Raast: London's multicultural collective sings Arab resistance

Raast touches hearts through songs in solidarity with Palestinian and Arab resistance, brings Arab musical mainstays to London

Raast, a multicultural musical collective based in London, will perform on 5 October at the St Mary's Harvest Appeal 2013 entitled "Keeping Hope Alive in Palestine."
The fundraiser, hosted by St Mary the Virgin in Iffley, Oxford, will raise money for the planting of olive trees in Palestine.
On 6 October, Raast will perform at the London Action Resource Centre (LARC) in support of Ryan Harvey's international tour entitled "Global Uprisings," which recounts the stories of past and current revolts. Raast and Harvey will collaborate again on Tuesday 8 October at the Firebox café in King's Cross.
Raast's musicians are largely – though not all – from the Arab world. Paul Vinhas, on congas and percussion, is from Paraguay and Portugal. Emma Darwish, who plays the piano, is Irish and Egyptian. Joao Smart, playing guitar, is Portuguese and British, and Basel El-Metrawi on bass and percussion is Egyptian.
The band's influences go beyond North Africa and the Middle East. Indeed, Raast prides itself in its organic fusion of different musical styles. Mixing Latin, folk and Arabic genres, they have created a distinct sound.
Basel Zaraa, a percussionist and singer, is a Palestinian who grew up in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, Syria. He has struggled to cope with his leaving three years ago once the uprising began, and being in London as his hometown is shelled.
Vocalist Emily Churchill is British, though she lived in Syria from 2008 to 2009, spending time in Yarmouk Palestinian camp where she met and married Zaraa. Churchill joined Raast as an established singer in the underground London music scene. Although she would probably disagree, many view her as a woman of the revolution, leading with her voice and recounting the pain of the struggle.
For some Raast musicians, these struggles have hit close to home. Kareem Samara, who plays the oud, was in Egypt on 25 January 2011. He tells Ahram Online how he and his Egyptian mother followed events closely on television, with conversations raging throughout the night.
'Raast' refers to the basicmaqam(musical mode) in Persian and Arabic music. As Samara puts it, ''it is the basis, the mother of all the maqam. It contains that idea of home, of something uniting in our music. We are all, in ways, part of a diaspora."
One of Raast's most memorable performances took place during the summer 2012 Shubbak Festival, an annual festival in London devoted to Arab artists.
In an abandoned building in central London, transformed by activists into 'Palestine Place,' the enchanting voice of Emily Churchill rang through an audience of around 200. The attendees were mostly young Palestinians, Syrians, and Egyptians, but there were also many English speakers. Unable to understand what Emily was singing, they remained transfixed by her performance.
Singing one of the group's latest songsBela Nesa ma Fi Sawrat(Without Women there are no Revolutions), Churchill's Arabic is like that of a native speaker, backed by the oud, tabla, and guitar.
The song is a translation of Bob Marley'sNo Woman No Cry,although some of the lyrics have been altered to accommodate the Arab Spring and honour the women involved.
Raast gives its musicians a medium to promote the issues close to their heart, and through Raast's music they have found a way to contribute by conveying and sustaining stories of popular resistance.
Although some of the members have been playing together for years, the band was founded after a grassroots cultural festival for Palestine in London in 2012. The uprisings in the Middle East had begun, and the group evolved alongside them.
Raast celebrates Arab music by integrating traditional Palestinian songs with the works of Mahmoud Darwish, Marcel Khalife, Sheikh Imam, Souad Massi, and traditional instruments such as the oud and the tabla. Their music provides the diaspora with a much-needed cultural and emotional link to those struggling for freedom and justice. During the revolutions, Raast became an act of resistance through its original compositions, true to the spirit of those whose work it celebrates.
They have performed alongside Iraqi-English rapper Lowkey, acclaimed Palestinian singer and musician Reem Kelani, Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadeh, and Katibe 5, a group of rappers from Palestinian camps in Lebanon. In this sense, Raast links struggles across the Arab world and beyond.
The band started recording in 2013, and it continues to perform in demonstrations, awareness campaigns and fundraising events for its supported causes.
The group performed a solo concert at the School of Oriental and African Studies in central London last February, the proceeds of which went to support Basel Zaraa's legal battle to be granted a permanent visa. Raast also took part in theHafla on the Square on 23 June, which marked the opening weekend of Shubbak's 2013 festival. There they got people on their feet, dancing dabke and singing along to a remake of Cheb Khaled's famous song Aisha.
Raast is now focusing on creating and performing original work. Many of their songs are then recorded and posted for free download, as the group is committed to making their music accessible.
Their latest recording is in English.Suitcasespeaks of those displaced twice by violence and injustice: the Palestinian Syrians, who have had to leave their camps as their parents and grandparents before them had to leave Palestine.
"She packed her suitcase in a rush / Just like her mother had before/ And the early morning street/ Filled with new refugees/ Falling/ She follows her husband to work/ So if he dies he dies with her/ And she laughs with each bomb that falls/ Has no fear left anymore/ Just prays she is dreaming."
They have also reworked a famous song by Ahmed Kaabour,Ya Seti(My Grandma), and their version is about the loss of war. A child, the singer, tells her grandmother "Ya Seti, tell them to drop the shells far away/ Over the firing line but not over you, / Tell them where Mahmoud is/ Tell them why you are wearing black/ And why there is a tear in your eye.'"
Raast's music can be heard on theSound Cloud.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/83095.aspx