Revive Gaza’s Farmland fundraising compilation, ‘Letters to the Sun’, released by Waking Life and Dreaming Live

A new compilation featuring Kareem Lofty, Adelaida, Nicolás Jaar and poet Fatma Al Jabari is raising money for Revive Gaza’s Farmland.

After premiering as a two-hour-long sound piece on Radio Alhara in March, ‘Letters to the Sun’ is now getting a digital and double-vinyl release by Portugal’s Waking Life and the Jordan-based podcast and platform Dreaming Live, run by Mayss, who appears on the compilation with drumloop. The compilation centres around poetry by the Gaza-based writer Fatma Al Jabari, with additional contributing artists including Rama Alcoutlabi, Asifeh, fatalism, Faten Kanaan, Israa Shalaby, Drew McDowall and Firas Shehadeh. The artwork is a 1980 illustration by a then-12-year-old Palestinian orphaned refugee named Ilham Shahrour. 

All proceeds will benefit Arab Group for the Protection of Nature‘s Revive Gaza’s Farmlandproject dedicated to rebuilding Gaza’s farmland and food systems, as more than 95% of its agricultural land has been systematically destroyed. 

“This compilation emerged from a place beyond language,” reads an accompanying statement for the release. “A sound sanctuary built from words, sounds, breaths, instruments, and pauses – confronting the chasm of silence forced upon the rubble of Gaza, where each bomb is an affront to our humanity, and each whataboutism a dilution of horror. Here, we create space to feel and to share the within, from within, and for one another.”

Dreaming Live has previously curated and released the  ‘ENOUGH!’ compilation featuring 62 tracks by Nicolás Jaar, Suzanne Ciani, KMRU, Juliana Huxtable, DJ Marcelle, ZULI, Sarah Davachi and more. All proceeds are donated to The Ghassan Abu Sittah’s Children’s Fund.

Last month, Palestine’s Radio Alhara collaborated with a crew of Manchester-based artists, working as MCR4PAL, to release the ‘¿Lesh La2?‘ EP. 

Check out ‘Letters to the Sun’ on Bandcamp, and listen to it below.