Monday, February 26, 2007

Palestinian Music

The lack of a fully viable Palestinian state due to the Israeli population leads to a general lack of national structure that facilitates albums, videos and things generally associated with pop music. However, there are many Palestinian musicians know throughout the world.

Palestinian music is markedly different from the music found in other Arab countries because of its elevated political consciousness. Hip-hop is found more in Palestine than any other Arab country. The most famous rap group, DAM (Da Arab Mcs), is well known for rapping in both Arabic and Hebrew to spread their political messages to the very different Israeli and Palestinian populations. The song "Min Irhabi (Who's a Terrorist?)," in which DAM turns the lens back on Israel to criticize their oppression and mistreatment of the Palestinian people, had a huge impact in terms of raising awareness through its dissemination on the internet.

The most famous Palestinian musician, although he is in fact born as a Lebanese Christian, is probably Marcel Khalifa, who sings both in dialect and in Standard Arabic, deriving many of his lyrics from the poems of Mahmoud Darwish. These songs use a folk style and are often highly political in nature.

The Palestinian cause is of international concern, especially among Arab nations, and almost every prominent artist makes a tribute to Palestine or Jerusalem at some point. Also, many Arabs in other nations claim Palestinian descent and nostalgia figures prominently in the works of Fairuz.

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