Today I’m thinking of the children of Palestine and Israel and their Sesame Streets.
According to a commenter on the Israeli Sesame clip below, En Den Dino demonstrates indecision and is sung in both Hebrew and Arabic. The Arabic lyrics are subtitled on the video: “We dance and spin around / Everyone stands in a circle / Spinning round just like a wheel / And jump up on three and yell, “Boom!” / One, two, three, boom!
Please don’t read too deeply into the line about going “boom”… if you watched the entire clip you’d have noticed the next Arabic verse: “And live in peace with eternal love / Let’s live with love / No need to find a reason / in English, we say love / In Arabic, it’s “hob” / One, two, three, boom!”
But the focus in the media is on Palestine’s Shara’a Shimshim having suffered from aid withdrawal by the US Congress. Check out their super catchy opening credits. (What I wouldn’t give for a collection of songs from this TV series…)
Looking now to another interesting version of the Sesame back in the US. Imagine you were a Jewish kid in the US and lived in a particularly Jewish county. You’d have access to Sesame Street tailored directly for your eyes! Shalom Sesame had seasons in 1986, 1990 and 2010 on certain PBS-member stations (as opposed to the main Sesame having broadcasts on every PBS station) and include muppet characters from the Israeli version… From 2010′s season: Help Jake Gyllenhaal find the Afikoma!
