Palestinian culture undergone severe pressure from colonialism. But this pressure has shown the resilience and fierce creativity of a people under attack. Palestinian music is a clear example.
Historically, music has played an important role in Palestine. Palestinian folk music existed largely as an oral tradition. Songs were passed down vocally across generations, shaped by lived experience and shared collectively. A classic example is “Ya Tala’ayn El-Jabal”, a song sung by women to captive prisoners during the British occupation, embedding coded messages so guards wouldn’t understand. Music functioned as resistance, expressed through a beautiful piece of art.
As Palestine faced endless periods of violence and attack, resistance was forced to continue. Sabreen were a revolutionary and historically important Palestinian band that fused their home style, with international influences from India, Africa and American jazz and blues. Forming in 1980, their music reflected the suffering endured by Palestine’s political suffering, with lyrics drawn from renowned Palestinian poets, like Mahmoud Darwish. As with most folk traditions, their politics were inseparable from their sound. In 1987 they started the Sabreen Association for Artistic Development to promote music in Palestine.
Modern day Palestinian music has adapted and evolved but still retains that sense of rich cultural background. House and techno music has long been a symbol of unity and resistance, a space for persecuted members of society, and a form of resistance to cultural erasure. And in this space Sama’ Abdulhaldi is a generational talent, a young DJ, better known as “the queen of the palestinian techno scene”. She was born in Jordan after her family were deported from Palestine, in 1993 they were allowed to return, but ten years later during the second intifada the IDF took over her apartment. She played for the Palestinian national football team before an injury cut her career short. After hearing a Japanese DJ, Satoshi Tomiie, she moved to Cairo and got into DJing across the Middle East, performing an insane boiler room set in 2018. In 2020 she performed at a Mosque after securing a permit, but religious groups stormed the venue and she was arrested for desecrating a religious site. Since then she has had a few residencies in clubs in London, and is still creating music whilst speaking out about the violence in Palestine.
In a different genre Nemah Hasan is similarly impressive. Better known as Nemahsis, she is a Palestinian Canadian singer songwriter. A sort of dream-pop style, she cites her inspirations as Feist, Fiona Apple and Marina and the Diamonds. One video for her single ‘Stick of Gum’ was filmed in her parents hometown Jericho and was chosen as one of the Spotify editors top songs of 2024. She has received numerous accolades, her song ‘Coloured Concrete’ listed as one of the 25 best Canadian songs of 2024 by Billboard. A keen activist, she was dropped by her label in 2023 for her support of Palestine post October 7th.
Saint Levant is Palestine’s very own Bad Bunny. Born in Jerusalem and raised between Palestine, Jordan, and the US, his music blends Arabic, French, and English, and has reached millions. His song “Very Few Friends” hit number one on Spotify in nineteen countries. He performed at Coachella in 2024 and founded the 2048 Foundation to support Palestinian creatives. He is now massively successful, but still represents his home culture, history and context. Palestinian music clearly exhibits merit deserving of international acclaim. Its political nature doesn’t box it out of its place as a real art form, but instead solidifies it.
“Free Palestine” by Gigi Ibrahim is licensed under CC BY 2.0.