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Thursday, December 04, 2008

"Palestinians Breaking the Siege with Music"


Portion of article below; whole thing with more pics here: http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28934.shtml

GAZA - While the darkness prevails in the streets of Gaza, in particular in the vicinity of the Rashad Shawa, the Cultural Center of lyrical attention was the place of love and peace. Here, in the heart of Gaza, people sang both Arabic and English songs about freedom, amid voices was heard from oppressed advocates:

"Gaza is wounded, looking for love and peace"

The scene in the event-hall of the Rashad Shawa Cultural Center, was one night in the last week, completely unlike and far away from the black-thread-and-needle Gaza blockade, a millstone around the neck of more than a million and a half of Palestinians.

Boys and young men, women and men, all sang together with powerful voices the lyrics about repression, love and about peace against the siege, everyone crying for the bright, new day when the long oppression has ended.

Music, lyrics and dance filled the podium of the Rashad Shawa hall, in an event supporting the international campaign to lift the Israeli blockade ... Bhyam music, Marcel Khalifa's compositions and rap songs about national unity, spoke the international languages against the siege, accompanied by the "People's Task Force", Dabkeh dance company.

We listened to words spoken from peace loving people, expressing the Gazan community's longing for security and safety. The artistic and musical event against the Israeli siege,addressed in other languages to the outside world, by the people of Gaza, the hope of drawing attention to the psychological suffering, of a nation that is dying a little bit for every day.

Surrounded by the presence of a number of foreigners, against the Israeli siege, Mohsen Abu Ramadan stepped on to the podium addressing to the international public, that the strict embargo was a manslayer waiting to kill its prey, in the large prison called Gaza where people can not even buy the basic necessities to keep their families alive.

Abu Ramadan said the international campaign to lift the siege, is today addressing the world, in their own language, through music and lyrics, to tell the many stories of suffering of a people, imprisoned behind dark and high prison-walls. The event was attended by many politicians, one of them Amjad Shawa, the coordinator of the Gaza office of the Palestinian NGO Network, including a large number of representatives from other civil institutions.

The artist Jerjaoi, and the composer and singer Marcel Khalifa, enticed the people present, to leave their seats to join the podium, singing and dancing. Rap, Ghazzi and other artists, including Alaa Shiblak enthused national Palestinian unity, rejected division, stressing the importance of unity and interdependence,in an appeal to the audience to renounce the political division. English artists Ruba Hatem called the outside world with music, to stop the siege and to open the border crossings,to save the people of Gaza from the shadow of death.

The organizers of the event and the public, concluded,that the Union of Health Work Committees and the international campaign this evening had offered a document of the suffering amid the siege. A women emerged from the public,she said; “This event was a wonderful emotion in accord,with the public,” if every day Gaza would experienced such a sense of emotion, Gaza would be more preoccupied with music and less with the suffering.

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