Music of Palestine

In the areas now controlled by Israel and Palestinian National Authority , multiple ethnic groups , races and religions have long held on to a diverse culture. Palestinians (including Druze and Bedouin ) constituted the largest group, followed by Jews (including Sephardim and Ashkenazim ), Egyptians , Cypriots , Samaritans , Armenians , Domari , and others. Early in the 20th century , most Palestinians lived in rural areas, either as farmers or as nomads. The farmers ( fellahin ) sang a variety of work songs , used for tasks like fishing , shepherding , harvesting and making olive oil . Travelling storytellers and musicians called zajaleen were also common, known for their epic tales. Weddings were also home to distinctive music, especially the dabka , a complex dance performed by linked groups of dancers. Popular songs were in widely-varying forms, especially meyjana and dalauna . After the creation of Israel in 1948 , most Palestinians fled to, or were forced into, refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip . The most popular recorded musicians at the time were the superstars of Arab classical music , especially Umm Kulthum and Sayed Darwish . The centers for Palestinian music were in the Israeli towns of Nazareth and Haifa , where performers composed in the classical styles of Cairo and Damascus . The shared Palestinian identity first arose during this period, and a new wave of performers emerged with distinctively Palestinian themes, relating to the dreams of statehood and the burgeoning nationalist sentiment. The Israeli government exerted considerable control over Palestinian music recordings, and many of the most popular cassettes were distributed through the black market . Late in the 1970s , a new wave of popular Palestinian stars emerged, including Sabreen and Al Ashiqeen . After the 1987 Intifada , a more hard-edged group of performers and songwriters emerged, led by El Funoun , songwriter Suhail Khoury , Thaer Barghouti 's Doleh and Sabreen's Mawt a'nabi . In the 1990s , the Palestinian National Authority was formed, and Palestinian cultural expression began to stabilize. Wedding bands, having long since disappeared during the fighting, reappeared and played popular Egyptian and Lebanese songs. Tania Nasser soon emerged as a major star, and became well-known for her support of feminism among Palestinian women. Other performers to emerge later in the 90s included Yuad , Washem , Adel Salameh and Samir Joubran .¹