Rihlat at Tahaddi
(english: Journey of Challenge)
Cassette recording of two popular Libyan songs against the UN sanctions
In 1992, when the UN sanctions came into force, it became the doom
for Libyan Arab Airlines all over the world. No Libyan flagg carrier was
permitted take-off or landing in any member state of the UN. Libyan Arab
Airlines do still exist.....as domestic flights inside Libya. However,
LAA is today only a very crippled version of a modern airline. Before the
UN sanctions, LAA-flights took off from all over the world at a daily basis
- in domestic flights, LAA had up to 8 daily take-offs from the capitol
Tripoli to the second largest city Benghasi. Today there are hardly 4 flights
a week.
But I wouldn't recommend anyone taking a domestic flight between Libyan
cities: 6 years of lacking mechanical spare parts has made the trip with
LAA a risky business. At least two major plane crashes with lethal casualties
due to lack of spare parts has been reported by the Libyan Aviation Board.
In 1993 a former
LAA pilot, now unemployed because of the UN sanctions, found a new job:
he started a pop band, called himself Captain Mayday and the Pilots,
and found his own way of battling the UN sanctions against his country.
He recorded two popular songs about how little the people of Libya really
cared and about how many times his former airline company defied the sanctions
by lifting off Libyan airports and landing in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere,
despite the screams of anger coming from the UN Security Council. The two
songs became quite a hit on the Libyan bill boards.
1) Assaqr Saeid Nahara (in english: The Falcon is Happy Today)
2) Anned Esaqr wa Taar Fauq el Qimma (in english: The Falcon
Resisted and Flew over the Top)
The cassette Rihlat at Tahaddi was recorded and published on
the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution in 1994.
Copies of the cassette can be acquired at the Libyan Company for Artistic
Publishing and Printing in Tripoli, Omar Mokhtar Street 320 in Libya, phone
+ 218 21 4444709.