Gaza band plays music to uplift spirits, bring hope

He noted that the young generation that is growing up amid a most complicated situation in the coastal enclave “can overcome challenges through music.” 

As he played a Turkish track, he said, “For decades everything you heard about Gaza was our involvement in a conflict. But we are here to show that we are playing music and singing for life, hope and peace.”

Jihad Abu Shamala, a 22-year-old guitarist and singer from the town of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, spends at least six hours a day performing music with the band.

“Music is life for the soul. It gives positive energy to listeners,” he told Al-Monitor, while playing his guitar. He said that they choose crowded places to share their music with more people.

According to Abu Shamala, the situation in the Gaza Strip will not change any time soon, and as the situation keeps deteriorating more people will die of heart attacks and poor health conditions. To make matters worse, Gaza also lacks medical staff. “We cannot change the situation, but we can help people through music. It will not cost them anything,” he added.

“Not only does the crowd benefit from our music, we also improve our musical skills,” Aboud Mohammed, a 23-year-old organ player told Al-Monitor. 

He said that he and his bandmates are self-taught through YouTube videos. They play the music of classical Arab singers such as Egyptian singer Abdul Halim Hafez and Lebanese singer Fayrouz, in addition to Western singers. He and the bandmates, he added, are proud of themselves when they see people smile.

Al-Monitor saw a 10-member family sit and listen to the Street Band, with the children singing along to the music. Ibrahim Sarsour, the only breadwinner of the family, said he was highly impressed by the band’s performance. 

“I rarely go out with my family to have a fun time, but I forgot my problems for a moment,” said the 60-year-old father of eight, adding that he missed “such moments that give him internal positive energy.”

Sarsour said that the majority of the population has been suffering for 13 years now, while the outbreak of the novel coronavirus has been contributing to their hardships amid a lack of medical staff and equipment. 

“Those young men have succeeded in making me forget all my negative energy today,” he noted. “Gazans need to live a simple, peaceful and normal life just like other people around the world.”

More than 60% of Palestinians suffer from depression and psychological pressure, the Gaza Community Mental Health Program reported in 2017, noting that the severe economic and political conditions are the cause of this.

Local residents hold Israel, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Islamic Hamas movement ruling Gaza responsible for their harsh living conditions. 

Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip right after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in 2007. Since then, the political and economic situations have been deteriorating.

Israel has waged three large-scale military offensives on the enclave — the longest one was during the summer of 2014, which lasted 50 days and left large-scale destruction.

Sami Owaida, a psychiatrist at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, told Al-Monitor, “A large percentage of the residents of this besieged area suffer from the most severe types of depression as a result of the deteriorating political and economic conditions.”

He noted, “Depression negatively affects people’s social lives, and they become more susceptible to physical ailments that often worsen because of one’s psychological state.”

Therefore, Owaida concluded, the local community needs to be exposed to positive and inspiring acts such as music.