The Irish-Palestinian singer and filmmaker speaks about embracing her Arabic heritage in her music, and the resurgence of interest in keening and Irish folklore.
The Irish-Palestinian artist Róisín El Cherif has spent 18 months advocating for the people of Palestine, speaking out on the injustice and genocide in Gaza. El Cherif has begun singing in Arabic on stage, noting the connections between Irish and Arabic folk music and culture.
It’s best encapsulated in the Róisín El Cherif live show, which debuted at the Fringe Festival and was given a Fringe award for Astounding Performance of Political and Cultural Significance.
The next live show takes place at the Button Factory in Dublin next week, Wednesday April 30th, which will be a blend of live music, poetry and film visuals featuring clips from Arabic films, Palestinian folk music and drawing parallels with Irish mythology and folklore – the cailleach, banshees and keening which is also found in Arabic culture as wailing, and further represents and celebrates the oppressed people of Palestine.
El Cherif recently accepted the Choice Music Prize award on behalf of Fontaines D.C. by reciting part of a poem from Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim written in 1971 called Enemy of the Sun which speaks of Palestinian resistance against Israel.
We also talk about the reaction to Kneecap’s recent Pro-Palestine statements at Coachella.
Listen to the episode here:
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
