ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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Palestinian resistance songs
TOMASZ PIERSCIONEK marvels at the place of music in Palestinian culture as a source of inspiration and strength
MEMORIES NEVER LOST: Mural narratives on the Wall Museum of the Sumud Story House in Bethlehem: ‘Chileans of Palestine ancestry - we never forget our roots,' 2018
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JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
Palestinian Music in Exile: Voices of Resistance
Louis Brehony, American University in Cairo, £49.95
MUSICIAN, activist and prominent scholar of Palestinian music, Louis Brehony performs a deep dive into the origins and significance of 20th century post-Nakba melodies while exploring how longstanding traditions, as well as decades of occupation and exile, have shaped the development of various genres of Palestinian music.
Brehony further explores how music has served as a medium for preserving Palestinian culture under the yoke of Israeli oppression, while also serving as a powerful form of non-violent resistance to occupation and keeping alive the hope that Palestine will one day shake off the chains in which it has been bound for decades.
Brehony interviews numerous musicians of Palestinian origin, such as Reem Kelani and Ahmad al-Khatib, who have found varying degrees of fame, to learn how their childhood experiences or diasporan existence in adulthood drew them to music and led them to create their own performance styles.
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