The 10 most significant pro-Palestine Doc Jazz songs

Over the years, Doc Jazz has written, produced and published more than 110 songs online. Most of these can still be found in his Soundclick song repository.

Most of these songs have the Palestinian struggle as their main theme, and the majority of these have been produced in one of the many existing musical styles of the West, in the English language. Some are also in Arabic; some of these have a purely traditional style, and some are hybrids of Eastern and Western music.

No other artist has created a repertoire of this size, in the English language, dedicated to the Palestinian cause. The fact that Doc Jazz is Palestinian himself, makes this even more significant. If you have never heard of Doc Jazz, and wish to know more, read this article at Al Bawaba.

What follows is a list of Doc Jazz’s 10 most significant pro-Palestine songs, not in chronological order, nor in order of ‘importance’.

1. Hungry

This song, dedicated to hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, merges authentic Palestinian traditional music into hip-hop with a powerful beat. The musical theme is based on a folkloric song “La bakul wala bashrab”, which means “I don’t eat, and I don’t drink”. It’s originally a love song, but its melody was picked deliberately as the hook of the hunger-strike supporting track, although probably only rural Palestinians would recognize it as such. The song made it to Dubai TV, in a talkshow about Palestinian hunger strikers.

2. Positive Effect

It’s the opening song of Doc Jazz’s flagship album dedicated to the Palestinian Right of Return, Front Door Key, which was released in Amsterdam in 2007. The song has a catchy funk groove, thanks to the magnificent bass guitar played by Keith Keyes, and a deep soul-vibe thanks to Michelle David’s backing vocals (check out her ad-libs towards the end of the song, and see if it doesn’t send chills down your spine!) It was featured on PressTV on April 2010, as you can see in this video here below.

3. Intifada

This song, supporting the legendary revolt of the Palestinians against Israeli occupation, dispossession and expulsion, is probably Doc Jazz’s most well-known song. It’s his first pro-Palestinian song, and back in early 2001 when he released it, it kick-started his Musical Intifada. The version that is available online is the one that was included in the Front Door Key album. It’s a rap song, characterized by its hook on the Palestinian shibbabeh (sherpherd’s flute).

4. Right of Return

This song is a musical response to Ben Gurion’s infamous words: “The old will die, and the young will forget”. It is obvious that we have not forgotten! It’s one of the Doc Jazz songs that, musically, come closest to actual jazz. It features beautiful saxophone work by Susanne Alt. In the intro to the music video, two historical sound bites were included, one by Yaser Arafat, one by Mahmoud Darwish.

5. Stare It In The Face

Months after having decided to ‘call it a day’ with regard to releasing pro-Palestine songs in the beginning of 2015, Doc Jazz had a wave of inspiration and put out “Stare It In the Face”. While interest in his songs had been dwindling, Stare It In The Face was suddenly received with great praise, and went viral on Facebook. It’s a rap song, with its own unique electrical vibe. Check it out to see if you can figure out why it became so popular.

6. Rising Tide

While most of Doc Jazz’s pro-Palestine songs aim to highlight the struggle of the Palestinians, ‘Rising Tide’ was released as a shout-out to the millions of amazing supporters worldwide. This was a response to the heart-warming turnout in demonstrations all across the globe during the horrendous Israeli onslaught on Gaza in 2014. In this song, Doc Jazz returned to the ‘funk’, slapping his thumb on the bass guitar, and getting soulful vocal support from an American singer called Maxi.

7. We Resist (Free Palestine)

A song that expresses the determination and the motivation for the ongoing struggle for the liberation of Palestine. As is the case with most Doc Jazz songs, he does all of the instruments by himself. The video contains some footage of pro-Palestine activists both inside and outside of Palestine.

8. Children of Gaza

In the winter of 2008/2009, Doc Jazz wrote this ballad on guitar, and immediately threw a video of him playing it live online. It went viral, and is still the Doc Jazz song with the highest number of views on Youtube. The video included below however, is a very new upload. It’s a live performance of the song in Utrecht, the Netherlands, at a Nakba commemmoration in 2011.

9. Falasteen (el 3alam)

An Arabic song by Doc Jazz, with its most important phrase being: “Palestine and dear Jerusalem, this is the land of my children”. While Palestine obviously is the ancestral land of the Palestinians, this assertion boldly states that it will remain Palestine, as it belongs to our offspring (and their offspring) just the same.

10. Freedom Flotilla

Hands down the most amazing collective international humanitarian endeavor ever undertaken by grassroots activists, was the Freedom Flotilla. The incredibly savage response of the Israelis, murdering 9 unarmed activists, caused worldwide outrage and shock. This Doc Jazz song sings the praise of those who died, and those who risked their life, on this amazing mission of solidarity. The video contains footage from the Mavi Marmara.

Epilogue

Picking 10 songs from such a large repertoire is no easy feat. There are many more songs by Doc Jazz about the Palestinian struggle, and they cover practically every aspect of the cause. The selection above has barely even scratched the surface of how wide the variety of styles is in which he produces his music.

If you are curious to get to know them all, you will have to check out the Soundclick repository. However, there are also close to a 100 videos on Doc Jazz’s Youtube channel, many of them featuring his songs. You are welcome to subscribe!

Keep sharing the songs of the Musical Intifada. Often, people who are on the fence will be more receptive to a message contained in a song, than to discussions and polemics. You can read here how this already has had its effect on some people. People in the West, brainwashed by Israeli propaganda, have always been the main target audience, but it has always been a difficult challenge to get these songs heard by them. You can increase this number, by delivering these songs to their inboxes and feeds!