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53 3 Negotiating the Elements: Palestinian Freedom Songs from 1967 to 1987 Issa Boulos The study of Palestinian music making during the second half of the twentieth century poses various challenges due to the complex ramifications of al-Nakba (the catastrophe) of 1948. Aside from the natural changes that occur in any given musical culture over time, abrupt political and social transformations such as this have been a driving force of change in Palestinian musical culture. In this chapter I examine the predominant social and cultural forces that have influenced Palestinian musicians active between 1967 and 1987. In this endeavor I track myriad musical choices and artistic processes and investigate how their musical performances or productions were initiated, approached, and achieved. The collective processes of making music were intrinsically tied to how these artists conceptualized art, themselves, and their role in society. Building from various case studies I speak to how musicians achieved their art while navigating the politics of tradition and innovation, Western classical and popular musical forms, and indigenous Palestinian folk material.1 I focus this discussion on four highly influential musicians and ensembles active between 1967 and 1987: Mustafa al-Kurd, a songwriter from Jerusalem; al-Baraem and Sabreen, two Jerusalemite musical groups; and Firqat Aghāni al-"Ashiqeen, or simply Al-"Ashiqeen, a Palestinian protest ensemble operating from Syria. My analysis focuses on Palestinian musicians who stayed in historic Palestine after al-Nakba of 1948,2 including Hussain Nazek of Al-"Ashiqeen, who left Jerusalem after 1967, and interrogates many of the political, social, and cultural factors that influenced their music-making decisions. During the first half of the twentieth century a lively debate was well under way among Arab musicians as to the nature of art in contemporary society. This debate 54 | Issa Boulos centered on two conflicting discourses: al-fann li al-fann (art for the sake of art) and al-fann li al-nās (art for the people). Among Palestinian musicians this debate became a cultural magnet that connected northern urban centers such as Istanbul, Beirut, Aleppo, and Damascus with the southern regions of Egypt and northern Africa. However, following 1948 these discussions were marginalized as remaining Palestinian musicians were displaced throughout the Arab world, Israel, and in the refugee camps of Gaza and the West Bank. Due to the traumas of 1948, the entertainment-oriented repertoire associated with Arab classical art music ("A. sr al-Nah. da) became of less importance to a community that was struggling to recover from forced displacement. Philosophical discussions of modernization, interpretation , and authenticity, common among Palestinian musicians before 1948, took an entirely different route. In the post-1948 era of pan-Arabism, Palestine became central to the struggle against colonialism and foreign occupation. Many of theregion’sgreatmusiciansandcomposers,suchasUmKulthoum, Asmahan, Layla Murad, Zakariyya Ahmad, Riyad al-Sunbati, and Mohammad Abd al-Wahab, gladly worked for the promotion of this wider nationalist agenda. Larger political discourses of pan-Arabism directly affected the ways music was composed and performed. In addition, musicians were challenged by the predominant idea that the majority of secular art songs associated with "A. sr al-Nah. da seemed irrelevant to the Palestinian struggle. Among Palestinian musicians the vast repertoire of secular art music gradually disappeared due to the dual pressures of pan-Arab nationalism and the traumas of al-Nakba. Within these discussions the Palestinian issue became a powerful rallying point for advocates of pan-Arabism, which directly influenced music-making practices leading to the 1967 war. Music of this period (1948–1967) was interpreted through the political and artistic lenses of pan-Arabism and al-fann li al-nās. Later, a Palestinian-specific nationalist agenda emerged during the mid-1960s and was firmly institutionalized by the 1970s and early 1980s. Palestinian music making gradually transformed as a result of these political forces in profound ways, branching out into several aesthetic directions. The repertoire of Palestinian music associated with this period (1967–1987) therefore incorporated indigenous Palestinian folklore, tales, lyrics, tunes, and dances, while simultaneously negotiating the aesthetics of Arab classical maqām (modes) and Western musical traditions. Each of these repertories was then employed within a larger political discourse of popular mobilization and propaganda. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the issue of al-fann li al-fann versus al-fann li al-nās took an interesting turn. During the 1950s and 1960s, towns of the West Bank, particularly Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Ramallah, were booming with the sounds of the growing...

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