With 'La Realité' Amadou and Mariam have written a song that seems contradictory -- a rousing dance to fatalism. The lyrics, 'some will live, others will die, while some will laugh, others will cry -- while some will sleep, others must be vigilant, and that's reality', is set in a minor mode, and yet this is toe-tapping stuff, with Amadou showing off his blues chops, and urging everyone to dance. The video itself is a star studded affair, set in a suburb of France, where we find Manu Chao, Ivory Coast Reggae star Tiken Ja Fakoly, French actor Vincent Cassel, Writer, boxer and actor Rachid Djadani, and Rapper Doudou Masta (of hip hop band 113), all swarming around a combination hair salon and general bootleg merchandise store. In hindsight there is irony in this video‹Rachid Djadani made his reputation writing about the unrest in the Parisian suburbs. And while Amadou may not have had immigrant discontent in mind when he wrote the song, the video certainly seems somewhat prescient.
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