• Riad Awwad, Hanan Awwad & Mahmoud Darwish - The Intifada 1987

Riad Awwad, Hanan Awwad & Mahmoud Darwish - The Intifada 1987

Majazz Project / Palestinian Sound Archive

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We're happy to have copies of some truly special pieces from our friend Mo'min Swaitat of Palestinian Sound Archive / Majazz Project - which he recently dropped to us at a palestine-focused event which we got involved with, around the corner from RWDFWD HQ in Bristol >> check the words, listen to the music, research deeper - and show some love and support, whilst we work towards a FREE PALESTINE.

"Just one week after the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1987, Riad brought his sisters Hanan, Alia and Nariman together in their living room and began recording The Intifada album on equipment he had made himself. One of these was co-written with their friend, the acclaimed Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish.

Riad printed 3000 copies of the cassettes which he began distributing in the Old City of Jerusalem and across the West Bank. The Israeli Army immediately confiscated all the copies they could find, the vast majority of which remain in the military archives to this day.

Riad was arrested, interrogated and detained for several months. Straight after his release, he formed a band, Palestinian Union, and put out a new album. He then founded a school, offering kids in the West Bank an alternative musical education, teaching them how to create their own electronic equipment. In 2005, Riad was tragically killed in a car accident. His legacy lives on through his family, his timeless music and his powerful story, which continues to inspire 34 years on from the First Intifada.

*** During the first lockdown of 2020, artist and music collector Mo’min Swaitat was in Jenin, in the north of the West Bank, when he met up with a family friend and former record label owner, whom he remembered from childhood.

The family friend told him he no longer ran the label and that all his cassettes were now in storage and had not been played for decades. Mo’min purchased over five thousand cassettes from him, amongst them a large collection of music from the First Intifada.
One of these was The Intifada album. 

 Reissued by: Majazz Project, 2022 Written, composed and performed by: Riad Awwad Lyrics by: Mahmoud Darwish and Hanan Awwad Chorus: Nariman Awwad and Alia Awwad. Curated and mastered by: Mo’min Swaitat Artwork by: Ahmed El Khalidi

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