“The Carpenter” was born from a moment of return, ten years after I reunited with my father, the carpenter. His hands once shaped the wood that built our home, and his craft became the rhythm of my childhood. This piece is an echo of where I come from and a dialogue between sound and memory, between creation and reconciliation. It’s about building not only with tools, but with time, silence, and love.
This Track was part of The “Fake Lines: Sono Levant”
Every fake line drawn by colonizers implies the violence of division by splitting communities that share deep history, culture and identity. The “Fake Lines: Sono Levant” compilation confronts this colonial legacy head on, especially as the genocide in Gaza is enabled by the fragmentation of surrounding countries into pseudo states; products of imperial divide and conquer tactics that leave them stripped of real sovereignty.
This 36-track compilation unites artists from the fractured and conquered Levant region and its diaspora, alongside guest musicians from Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Turkey, France, Venezuela, Italy and India. Spanning alternative and anti-pop sounds, the compilation journeys through folk, experimental, rock, hip-hop, ambient, electronica & everything in between.
This project began from a place of anger and feeling useless during the zionist genocide in Gaza, this project was initiated in hopes of feeling that we have done something. Yet even upon finalizing the project and preparing to release it into the world, that feeling did not disappear, and the void has not been filled. As music workers, we do what we do best: communicate our thoughts and philosophy through music. More than just music, “Fake Lines: Sono Levant” is a bold cultural act of non-compliance with the current state of affairs in the Levant. Born from the deliberate fragmentation imposed on the region to weaken its unity, the compilation seeks to reconnect and amplify its shared identity through creative collaboration and artistic solidarity. We strive for an alternative world where there are no lines draw between us and our priorities are fairly aligned and more developed than in the world we live in now.
Proceeds from the compilation will directly support APN (Arab Group for the Protection of Nature) and their initiative Revive Gaza’s Farmland — a grassroots project dedicated to restoring agricultural life and food sovereignty in Gaza. Learn more about their work here: apnature.org/en/programmes/revive-gazas-farmland-project
Released via Fake Lines, a non-profit record label established during the genocide in Gaza, and in collaboration with music distribution platform Proton Radio, this project ensures that neither party takes royalties, prioritizing fundraising and the artists.
This album is dedicated to nasheed musician Hamza Abu Qenas and his friends, who was murdered by the zionist occupation on October 14th, 2024. On his last social media post, he was joking around with Ismail and Anas, saying: “If we are martyred make a song for us”.
