Palestinian singers are changing their tune

Soundtrack for revolution

JERUSALEM (AP)

Palestinian singers are changing their tune — Rocky Mount Telegram, 17 July 1988 — Rocky Mount Telegram · Rocky Mount, North Carolina · 17 July 1988

Transcribed from the clipping

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian singers usually known for sentimental love songs have found a new kind of music: political anthems calling for violent revolt against Israel and glorifying young Arab stone-throwers.

Israeli authorities have blacklisted the songs on grounds they incite rebellion, but they are distributed secretly in recorded form and are heard widely in Arab east Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The current No. 1 hit, “Insurrection,” urges Palestinian children to “rise up with your stones.”

It booms from music stores and portable radios in east Jerusalem when Israeli police or soldiers are not around. In Bethlehem, junior high school students came from classes recently chanting the refrain of the song “Intefadeh” (Arabic for uprising): “With firebombs and stones, I make my revolution.”

Arab youths also gather around stereos at home and sing along to ballads such as “Palestinian,” whose lyrics say: “I fight for my identity, I fight for freedom, I fight for spring.” In Jerusalem, police have raided several music stores, confiscated tapes of songs about the uprising and charged store owners with incitement.

In the occupied territories, troops confiscate tapes of banned song if they find any during house searches, but they don't look specially for them, said a military official. “We act whenever we can, but this is not our first priority. We are too busy with other things.” Since the Dec.

8 start of the uprising, dozens of militant, anti-Israeli songs have surfaced in the occupied lands. They range from mournful ballads about the more than 200 Palestinians killed in clashes to stirring anthems glorifying teen-age stonethrowers. Intefadeh songs are recorded in makeshift studios in Jerusalem, taped from Syrian television or smuggled from Arab countries.

Some tapes are sold under the counter in music stores, while others are copied at home and passed along to friends. Among the two most popular song collections are “I Am The Son of Gaza” by the Syrian band “Palestine Roots” and “Intefadeh” by Riad Awad, a singer from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

“Palestine Roots” also sings “Insurrection,” while Awad has recorded “Palestinian.” Awad and others are part of the so-called “Western wave,” a new musical style popular among the young. It builds on Arabic music traditions, but also uses synthesizers and electrical guitars, placing greater emphasis on rhythm.

Palestinian music store owners say that before the uprising, sentimental love songs were the top sellers. “Today, 95 percent of my customers ask for intefadeh or nationalistic songs,” said an east Jerusalem music store owner. His store was raided earlier in June after he played “Insurrection” over loudspeakers.

Police confiscated dozens of intefadeh tapes and charged the owner with incitement. He was released on bail the equivalent to $1,300. Since the raid, he has restocked his supply, keeping the tapes in two small boxes under the counter. But he no longer plays intefadeh songs loudly, and scrutinizes customers to make sure they are not undercover police officers.

Distribution of intefadeh songs is often unorthodox. A friend of the Jerusalem-born Palestinian singer Mustafa Kurd recently made the rounds of the music stores, carrying a single copy of Kurd's latest tape “The Children of Palestine.” Shopowners who wanted it made copies in their stores.

At a music store in Jerusalem's walled Old City, “Insurrection” was booming from loudspeakers one recent day, mingling with the sales pitches of street vendors in the cobblestone street. Riot police patrolled nearby, but took no notice. “I play this because I believe in it,” said the store owner. “When the cops come, I just change the tape.”

He added that he was free on bail after being charged with incitement following a raid. Military officials said all songs and written material calling for violent revolt against the 21-year Israeli occupation are illegal and subject to confiscation.

However, the officials added, military officers have not compiled a list of banned material because they can't keep up with the number of intefadeh songs flooding the occupied territories. But the songs also have their critics in the Palestinian community. Hussein Barghouti, a literature teacher at the West Bank's Bir Zeit University, said most have little to do with art.

“Art is buried in these songs. What remains is sloganism,” said Barghouti who writes songs for a Jerusalem band. “As a human being, you are touched only on a superficial ideological level.” He added that the quality of the songs might improve if they were written by the young activists confronting Israeli soldiers with their stones and slingshots.

“But the kids are too busy to write songs,” he said.

Context added by this archive

The same Associated Press dispatch the Thousand Oaks Star printed on 29 July 1988 under the headline New tune. That printing stops at the Israeli military official's quotation. This one runs the whole dispatch, including the store owner who changes the tape when the police come and the Birzeit literature teacher who gets the last word.

Cite this item

"Palestinian singers are changing their tune," Rocky Mount Telegram, 17 July 1988. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1988-071. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1988-071