This is the first line in a youth anthem if you like that has doggedly followed me this week. To such an extent that I capitulated and learnt the words! It was sung by the workshop group every day and my driver had it on cassette... So I had no choice
Music was an important part of the day today. I spent the better part of the day at a youth festival organised by GTZ and a local cultural group called Bibi Buluk (crazy god). It was a celebration of the youth of Timor and their creativity - drama, poetry, dance and music bringing teenagers together (but not too closely in this very conservative & traditional society, at least as far as gender roles is concerned). And this song made an appearance - to a rapturous welcome with everyone joining in - even I - while doing a traditional circle dance, the tebe.
The words are:
Hei! Foesan Timor oan,
Hey young people of Timor
Hei, hei, hei foesan TImor oan.
Hey, hey, hey young people of Timor
O mak fini diak no esperansa
You are the seed and the hope
Timor niniam
Of Timor
O mak fini diak no esperansa
You are the seed and the hope
ba o nia rai.
for your country
Se, se los mak foti o nia rai
Who, who will build your nation?
Sé laos foensae Timor
If not you the young people of TImor?
Se se los mak foti o nia rai
Who, who will build your nation?
Sé laos o foensae Timor.
If not you the young people of Timor?
Hei, foensae Timor oan.
Hey young people of Timor
Hei, hei, hei foensae Timor oan
Hey, hey, hey young people of Timor
Katak o hatudu ba, ba mundu tomak
Go and show everyone, tell the whole world
Timor nia diak.
How good Timor is
Everyone knows this song. And even rival MAG members sing it with gusto once they've overcome their initial reticence in front of the opposition. I think the challenge is to make them believe the words and find ways to translate it into action.
The highlight for me was a demonstration by the Martial Arts Group, Kung Fu Master: 
Timorese Rock!
Another strange musical experience was Timorese rock. A little while after the community spiritof "Foensae Timor", another band came on, this time belting out some real heavy rock pieces, complete with drum solos! And they carried on.... And in the tradition of rock music, a lot of it was loud, very loud and to me somehow felt out of keeping with the 'peace' message of the day. I struggled to hear myself think above the din while talking to a real Kung Fu Master. While the participants may have enjoyed it, it did not garner the same boisterous reaction that Foensai Timor did either before or at the end of the day.
Letting one's hair down...
Now as I write this and reflect on the day, my hotel compound has been turned into the party capital of Dili it sounds like. Earlier I took a walk in the direction of the the hubub. The restaurant was hosting a live band and it seems as if this is the place where the internationals hang out. What looked like an Australian delegation had taken over the dance-floor which doubled as the pool deck when there is no band. This had dire consequences later on as one by one the members of the group were dunked - willingly or unwillingly - into the pool. All the while the band was playing everything from Rock Around the Clock to Achy Breaky Heart to Tequila Sunrise. It's one way to let your hair down after a week of sorting out other people's problems....
Two things struck me as I thoughtfully munched on my bowl of slap chips... One, that I have really missed dancing; it's been a really long time since I have been on a dance-floor and cut loose..The second thing as I felt my foot tap in time to the rhythm and felt my body sway in response to the beat was that my attention was drawn to two people: an elfin Thai girl with really great calves and a tattoo on her right ankle and a tall brunette, Brazilian perhaps, certainly not part of the group, dressed in a simple yet striking red dress.
And it wasn't that they were attractive that caught my eye, although that is true, it was that they were dancing in tune with the music. And how beautiful it is when one moves in time to the proper rhythm of the the beat, just letting it flow through you without fighting it or wanting it to fit into a preconceived notion of what should happen. Just letting it flow... Unlike some of the jagged attempts of some of the other members of the group.
And so as the Thai and Brazilian women wafted off into the surrounding gloom of the pool, I was thinking that maybe that's what needed here... Listening to the beat and finding the rhythm.....
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