MESOP CULTURE : THE SOUND OF YARMOUK CAMP – IGNORED BY WESTERN PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT

Exclusive interview with Yarmouk’s ‘Refugees of Rap’ as they launch new album for Syria, ‘The Time of Silence’ / Palestinian camps network news union

The Syrian-Palestinian rap band ‘Refugees of Rap’ is preparing for the launch of its new album, ‘The Time of Silence’, today in the French capital, Paris. The world-renowned band from Yarmouk camp, which has played gigs in various European capitals, has stood since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in solidarity with the revolution and against the Assad regime, singing songs about the Palestinian and Syrian people and the suffering of Palestinians under Assad, particularly those in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus.

‘Refugees of Rap’ was founded in Syria in 2007 by four young refugees from Yarmouk – Muhammad and Yasser Jamous, Ahmed Zarouq and Mohamed Jawad, who are of Syrian, Palestinian and Algerian origins. They began by writing songs about the difficulties faced by Palestinian and other refugees, including poverty, and primarily about the cause of Palestinian freedom . At the start the band played gigs at universities and cultural centres, as well as being interviewed by a number of Arabic media.

The Palestinian Camps Network News Union spoke on Sunday with band member Muhammad Jamous (a.k.a. ‘Al Jimas’) about the band and its music.

PCNNU: What message is the band trying to communicate through its music?

MJ: A message of love and peace: we’re delivering a message that music is capable of making changes, and delivering the voice of the people to tell the truth and express our situation and our pain.

PCNNU: What’s the public response been like?

MJ: At the beginning, the public didn’t accept us; now our audience comes from all segments of society, but the majority are young people.

PCNNU: How did the band end up in Paris and why did you leave Syria?

MJ: We faced a lot of threats of arrest and abduction from the regime and the PFLP-GC [‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command’ – a Tehran-backed, regime-allied militia] as the result of our position on the Syrian revolution. That’s what prompted us to leave Syria; we escaped on October 3rd, 2013.

During the Syrian revolution, ‘Refugees of Rap’ has brought the revolution and refugees’ stories to the world through taking part in a number of events in world capitals. Can you tell us more about that?

MJ: This was one of our most important decisions, when we decided to break the silence with a song called ‘Time of Silence,’ with the participation of a rapper and the help of an Italian journalist…that song brought us a lot of threats [from the Assad regime]; at that point we decided to emigrate, to go into exile in Paris. We’re following up with an album of the same name and taking part in several concerts in support of the Syrian revolution across Europe, where we’ve seen that most people aren’t getting the true picture of what’s happening in Syria; we’re trying to correct that, to deliver the true voice of the revolution and the activists through playing concerts as well as doing question-and-answer sessions with the public.

PCNNU: Why does ‘Refugees of Rap’ now focus on the Syrian revolution?

MJ: Because we believe that it’s right to support a revolution against injustice, oppression and dictatorship, a revolution which stand for freedom and dignity. We always felt that we have the ability to represent the voice of the suffering people – we can’t not speak about the environment we grew up in.

PCNNU: How does the band see the current situation of the Syrian revolution?

MJ: We believe the situation’s become very complicated now because of the numerous interventions and the failure of the opposition to represent the people in Syria, as well as the international community’s failure to support the rebels. But we all believe that the revolution will triumph in the end, no matter how long it takes.

PCNNU: The Palestinian refugee camps in Syria are suffering from severe security problems and starvation under siege. Can you tell us about the band’s material in support of the Palestinian camps?

MJ: We wrote the song ‘Siege of Troy’ based on the reports and real events in Yarmouk, through coordinating and communicating with friends in the camp. We’ve already played several concerts in Paris in solidarity with Syria and the Palestinians in Yarmouk camp.

PCNNU: What are your plans for concerts and for your future music?

MJ: We’ve got several concerts lined up, including one in solidarity with political prisoners around the world and another to save Aleppo. Tomorrow [ May 5th, 2014] we’re releasing the album ‘Time of Silence’ which we’ve waited a long time to do. We’ve already toured in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and worked with many other rappers, both Arab and foreign. We talk about a lot of issues, but focus primarily on the Syrian revolution in particular.

You can hear some of the Refugees of Rap’s material at this link: https://soundcloud.com/refugeesofrap