Mohammed Assaf: The Legend
On June 22 in Beirut, 23-year-old
Mohammed Assaf became the first
Palestinian to win the Arab Idol contest, earning more than 67 million
votes—the highest tally in the history of the competition.
After the announcement, Palestinians took to the streets of Khan
Younis refugee camp, where Assaf lives, as well as in Gaza City,
Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Jordan, and elsewhere within
the Palestinian diaspora to celebrate his victory. Fireworks erupted,
tears of happiness rolled down the faces of his fans, and chants were
sung by dancing, joyful crowds. Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Culture
welcomed Assaf with an official reception upon his arrival to the
Rafah crossing separating Gaza from Egypt.
Nationalistic poems, patriotic hymns, and love songs have always been
an integral part of Palestinian culture, literature, and folklore.
They reflect our lives, shared history and culture, and most
importantly, our spirit and determination to live on despite
oppression, occupation, and state-sponsored violence.
That, perhaps, is why Moshe Dayan, Israel’s former defense minster,
famously remarked that just one of late Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan's
poems was "the equal of 20 [Palestinian] commandos."
Born in Libya and raised in Khan Younis refugee camp, a place that his
parents made home, Assaf made a point of singing traditional
Palestinian folk songs during his Arab Idol bid, thus endearing him to
Arab audiences from the Mediterranean to the Gulf. That he did so was
an act of affirmation: After all, his own grandparents were expelled
from the Palestinian village of Beit Daras, which was destroyed and
depopulated by Israel in 1948.
In other words, Mohammed, who has never been to his grandparents’
village, sang for a collective Palestinian patrimony, one that lives
on three generations after our people’s Nakba, or catastrophe. For
millions of Arabs still scarred by the ethnic cleansing of Palestine,
in which three-quarters of its indigenous population either fled
Israel’s creation or was expelled by its merciless militias, Mohammed
is truly an Arab idol.
How he got there illustrates even more profoundly why he deserves the
title. After struggling to enter Egypt from Gaza, Mohammed was late to
the Arab Idol auditions in Cairo. There, it was his mother who
encouraged him not to give up, a boost that helped Mohammed literally
scale the walls of the audition grounds, only to find out that there
were no spots left at the tryouts. Sitting among the other
contestants, holding back tears, he began to sing. The warmth and the
purity of his voice convinced another contestant, also from Gaza, to
give Mohammed his ticket.
The rest, as they say, is history. But Mohammed’s history is
inextricably bound with his people’s. Perhaps the surest proof of that
is that this budding superstar must have Israel’s permission to
perform in the Palestinian West Bank. Going there, though, is a
revolutionary act and one Mohammed is determined to see through. As he
told an Al Jazeera interviewer after his win:
“The revolution is not just the one carrying a rifle. The revolution
is the paintbrush of an artist, the scalpel of a surgeon, the ax of a
farmer. This is something I consider to be logical. Everyone struggles
for their cause in the way they see fit. Today I represent Palestine
and today I'm fighting for a cause also through the art I am
performing and the message that I am sending out.”
Indeed, with such courage and poise, this young man has given a
much-needed lesson to Palestine’s political representatives, who could
only hope to earn a fraction of the votes Mohammed garnered—for his
voice and its authenticity—on that beautiful night in Beirut.
Palestinian to win the Arab Idol contest, earning more than 67 million
votes—the highest tally in the history of the competition.
After the announcement, Palestinians took to the streets of Khan
Younis refugee camp, where Assaf lives, as well as in Gaza City,
Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Jordan, and elsewhere within
the Palestinian diaspora to celebrate his victory. Fireworks erupted,
tears of happiness rolled down the faces of his fans, and chants were
sung by dancing, joyful crowds. Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Culture
welcomed Assaf with an official reception upon his arrival to the
Rafah crossing separating Gaza from Egypt.
Nationalistic poems, patriotic hymns, and love songs have always been
an integral part of Palestinian culture, literature, and folklore.
They reflect our lives, shared history and culture, and most
importantly, our spirit and determination to live on despite
oppression, occupation, and state-sponsored violence.
That, perhaps, is why Moshe Dayan, Israel’s former defense minster,
famously remarked that just one of late Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan's
poems was "the equal of 20 [Palestinian] commandos."
Born in Libya and raised in Khan Younis refugee camp, a place that his
parents made home, Assaf made a point of singing traditional
Palestinian folk songs during his Arab Idol bid, thus endearing him to
Arab audiences from the Mediterranean to the Gulf. That he did so was
an act of affirmation: After all, his own grandparents were expelled
from the Palestinian village of Beit Daras, which was destroyed and
depopulated by Israel in 1948.
In other words, Mohammed, who has never been to his grandparents’
village, sang for a collective Palestinian patrimony, one that lives
on three generations after our people’s Nakba, or catastrophe. For
millions of Arabs still scarred by the ethnic cleansing of Palestine,
in which three-quarters of its indigenous population either fled
Israel’s creation or was expelled by its merciless militias, Mohammed
is truly an Arab idol.
How he got there illustrates even more profoundly why he deserves the
title. After struggling to enter Egypt from Gaza, Mohammed was late to
the Arab Idol auditions in Cairo. There, it was his mother who
encouraged him not to give up, a boost that helped Mohammed literally
scale the walls of the audition grounds, only to find out that there
were no spots left at the tryouts. Sitting among the other
contestants, holding back tears, he began to sing. The warmth and the
purity of his voice convinced another contestant, also from Gaza, to
give Mohammed his ticket.
The rest, as they say, is history. But Mohammed’s history is
inextricably bound with his people’s. Perhaps the surest proof of that
is that this budding superstar must have Israel’s permission to
perform in the Palestinian West Bank. Going there, though, is a
revolutionary act and one Mohammed is determined to see through. As he
told an Al Jazeera interviewer after his win:
“The revolution is not just the one carrying a rifle. The revolution
is the paintbrush of an artist, the scalpel of a surgeon, the ax of a
farmer. This is something I consider to be logical. Everyone struggles
for their cause in the way they see fit. Today I represent Palestine
and today I'm fighting for a cause also through the art I am
performing and the message that I am sending out.”
Indeed, with such courage and poise, this young man has given a
much-needed lesson to Palestine’s political representatives, who could
only hope to earn a fraction of the votes Mohammed garnered—for his
voice and its authenticity—on that beautiful night in Beirut.
Ghada Ageel is a visiting
professor at the university of Alberta/ Canada, an activist and a member of
faculty for Palestine Alberta. Originally form Beit Daras village, Ghada is a
third generation of Palestinian refugees and was born and raised in Khan Younis
refugee camp
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