Saturday May 15th at Rice Media Center

7:00 PM

Followed by reception and live musical performance by Sabreena da Witch

Javier Corcuera and Basque musician Fermin Muguruza profile Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories who use music as both a balm and a vehicle for their political discontents. The performers in this 2009 video documentary include hip-hop acts (Dam, Safaa Arapiat, Ayman PR) and more traditional Arabic artists (Le Trio Joubran, Sabreen), their segments linked by the 2008 death of poet Mahmoud Darwish, who gave voice to the disenfranchised.

This incredible Spanish production spotlights superb talents of the contemporary Palestinian music scene. The film begins with Marcel Khalife at Mahmoud Darwish’s funeral and then traverses Palestine/Israel showcasing a diverse range of musical performances along the way. Rappers, a wedding singer, and classical musicians express their personal struggles through their music.

From the billboards and neon of Tel Aviv to the poverty and oppression of Gaza and the West Bank, Checkpoint Rock: Songs of Palestine presents a diversity of extraordinary performers who will change the vision we have of a people under occupation. This is a trip through a place which the world is always looking at but which we know almost nothing about. What music provides this mythical place with a voice and melody? Who are its most representative musicians and how do they live? What do they think about the place that they have to live in and how do they deal with it through their lyrics and their melodies.