This Week's Playlist #32 - The Palestine edition
Week #32 - The Palestine edition
TL;DR: I'm running a weekly newsletter with 5 songs and a short description, and a matching Spotify playlist if you want to subscribe.
For the non-Spotify readers, there is a Youtube link for each of the songs on the cover.
Hello everyone!
Week 32!
Another week of sad news headlines and another endless downward spiral of violence between Israel and Palestine. I appreciate that politics are difficult (even impossible) to evade when writing about this topic (especially considering how little I know about it). I'm trying to keep this week's selection of bands focused on peace rather than politics.
I hope you enjoy it!
Le Trio Joubran - The Age Of Industry
Le Trio Joubran is three brothers descending from a family of « Oud » (Arabic lute) makers and players for four generations... the grand grand-father, the grandfather, the father and now the son. Their most recent album brings much more occidental influence in their music, including a featuring from Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
Full album: The Long March (2018)
DAM - Emta Njawzak Yamma (When will we marry you?)
DAM is the Palestinian hip-hop pioneer. The members met in Lod, a mixed Arab/Jewish city southeast of Tel Aviv. DAM stands for both "eternity" in Arabic and "blood" in Hebrew… or just Da Arabian MCs in hip-hop parlance.
They are rapping in English, then Hebrew and Arabic. Their international is growing, especially here in the UK. They started to write initially about the Arab-Israeli conflict obviously, but equally about broader peace movements and some of the social challenges faced by a Palestinian woman under occupation.
Full album: Ben Haana Wa Maana (2019)
TootArd (Arabic for strawberries) are the younger, cooler kids of this booming musical scene. They are from the Golan heights, playing some psychedelic blues rock, morphed reggae and classical Arabic melodies (very influenced by Tinariwen, the Tuareg blues rock stars). Very upbeat, infused with Middle Eastern dance floor beats :-)
Full album: Laissez Passer (2017)
Khalas (Arabic for enough) is a Palestinian rock band with grunge/metal influences (you know me too well now :-)) They combine Arabic lyrics, traditional Arab instruments, and beats with modern and aggressive heavy metal.
Full album: Arabic Rock Orchestra (2013)
Orphaned Land - Let the truce be known
The Israeli band on this week's playlist. Orphaned Land is Israel's most prominent heavy metal band (with a strong folk influence).
They are constantly pushing a message of positivity and Jewish-Arabic solidarity. To this extent, they have won several peace awards, including for their joint European tour with Khalas in 2013 or for releasing music on the same record in 2021.
Full album: All Is One (2013)
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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Previous episodes
Week #31: The City edition (& a heavy metal bonus)
Week #30: The Piano edition
Week #29: The Heatwave edition
Week #28: The Bastille Day edition (+ another a heavy metal bonus)
Week #27: The "Best albums of 2022 so far" edition
Week #26: Happy summer
Week #25: The Hellfest edition
Week #24: The Pride edition
Week #23: The Basketball edition
Week #22: The Bank Holiday edition (+ another a heavy metal bonus)
Week #20: The Vangelis edition
Week #19: The Saxophone edition
Week #18: The Lebanese edition
Week #17: The "Labour Day" edition
Week #16: The "My friends got talent" edition
Week #15: Happy Easter
Week #14: Famous bands I started to listen to at the age of 40
Week #13: The Number of the Beast edition
Week #12: The Fat of the Land edition
Week #11: The Modern Soul voices
Week #10: Heavy metal goes pop music
Week #09: The Mask edition
Week #08: RIP Mark Lanegan
Week #07:
Week #06:
Week #05: The readers’ digest
Week #04:
Week #03: Albums for 2022 2/2
Week #02: Albums for 2022 1/2
Week #01: Happy New Year