Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by DJs Miss Ashley, Kevin Sur, Tory, and Isabel Khalili, is "I'm From Jerusalem" by Riad Awwad, Hanan Awwad, and Mahmoud Darwish, from the 2023 (reissue) album The Intifada 1987 on Majazz Project.
This week’s Song of the Day picks were chosen by DJs Miss Ashley, Kevin Sur, Tory, and Isabel Khalili in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. From Hawai’i to Sudan, these songs represent the global solidarity movement in support of Palestinians and anti-colonialism. The BDS Mixtape series that features three of this week’s songs was inspired by the 1985 Sun City album by artists boycotting apartheid South Africa. To learn more about the music and its connection to the cause, visit Majazz Project and Amplify Palestine.
In December 1987, the First Intifada of protests and violent riots broke out, carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. Palestinian Riad Awwad was an electrical engineer with a passion for music, and within a week, he began recording this album in the family living room, using instruments he built himself. Today's Song of the Day features Riad's sister Hanan, as well as lyrics by Riad's friend, Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish.
He titled the 11-track album The Intifada 1987, pressing 3,000 cassette tapes and circulating them around the Old City of Jerusalem and across the West Bank until the Israeli military intervened. Riad was arrested and detained for several months. To this day, copies of the album remain in the military archives, but in 2020, one copy managed to find its way to artist and music collector Mo’min Swaitat, who established the Majazz Project to release musical treasures like this.
Unfortunately, Awwad never lived to see his album pressed and released worldwide like this. He was killed in a car accident in 2005. His legacy lives on, not only in his music, but in the children of the West Bank who he inspired. Before his passing, he founded a school there, teaching children how to create their own electronic musical equipment.
