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Music of Palestine
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Music of Palestine
The music of Palestine (Arabic: الموسيقى الفلسطينية) is one of many regional subgenres of Arabic music. While it shares much in common with Arabic music, both structurally and instrumentally, there are musical forms and subject matter that are distinctively Palestinian.
In the areas now controlled by both Israel and Palestine, multiple ethnic groups and religions have long held on to a diversity of cultures. Mandatory Palestine population with Arabs (including urban and rural Muslim classes, Arab Christians, Druze and Muslim Bedouin) constituted the largest group, followed by Jews (including Sephardim, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim), Samaritans, Circassians, Armenians, Dom and others. Wasif Jawhariyyeh was one oud player, famous for his post-1904 diary.
Early in the 20th century, Palestinian Arabs lived in cities and in rural areas, either as farmers or as nomads. The fellahin (farmers) sang a variety of work songs, used for tasks like fishing, shepherding, harvesting and making olive oil. Traveling storytellers and musicians called zajaleen were also common, known for their epic tales. Weddings were also home to distinctive music, especially the dabke. Popular songs made use of widely varying forms, particularly the mejana and dal'ona.
After the creation of Israel in 1948, large numbers of Arab Palestinians fled to, or were forced into, refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The most popular recorded musicians at the time were the superstars of Arab classical music, especially Umm Kulthum and Sayed Darwish. The centers for Palestinian music were in the Palestinian towns of Nazareth and Haifa, where performers composed in the classical styles of Cairo and Damascus. A shared Palestinian identity was reflected in a new wave of performers who emerged with distinctively Palestinian themes, relating to the dreams of statehood and the burgeoning nationalist sentiment.
In the 1970s, a new wave of popular Palestinian stars emerged, including Sabreen, Mustafa Al-Kurd and Al Ashiqeen. After the First Intifada (1987), a more hard-edged group of performers and songwriters emerged, such as al- Funoun, songwriter Suhail Khoury, songwriter Jameel al-Sayih, Thaer Barghouti's Doleh and Sabreen's Mawt a'nabi.
In the 1990s, the Palestinian National Authority was established, and Palestinian cultural expression began to stabilize. Wedding bands, which had all but disappeared during the fighting, reappeared to perform popular Egyptian and Lebanese songs. Other performers to emerge later in the 90s included Yuad, Washem, Mohsen Subhi, Adel Salameh, Issa Boulos, Wissam Joubran, Samir Joubran, and Basel Zayed with his new sound of Palestine and Turab group founded in 2004 with the CD Hada Liel.
The Diaspora Palestinian Reem Kelani is one of the foremost present day researchers and performers of music with a specifically Palestinian narrative and heritage. Her 2006 debut solo album Sprinting Gazelle – Palestinian Songs from the Motherland and the Diaspora comprised Kelani's research and arrangement of five traditional Palestinian songs, whilst the other five songs were her own musical settings of popular and resistance poetry by the likes of Mahmoud Darwish, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Rashid Husain and Mahmoud Salim al-Hout. All the songs on the album relate to pre-1948 Palestine.
A large part of Palestinian music comprises wedding songs and dances. Due to the large amount of weddings in Palestinian culture, wedding singers have been able to maintain the tradition of Palestinian songs whilst incorporating modern vocals and rhythms. Wedding singers draw from a repertoire of ceremonial material including henna songs sung at the henna ceremony, wedding processionals (zeffat), and popular debkah and dance songs.
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Music of Palestine
The music of Palestine (Arabic: الموسيقى الفلسطينية) is one of many regional subgenres of Arabic music. While it shares much in common with Arabic music, both structurally and instrumentally, there are musical forms and subject matter that are distinctively Palestinian.
In the areas now controlled by both Israel and Palestine, multiple ethnic groups and religions have long held on to a diversity of cultures. Mandatory Palestine population with Arabs (including urban and rural Muslim classes, Arab Christians, Druze and Muslim Bedouin) constituted the largest group, followed by Jews (including Sephardim, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim), Samaritans, Circassians, Armenians, Dom and others. Wasif Jawhariyyeh was one oud player, famous for his post-1904 diary.
Early in the 20th century, Palestinian Arabs lived in cities and in rural areas, either as farmers or as nomads. The fellahin (farmers) sang a variety of work songs, used for tasks like fishing, shepherding, harvesting and making olive oil. Traveling storytellers and musicians called zajaleen were also common, known for their epic tales. Weddings were also home to distinctive music, especially the dabke. Popular songs made use of widely varying forms, particularly the mejana and dal'ona.
After the creation of Israel in 1948, large numbers of Arab Palestinians fled to, or were forced into, refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The most popular recorded musicians at the time were the superstars of Arab classical music, especially Umm Kulthum and Sayed Darwish. The centers for Palestinian music were in the Palestinian towns of Nazareth and Haifa, where performers composed in the classical styles of Cairo and Damascus. A shared Palestinian identity was reflected in a new wave of performers who emerged with distinctively Palestinian themes, relating to the dreams of statehood and the burgeoning nationalist sentiment.
In the 1970s, a new wave of popular Palestinian stars emerged, including Sabreen, Mustafa Al-Kurd and Al Ashiqeen. After the First Intifada (1987), a more hard-edged group of performers and songwriters emerged, such as al- Funoun, songwriter Suhail Khoury, songwriter Jameel al-Sayih, Thaer Barghouti's Doleh and Sabreen's Mawt a'nabi.
In the 1990s, the Palestinian National Authority was established, and Palestinian cultural expression began to stabilize. Wedding bands, which had all but disappeared during the fighting, reappeared to perform popular Egyptian and Lebanese songs. Other performers to emerge later in the 90s included Yuad, Washem, Mohsen Subhi, Adel Salameh, Issa Boulos, Wissam Joubran, Samir Joubran, and Basel Zayed with his new sound of Palestine and Turab group founded in 2004 with the CD Hada Liel.
The Diaspora Palestinian Reem Kelani is one of the foremost present day researchers and performers of music with a specifically Palestinian narrative and heritage. Her 2006 debut solo album Sprinting Gazelle – Palestinian Songs from the Motherland and the Diaspora comprised Kelani's research and arrangement of five traditional Palestinian songs, whilst the other five songs were her own musical settings of popular and resistance poetry by the likes of Mahmoud Darwish, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Rashid Husain and Mahmoud Salim al-Hout. All the songs on the album relate to pre-1948 Palestine.
A large part of Palestinian music comprises wedding songs and dances. Due to the large amount of weddings in Palestinian culture, wedding singers have been able to maintain the tradition of Palestinian songs whilst incorporating modern vocals and rhythms. Wedding singers draw from a repertoire of ceremonial material including henna songs sung at the henna ceremony, wedding processionals (zeffat), and popular debkah and dance songs.