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Roger Waters records verses of Palestinian poet with Le Trio Joubran

March 15, 2018 at 11:04 am

Le Trio Joubran is an oud trio playing traditional Palestinian music [Youtube]

Well-known singer-songwriter Roger Waters has recorded verses from a poem written by the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in protest against US President Donald Trump’s move on Jerusalem.

Mahmoud Darwish [File photo]

Le Trio Joubran and I have collaborated to perform an excerpt from an epic poem by the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish,” Waters wrote on Twitter. “On the surface it narrates the last speech of The Native American to The White Man.” On Facebook, the Pink Floyd founder member added that it also speaks to Darwish’s beloved Palestine, and its indigenous people. “In fact to all victims of settler colonialism everywhere, always.”

 

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Le Trio Joubran and Waters recorded the song in Paris and London after Trump’s Jerusalem declaration last December. The group said that the move endangers Palestinians who are being pushed out of Jerusalem. It has timed the release of the video to the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian “Nakba”, the ethnic cleansing of more than 700,000 Palestinians as a result of the creation of the state of Israel in their land.

Read: Palestinians, Roger Waters and Ken Loach respond to Radiohead

“We have been touring the world with our ouds for the past 15 years, taking with us – from city to city – a bit of Palestine,” explained Le Trio Joubran. “We honour the struggles of indigenous peoples across the globe, and through our art affirm that the relationship between people, culture and their homeland survives history.”