Palestinian music

Tamer Nafar. (Courtesy)

‘Our role is to hold on’: Palestinian artists in Israel after October 7

Three Palestinian creatives grapple with their responsibility to make art that meets the moment while Israeli authorities stifle free expression.

By Tamer Nafar July 21, 2026

Palestinians visit the Phoenix Library in central Gaza City, April 29, 2026. (Phoenix Library)

Reviving Gaza’s cultural scene from beneath the rubble

After Israel destroyed the Strip’s literary and arts institutions, Palestinians are launching new initiatives to preserve knowledge and insist on a right to life.

By Ruwaida Amer May 15, 2026

Fadi Aneq, Sari Mansur, and Ashraf Mitanis of Daraq Crew. (Courtesy)

‘Here we can be free’: The community revolutionizing Palestinian club culture

A New Year’s party by Daraq Crew pushed the boundaries of Palestinian nightlife in Jerusalem, creating space for joy at a time of acute suffering.

By Alice Austin January 12, 2026

Latest

A performance by The Flintstones. (Courtesy of Hagop Kaplanian)

Armenian Jerusalemites fight to keep their musical legacy alive

From Palestinian rock to modern folk, generations of Armenian musicians have thrived in Jerusalem. But Israeli attacks threaten the community’s future.

By Christina Hazboun April 24, 2024

Participants in Nour Palestina's DJ workshop at Sabreen, occupied East Jerusalem. (Alice Austin)

Spinning discs in Sheikh Jarrah

Led by Nour Palestina, a DJ workshop offers Palestinian women a window into the electronic music world despite the occupation.

By Alice Austin August 8, 2023

Yusor Hamed. (Bushra Barghouti)

Yusor Hamed is redrawing the boundaries of Palestinian sound

The musician's unashamedly individual style has brought some of Palestine's most renowned artists knocking. Now, she's taking her sound global.

By Alice Austin April 13, 2023

Rasha Nahas performing in a show for her new album 'Amrat' at Kantine am Berghain, Berlin, January 2023. (Laura Müller)

‘What is this place I long for?’ A Palestinian musician’s healing journey

Rasha Nahas speaks to +972 about opening emotional wounds on her new Arabic album, the 'disarming' power of music, and navigating her identity between Haifa and Berlin.

By Vera Sajrawi February 2, 2023

Haya Zaatry. (Maria Zreik)

‘Borders don’t make sense’: A musician’s tribute to a Levantine memory

Haya Zaatry speaks with +972 about how her great-grandmother inspired her new album, the challenges of promoting diversity in an oppressed society, and the importance of Palestinian women creating their own art.

By Vera Sajrawi November 24, 2022

Mo'min Swaitat in London, August 10, 2022. (Alice Austin)

The Palestinian artist reviving the forgotten sounds of the intifada

After discovering a treasure trove of Bedouin music in a shuttered Jenin cassette store, Mo’min Swaitat is re-releasing the lost songs of his youth.

By Alice Austin September 21, 2022

Untitled, from the series 'Islam Played the Blues' by Toufic Beyhum. (www.tbeyhumphotos.com)

A case of the Palestinian blues

Recording under quarantine, a musical trio gives a classic blues song an Arabic twist, exploring new depths for Black-Palestinian solidarity.

By Henriette Chacar September 3, 2021

Maysa Daw in concert. (Tarek Zenati)

PODCAST: The Palestinian musician shattering taboos

Maysa Daw talks about straddling the personal and the political as a Palestinian musician living in Israel.

By Henriette Chacar December 30, 2019

Reem Banna. (GGAADD/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Bidding farewell to the voice of Palestine

Rim Banna, one of Palestine’s most recognizable and important singers, died on Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer. She leaves behind a dream of freedom from the occupation, patriarchy, and oppression. Rim Banna, the singer from Nazareth who enraptured millions died on Sunday after a battle with cancer. She was 51 years old. Arabic social…

By Samah Salaime March 26, 2018

Filmmaker Sami Alalul (right) on set with Maysa Daw for his film From Beneath the Earth, which debuted at the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Sami Alalul)

In new film, underground Palestinian musicians compose their own identity

He was denied entry to the U.S. for the premiere of his debut film, a short documentary about Palestine’s underground music scene. But director Sami Alalul seems unfazed. Sami Alalul sounds out every syllable of his Queen’s English, ending most sentences with an almost timid lilt. It’s a manner of speaking that can seem deferential,…

By Samer Badawi October 10, 2017