people might say, that with lyrics as blunt as "I hate my body, I hate the desert" and "I'm going to go hump a cop" that the song is portraying middle eastern women as weak, or stupid, or even lustful. But it's not like Jamie Stewart, Xiu Xiu's frontman and main songwriter, would be considered ignorant of "women's issues" (writing this phrase out left a bad taste in my mouth so I had to put quotes around it to prevent myself from falling into a coma), either. For example, He's open about his bisexuality in nearly every interview he's been in, spent his early twenties as a preschool teacher (a domain oft-thought to be under exclusive reign of women), and has even commented to the music press about how he strongly considered getting a sex change prior to forming the band (he wrote the song "Dr. Troll" about how he's felt like a girl since kindergarten). Stewart's unique position in life simply grants him a greater ability to empathisize with all sorts of personas.
Xiu Xiu - "Suha"
Lyrics written by Jamie Stewart
Link to song on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GacvwgKA810
Black lung got you down tonight
Saving it all for work
Suha pins her arms to her side
Watching her twin want to die
I hate my body, I hate the desert
Please let me escape
When will I be going home?
I hate my husband, I hate my children
I'm going to hang myself
When will I be going home?
Black hair got you down tonight
Black love, black cuts from your work
Weep like the busted girl you are
Wash down your hope in that car
I hate my body, I hate the desert
Please let me escape
When will I be going home?
I hate my husband, I hate my children
I'm going to hang myself
When will I be going home?
My name is Suha, I'm 25 years old
I'm going to hump a cop
When will I be going home?
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