A resurgence in the protest music of decades past is always a bittersweet affair — its newfound necessity and heartbreaking prescience often revealing the ways little has changed in the face of oppressive violence. But its universal urgency and fierce kindling of human perseverance are just as crucial to hold onto. Such is the case for the newly remastered songs by Gaza-born singer/songwriter Zeinab Shaath, who more than 50 years ago recorded the revolutionary rallying cry The Urgent Call of Palestine.
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Re-released by the labels Discostan and the Majazz Project its lead single “The Urgent Call of Palestine” renews the voices of the Palestinian struggle for basic human rights and sovereignty. Coming at an incredibly dire moment when its people are being forced to suffer indiscriminate bloodshed, the reissue also invokes a sobering call of action toward all those who remain silently complicity and openly ignorant to the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
Against her robust and resonant strums Shaath’s voice echoes the words of Indian poet Lalita Panjabi. “Can’t you hear the urgent call of Palestine,” she sings with exigent passion, heartbreak, and unyielding love. “Tormented, tortured, bruised, and battered / And all her sons and daughters scattered.” Her warbling vocals a gleaming and inextinguishable spotlight on the pain of an individual watching helplessly as their people endure such horrifying hostilities.
Much of Shaath’s early life was molded by her father’s exile from Palestine — which occurred before she was born — instilling her with a visceral understanding of the sundering consequences of colonialism. Both the revival of the Palestinian Revolution in the 1960s and its parallels in protests against acts of U.S. imperialism like the Vietnam War stirred the embers of her defiant music.
She was just 16-years-old when she composed “The Urgent Call of Palestine” in her parent’s home in Beirut. In 1973 she lent her voice to a poignant and devastating film by exiled Palestinian artist Ismail Shammout, soundtracking shots of the beautiful mountains of Lebanon and gut-wrenching images of the victims of Israeli aggression. Shaath then went on to create three more songs for a 7-inch album and it’s this record that will be released in its entirety fully-remastered this spring.
The songs “Resist,” “I Am An Arab,” and “Take Me Back To Palestine” — drawing on the poetry of Mueen Biseso, Mahmoud Darwish, and Abd El-Wahab Bayati respectively — represent an unrecognized blindspot in the recognition of global protest music of the 1960s and 1970s. Like the American folk singers she was inspired by, which included Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, the anti-colonial music of Zeinab Shaath is owed the chance to resound around the world now more than ever.
Words: Steven Ward
The Urgent Call of Palestine by Zeinab Shaath returns remastered on March 26th, pre-order it here. All proceeds will be divided between supporting the critical work of Majazz in preserving the Palestinian archive as well as relief for the Palestinian community.
Visit Zeinab Shaath on her Bandcamp and learn more about the Majazz Project/Palestine sound archive on Instagram.
Watch the original film accompanied by the newly remastered version “The Urgent Call of Palestine” by Zeinab Shaath below!
