As the preventable crisis of starvation and death continues to play out in Gaza, the compilation “Enough!” begins with the words of a mother whose children were murdered. Mayss Naber from Jordan has assembled a massive roster of international and emerging artists, but crucially, this compilation also comes with a message from Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah.
Before talking about any of the music, I think it’s best to begin with those words. It’s easy to surrender to despair or fatalism, but Dr. Ghassan speaks to why this is important. The ongoing carnage of Israel’s pursuit of “total victory” continues to kill men, civilians, women, children, aid workers, and journalists. It has leveled easily half of Gaza with no sign of stopping. It has failed, even in the view of many families, to bring back hostages; Israel has meanwhile continued to fill its prisons, often with children, while empowering settler violence and torturing detainees. For anyone watching this, it’s hard to make music and impossible to trust many of the institutions and venues we have formerly worked with. Hearing from Gazans that we should keep making sound and stay active when it’s tempting to give up – these messages can be a revelation.
From a note shared with the compilation organizers:
Dear friends,
I want to send my deepest gratitude for your work in supporting our people in their hour of greatest need.
We must continue to talk about Gaza, sing about Gaza and shout in the streets for Gaza.
Your support will help us provide much needed treatment for wounded children and to train doctors and nurses to replace the 450 that have been killed.
In solidarity,
Ghassan
The full proceeds of the compilation here go to Dr. Ghassan’s respected project, the Dr. Gassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund. The fund “aims to treat injured children, rebuild the destroyed medical infrastructure, and establish a sponsorship program for 20,000+ orphans from the conflict.” And Dr. Ghassan has worked on the front lines, volunteering extensively in Gaza, surviving a bombing of Ahli Hospital by the IDF that killed hundreds, and giving a press conference outside of the hospital surrounded by dead bodies.
That first-hand experience didn’t stop the German government from banning Dr. Ghassan’s speech and first blocking him from entering Germany, then seeing he was unable to enter Europe via a full Schengen-area ban. You can read Human Rights Watch’s alarm from early May:
Germany: British-Palestinian Doctor Denied Schengen Entry
Reported Ban Risks Undermining German Commitment to Free Expression, Assembly
That ban was overturned, thanks to the work of the European Legal Support Center. (ELSC provides free legal services; anyone in Europe encountering this kind of repression should get in touch with them immediately.)
The one thing that helps me, at least, to read the news is music – it’s strengthening, cathartic, it helps us keep going.
Some highlights:
Nicolás Jaar, who comes from Palestinian heritage, and Khyam Allami each have stand-out tracks; I’m sad to have missed their live show in London. Khyam continues to work with Arabic musical elements in his work, the Iraqi artist has transformed his deep knowledge of oud and musical tradition into entirely new syntheses of sound, exploding Arabic tuning into firey new experimental idioms. Nicolas’ track, too, is freed from the western tuning grid into a dizzying, almost sickening expression, equally deep with feeling.
job sifre’s track is a must-hear, full power, with Chrissie and Rym Hayoumi providing vocals. KMRU provides an elegant, hypnotic synth track that almost feels like it was pulled off a neglected vinyl at some moments, then feels decidedly new in the next. 1800s Internet is new to me, but “I am one of those machines which can explode” feels like a whole world, fragmented and melancholy. The collaboration with Abdel Ja7eem Haleth is vital, too, raw and deep, a sonic wound. “Planting Olive Trees in the Ashes” also recreates the devastating environments we’re seeing across Gaza, southern Lebanon, and the West Bank, infanticide and ecocide. ZULI’s track, dark and crackling, is poignant and painful, in a collaboration with Ott Eswed.
fatalism’s “Saifon” was a favorite for both me and Mayss, apparently – frozen in time, as the bottom falls out of your stomach. Neo Edo is a “banger” as Mayss puts it – it feels like a fist through the wall. Sandy Chamoun I always love, from the Beirut scene, listen to the mournful vocals atop demolished groove beneath, “HAWALTOU.”
Suzanne Ciani (in a track that I imagine is not what you expect) joins, as do Matrixxman, Sarah Davachi, Ireen Amnes, and many others. “The Murmur” by Tamara Qaddoumi I could easily put on repeat. So, too, the heartwrenching, warming “Love is a lie and that’s ok” by xlmxkhfi (Lebanese producer Sarah Huneidim, edit by Abdelhalim).
Lebanese-born, Berlin-based Rabih Beaini joins Stefan Christoff for a brutal poem in frustration, like flower petals on the rubble, flowing and pounding improvisation intertwined. Mayss’ “On this land!” could leave you in tears – a defiant elegy, with vocals that sound like they were recorded through the blades of a drone.
There are brooding pieces, arresting noise and glitching electronics, all the conflicted feelings of watching a genocide. There are more I didn’t name, but to hopefully get you listening.
The full artist lineup – each contributing something meaningful:
Aaron Dilloway, Abdel Ja7eem Hafeth, Alessandro Adriani & Tasha Safari, Al-ʻUzzā, Alex Zhang Hungtai, An-i, Badawi, Beate Bartel, Bok Bok, bookworms, Cucina Povera, DJ Marcelle/Another Nice Mess, Drew McDowall, Elena Sizova, Fade Accompli, fatalism, Feu St-Antoine (feat. Mounir Al Shami), Gavilán Rayna Russom, Gamma Intel, Ireen Amnes, Jerusalem In My Heart, job sifre, JTC, Juliana Huxtable and Via App, Khyam Allami, Ki Oni & Luke Elliott, KMRU, Legowelt, Larkin Grimm, Mummy Lord, Mayss, Martin Rev, Matrixxman, Morah, Neo Edo, N R, Nicolás Jaar, Nick Klein, NRD x Mama Matrix, Orchestroll, Piano Rain, Rabih Beaini and Stefan Christoff, Renata, Richard, RS Tangent, Sam De La Rosa, Sandy Chamoun, Secret Pyramid, Sholto Dobie, Simo Cell, Sound Synthesis, Sunfear, Suzanne Ciani, Tamara Qaddoumi, T&C, Tolouse Lowtrax, xlmxkhfi, Zein Majali, ZULI ft Ott Eswed, and 1800s Internet.
Compilations are everywhere it seems now. But with enough thought given to how to fundraise and the message, they still have importance. I know many of the Palestinian artists I spoke with are unable to make music at all at the moment; it’s encouraging seeing any names from the region here. And on another level, I imagine a lot of these carefully focused compilations will serve as a reference in future. People are looking for artists they can trust – not for artists who necessarily agree, not for “political” alignment, but for people they can trust with sharing the horror and frustration and what we’re witnessing. If music comes from our deepest place of feeling, we simply can’t continue making music without acknowledging the war crimes occurring day after day in our current world. We would cease to be human.
Working with people like Dr. Ghassan, there’s a chance to not only witness but intervene. Every moment counts.
Keep watching, as the situation continues to spiral, putting thousands of children without food, many more thousands without parents and sibling, tens of thousands injured. (One recent update)
The title comes from here:
Statement by the artists:
ENOUGH!
Enough, world!
Enough injustice!
Therefore, we implore:
Enough to the invasion and decimation of Gaza.
Enough to the mass killing of Palestinians.
Enough to the deliberate starvation.
Enough to the restriction of medication forcing doctors to amputate for minor infections.
Enough to the murder of journalists, aid workers, and healthcare workers.
Enough to the theft of lands and homes across all occupied territories.
Enough to the system of administrative detention that holds Palestinians in prisons without trial.
Enough to the unjust military courts that boast 99.7% incarceration rates.
Enough to the torture of prisoners.
Enough to the apartheid system and restriction of mobility.
Enough to the settlements and settler violence.
Enough to the rejection of Palestinian statehood.
Enough to the dehumanization.
Enough to the gaslighting.
Enough to the genocide.
Free Palestine.
