MUSICROUGHGUIDES

THE ROUGH GUIDE to the music of

Palestine

Strolling through downtown Ramallah, tourists are often greeted with much welcome. The vroom of local traffic and the jingling of cups at street side coffee stalls add to the bustle of a busy urban landscape. There is a sense of normalcy that accompanies the everydayness of life. However, crossing the border from nearby Jerusalem into the occupied Palestinian territories to get to Ramallah is a bone-chilling experience. The Israeli built ‘separation fence,’ checkpoints, soldiers and watchtowers glare down at you, peering in through the windows of hushed buses, reminding all those who cross of the horrifying divisions that rip deep through this disputed region. But once inside and hurried off the bus, the city vividly throngs and hums with the joys, frustrations and charms of its resident’s daily lives. Palestinians are fiercely aware of their oppressed status, but they are also, just like everywhere else, noisy, musical, creative individuals living together in the common chaos that mankind creates. This compilation includes voices of Palestinians who live in the occupied Palestinian territories, in Israel, and in the diaspora: music is one of the ways in which Palestinians communicate their identity no matter where they live, and no matter their circumstances.

‘Toot Ard’ are a roots Arabic reggae band, and its members are Druze hailing from the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Their lyrics deal with universal themes: return to nature, the disappearance of national borders and the idea of freedom.

Jowan Safadi is an avant-garde rocker from Nazareth who makes ‘Hafla (Party) Rock’ but is here featured on an African blues vibed number, written in identification with the civilian population of Gaza under the onslaught of the IDF attacks on Gaza in 2008-2009. Khalas are a full-fat heavy metal band that ramps it up on ‘Badek Zafi’ with thrashing guitars and a Sufi-inspired ney.

Shadi Zaqtan’s thoughtful contribution ‘Fi Ballad’ angles towards an acoustic singer-songwriter feel. Swinging ‘Ya Ktabna’ is contributed by Momken Band. Their album Keif Kan sets the words of contemporary Palestinian poets and writers to jazzy big band arrangements. Futuristic sharp-edged ‘Tojann’ is by jazz guitarist and composer Michel Sajrawy from Nazareth and it represents Sajrawy’s interpretation of a style he terms ‘Arab-bop’.

Amal Murkus hails from Kufr Yasif in the Galilee. Her distinctive vocal timbre and passionate style is inspired by the folk music of her beloved homeland and by the great classical divas of Arabic music. Amal features again as a guest on the atmospheric track ‘If I Could Go Back In Time’ with the most highly-profiled Palestinian hip-hop collective DAM, in a song that comes out against the practice of honor killings. Sanaa Moussa is another solo female singer. ‘Wea’younha’ is taken from her 2010 album Ishraq (Reminiscence), a back-to-the-future interpretation of Palestinian folksongs inspired by her grandmother’s

oral performances. Haya Zaatry works on a more acoustic flex on the gentle guitar-led ‘Manakir’. The subject matter deals with the issue of sexual identity and diversity in Palestine.

Oud maestro Hosam Hayek is heard on ‘Give Me The Flute,’ taken from his album Stranger In My Homeland. Awan Quartet features oud alongside violin, piano and percussion on ‘Nahawand,’ a classical Arabic form updated through this modernistic interpretation. Le Trio Jourban also underline the importance of the oud in Palestinian music playing in trio formation on the driving track ‘Nawwâr,’ backed by the rhythmic articulation of ‘palmas’ that link the Middle East with Roma traditions from Spain.

Arabic folk-rock band Walla’at are from Akka in northern Israel and are led by charismatic Kher Fody. Singer and oudist Kamilya Jubran is a veteran of Sabreen, one of the most influential Palestinian bands of the 1980s and 1990s. Kamilya has since developed her own experimental style, and on this album she is heard collaborating with Swiss composer Werner Hasler on a spacey electronica track.

Palestine is a land with a uniquely scarred history and its creative voices are often overlooked in the reportage of its crises. This Rough Guide celebrates the passion and diversity of today’s thriving Palestinian music scenes.

SANAA MOUSSA - Sanaa Moussa’s songs are a tribute to Palestinian women and their folklore. Her album Ishraq is a collection of ten songs inspired by folksongs and lullabies sung by the women of her homeland. The album addresses different themes of joy, separation, love, war, marriage and birth.

LE TRIO JOUBRAN - Oud ensemble Le Trio Joubran are three brothers that draw on Palestinian musical traditions together. Their heritage was cemented through infusion in their parents’ home: father Hatem Mbadda Joubran is a renowned string-instrument maker and mother, Ibtisam Hannah Joubran is a singer.

DAM FEAT. AMAL MURKUS - DAM are a Palestinian hip-hop crew living in Lydda. Their infamous track ‘Min Irhabi (Who’s the Terrorist?)’ brought them to internet fame across the Middle East in 2001. The band’s career has since led them to perform all over the world, spreading awareness for the Palestinians’ cause and increasing visibility and opportunity for their Palestinian countrymen. Here they are joined by songstress Amal Murkus who appears twice on this compilation.

TOOT ARD – Brothers Hasan and Rami Nakhleh started listening to reggae as teenagers and have grown to include the likes of Tinariwen and Gnawa Diffusion in their musical diet. Today Toot Ard (Arabic for ‘strawberry’) consists of Rami on drums,

Hassan on guitar and lead vocals accompanied by Shady on guitar, Amr on sax and Yezan on bass. Their music grapples with the Middle Eastern political situation from a universal perspective. They describe the content of their message as one that involves ‘nature, hallucinations and of prehistoric man’, harkening back to a time prior to national borders and Palestinian oppression.

MOMKEN BAND - Momken Band features a line-up of young, aspirational Palestinian musicians. Their album Keif Kan is a result of twenty-four months of hard work that coalesced into nine songs. The lyrics have been adapted from original writings by various contemporary Palestinian poets and writers.

JOWAN SAFADI - Jowan Safadi has been committed to contributing to the Palestinian cause via his music consistently. The line-up of his Bir al-Sabah-based rock/electronica band Lenzez featured anti-Zionist Israeli musicians in the line-up. He released three albums with Lenzez before facing concerns that Israeli spectators were manipulating the project to act as a PR stunt for an artificially framed Palestinian-Israeli ‘co-existence’ that white-washed gruesome realities. Jowan became increasingly politicized after the Second Intifada and moved to Haifa to form the band Fish-Samak with Palestinian musicians.

HOSAM HAYEK - Hosam Hayek was born in 1970 to a Palestinian family in Shefa-’Amr.

He began to play the guitar and oud at a young age, eventually moving to Istanbul to record his first album. His later return to his homeland saw him take up a post teaching Arabic music at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. ‘Give Me The Flute’ is taken from his first album Stranger In My Homeland released on Doublemoon Records.

AMAL MURKUS - Amal Murkus is a Palestinian singer who lives in Israel. Her music draws from a variety of Mediterranean styles and expresses the marginalization of Palestinian culture. Amal is an active member of the counselling board for Freemuse, the independent organisation that advocates and defends freedom of expressions for musicians and composers worldwide.

AWAN GROUP - Awan Group is a quartet whose members met while studying at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. The friends decided to form a group following a performance in which violinist Akram Abdulfattah, oud player Luay Abbasi and pianist Ghadi Abou Semaan came together to perform a piece by Turkish composer Mehmet Resat Aysu. Soon percussionist Maen Ghoul joined the mix and the band was formed. Abdulfattah explains that the mission of the group is to ‘create Arabic music, and perform that music at a high standard of technical excellence throughout the Arab world.’

HAYA ZAATRY & GHANNI 3AN TA3RIF - Ghanni ‘am Ta’rif is a musical project produced

Amal Murkus

01 SANAA MOUSSA Wea’younha from the album ISHRAQ REMINISCENCE (music Mohammad Moussa, words Waseem Al Kurdi, arr. Bishara Al-Khell) Copyright Control. Licensed from A.M. Qattan Foundation & Sanaa Moussa.

02 LE TRIO JOUBRAN Nawwâr from the album ASFÂR (Le Trio Joubran) pub Randana. Licensed from World Village.

03 DAM FEAT AMAL MURKUS If I Could Go Back In Time from the album DABKE ON THE MOON (Tamer Nafar/Nabil Nafar) Copyright Control. Licensed from DAM, www.damrap.com

04 TOOT ARD Ash-Sham from the album NURI ANDABURI (Hasan Nakhleh/Rami Nakhleh) pub Jamaa. Licensed from Toot Ard and Jamaa.

05 MOMKEN BAND Ya Ktabna from the album KEIF KAN (words Waddah Zaqtan, music Wassim Qassis, arr. Imad Salsa) Copyright Control. Licensed from Momken Band.

06 JOWAN SAFADI Tayran Ababil PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (trad) Copyright Control. Licensed from Jowan Safadi.

07 HOSAM HAYEK Give Me The Flute from the album STRANGER IN MY HOMELAND (Najib Hankash) Copyright Control. Licensed from Hosam Kayek/Doublemoon Recordings.

08 AMAL MURKUS Doq from the album BAGANNI (music Naseem Dakwar, words Marzoq Halabi, arr Mahran moreb) Copyright Control. Licensed from Al-amal Prudaction.

09 AWAN GROUP Nahawand from the album QARAR (Akram Abdulfattah) Copyright Control. Licensed from Akram Abdulfattah.

10 HAYA ZAATRY & GHANNI 3AN TA3RIF Manakir from the album GHANNI 3AN TA3RIF (Haya Zaatry) pub Copryright Control. Licensed from Haya Zaatry.

11 SHADI ZAQTAN Fi Balad from the album ABOUT A COUNTRY (trad) Copyright Control. Licensed from Shadi Zaqtan.

12 MICHEL SAJRAWY Tojann from the album ARABOP (DM001CD) (Michel Sajrawy) pub Edition Ozella. Licensed from Michel Sajrawy.

13 WALAAT MUSIC BAND Alla Shiklo Shakshiklo from the album LAO SHIRBO IL BAHAR (Kher Fody) Copyright Control. Licensed from Kher Fody.

14 KHALAS Badek Zafi from the album ARABIC ROCK ORCHESTRA (trad) pub MMG IL. Licensed from Khalas.

15 KAMILYA JUBRAN & WERNER HASLER Al-Shaatte’ Al-Akhar from the album WAMEEDD (UTR4161) (Kamilya Jubran/ Werner Hasler) Copyright Control. Licensed from Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler.

Series produced by Phil Stanton. Compiled by Nili Belkind & Nadeem Karkabi. Mastered by Laurence Cedar. Coordinated by Brad Haynes. Sleeve notes by Rachel Jackson.

Design by Brad Haynes. Front cover image licensed from Getty Images.

With thanks to John Duhigg and all at Rough Guides, Sandra Alayón-Stanton and all at World Music Network. Produced by World Music Network in association with Rough Guides. The World Music Network name and logo are registered trademarks of World

Music Network UK Ltd.

by Al-Qaws (Rainbow), an organization that aims to raise awareness about sexual diversity issues in Arab society, to which Zaatry has contributed this track, ‘Manakir’. Haya Zaatry is a young singer from Nazareth who has harnessed the power of youtube uploading to promote her silky smooth voice and heartfelt delivery.

SHADI ZAQTAN - Shadi Zaqtan was raised in Damascus, Beirut, Amman and Tunis before his exiled family returned to Palestine following the 1990s ‘peace agreement’ that has not materialized. Alongside his musical career, Shadi has worked as a News Editor. His journalistic tone informing his singer-songwriter viewpoint and lyrical flow.

MICHEL SAJRAWY - Michel Sajrawy is from Nazareth. His jazz brand of music melds rock, Arabic rhythmic patterns, and traditional Islamic influences into a fresh new sound world. Michel studied performance and composition in London before returning to Nazareth to set up his busines, Dasam Studio, where he began to release his seminal crossover jazz albums.

WALLAAT MUSIC BAND - Wallaat was established by Kher Fody in 2002. Kher Fody hails from Akka and leads the ensemble with heartfelt lyrics and lead vocals. Maher Khoury plays acoustic guitar and sings and bassist Wafid Mansour anchors the sound.

KHALAS - Palestinian hard-rock band Khalas

encapsulate the dynamic youth movement currently taking place in the Middle East. They cite influences from AC/DC to Oum Kolthum, from System of a Down to Asmahan. Their 2004 debut album landed them a large fanbase and a tour in Sarajevo, Spain and Italy. In heir second album Arabic Rock Orchestra (2013) they have expanded their concept to infuse direct manifestations of classical Arabic music into their sound.

KAMILYA JUBRAN & WERNER HASLER - After twenty years as lead woman of the Palestinian band Sabreen, Kamilya Jubran met Werner Hasler in Switzerland. The duo began working together, combining Kamilya’s voice with Werner’s trumpet and electronica effects. Their modern minimalist result is a testament to both musicians’ forward-thinking creative outlook.

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