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  • Streaming + Download

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A Majazz Project 2022 reissue of Riad Awwad's rediscovered album, the first album to be released after the outbreak of the First Intifada

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Intifada 1987 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Limited Edition 12" Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited Edition run of The Intifada 1987

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Intifada 1987 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Intifada 04:33
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Palestinian 02:50
5.
The Graves 01:55
6.
Homeland 04:41
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Forty Years 04:27
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Uprising 03:27
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about

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.

credits

released December 9, 2021

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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about

Majazz Project / Palestine Sound Archive London, UK

Majazz project is an archival record label reissuing and remixing vintage Arab vinyl and cassettes and an alternative research platform.

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