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The giraffe symbolises generosity and non-violence and also Royalty, but in dreams it mostly means the desire to distantiate the mind from the physical body. It is while hiking Table mountain in Cape Town, in South Africa aiming at the top that I heard these words from the mouth of an old man as if he was telling a story to his grand- son….The Indigo child wasn’t at all listening, probably enjoying imagining, with a smile on his face, the big load of personal objects he would hide in his grand-parents house … I had an appointment at the top with a singer, performer, a carpenter of deformed words, tortured from width to length.. I decided to take a break on the way, enjoying a different view on the world. I have a good feeling. Zebras from the Cap mountain approach, one blinking his left eye. I thought he had a nervous tic but when I got closer, I then saw he wanted to speak to me …. the Zebra told: the 7 years of trials and tribulations are over, dear friend, seven years of anguish, anxiety, being locked-up, having to put up with treason and cowardliness. Here you are bathing into an ocean of bitter tears , but you hold on to the cape, and this is exactly here at the cape that you came to climb up the mountain, at less than two thousand kms away from Maputo, which has nothing to do with Mapuetos, but you thought about it, you thought about the oneiric confusion, isn’t it ? Did you really have a dream about Mapuetos ? Did u read through this soothing dream ? Isn’ it a spelling mistake ? We dream and we wake up and how do we know that what we remember from the dream is the Actual dream ? How ? You thought about it, right ? Because you told yourself that reality is that which we engage in ; action dictates reality and not the other way around…Did you have a headache when you woke up ? Those strange nights for witchcraft, remember, in Marrakech ? Remember Mapuetos, wasn’t it a curse, the wrong way, a nice way of diverting you, of killing you …gradually ? Just Go ! Follow the way ! Climb ! You will see that the answer is probably on the top of the mountain.You have burnt so many incense sticks, so much papier d’armenie ,Eritrean aromatic paper, rose candles, love fragranced shirts from the past, constant shipwrecks like whispers of the tide, you have burnt so much incense I said, that your altar has disappeared into the ashes.You will have to inspire .

I am stunned, watching the Zebra disappear, turning around once more, it smiles at me. I proceed ascending, I was right not to use the lift, I discover a cave dug in sandstone, and in the dark I scream Mapuetos Mapuetos, where are you ? A cave with no echo…Disappointed, I leave the cave and continue my journey to finally arrive where Al Clapper has been waiting for me.. for a few hours or a few years.Time is playing tricks on us. He wears curly hair, a white shirt wide open on his chest, rolled up sleeves, a blue pair of shorts, long fingered hands, a generous smile. The closer I get to him, the more I feel his positive energy, his artistic aura, his unique beauty. He stands up and shakes my hand and says : I am delighted to meet you, Mr Patrick Lowie, it’s an honor. But there is an inconvenience, I totally forgot about my big concert tomorrow. I won’t be able to stay long unless you accompany me. I was so happy, shattered but still happy. Sitting next to him, I notice the Portuguese float drop anchor at the bay, and Antonio de Saldanha getting fresh supplies of water and fruit. The place is magnificent, the young man continues, it’s like a kind of a festival and it’s quite far. If we leave now, we will get there by night fall and I won’t be able to check the location. Outdoors, it is, I’ll give you a tent to sleep in. Everything went as he described, we arrived in the middle of the night, fell asleep immediately. Inside the tent, I must have dreamt again, good dreams and nightmares, but reassuring ones.

The next day, we chatted about life, the world and the future. Al Clapper told me while staring at me: theses trials have made you stronger, and have taught you precious lessons. Don’t you worry, we were born to save the world. He wasn’t mistaken and never would I have thought to be that capable of attracting such resilience and employing such ingenuity against adversity. We got ready and went to do get the rest of the band. We just got lost as we were looking for the stage and ended up in a huge natural reservation filled with animals heading towards the same direction. Al Clapper started to snap Traduction everything he was seeing. It was wonderful ! Taken into the trap of beauty, he realizes the concert has started without him. He then runs, I try following him, I give up, I see him getting up on a giraffe and speeding towards the stage just in time to sing the last song. Al Clapper’s voice sprinkles your being with a new fragrance.The audience makes an ovation, I look behind, to my left, to my right, and notice that I am surrounded by zebras. All the public is Zebras who dance joyfully and happily. One of them tells me : so, finally, so many victories won with high struggles have blessed you with such a beautiful energy that the game was worth the candle, right ?

Who's Al-Clapper ?
Al Clapper is a South African singer and copywriter born in 1991 in Pretoria. He currently resides in Cape Town.

See online : Al Clapper's Instagram

Traduction : Eva Berge