Streets Ô Ramallah
first, no body was hurt during the field recordings used in this track. The sound of the firing kalash and machine guns are shots of celebration fired in the air. We made these recordings in Ramallah during a rally celebrating the victory of the Fatah party over Hamas at the student elections at Birzeit University near Ramallah in 2005.

[download track]     [back to audio page]

Hawiya Dhay'a (lost identity)
this track uses samples extracted from field recordings we made during a rally in the west bank city of Ramallah in early 2005. The voice we hear at the beginning is that of somebody announcing via a megaphone that an i.d. and driver's license have been reported lost. The metaphorical "Fi hawiya dhay'a" (there's a lost i.d.) is the sample recurrent throughout the rest of the track.

[download track]     [back to audio page]

Abraj (horoscope)
the samples heard on this track are based on recordings we made from a Bethlehem* based radio station. A weekly program dedicated entirely to the horoscope forecast. Listerners call in, give their date and time of birth to find out what the stars tell them about their luck in love, health, work, finances...signs of life like anywhere else in the world, here too, people dream of happiness, marriage, a better job, etc...
(* Bethlehem is a palestinian city with a population of 40,000. It is one of the areas under full control of the palestinian authority since 1995)

[download track]     [back to audio page]

Zaytoun (Olive Tree)
this song opens up with radio static and excerpts from a song by the legendary revolutionary egyptian composer and singer Sheikh Imam Eissa (1918-1995). the voice we hear throughout the track is that of a palestinian journalist speaking from gaza two days after the israeli withdrawal (september 2005). she reminisces stories her grandma used to tell her. tales of freedom. of olive trees...

more info: wiki sheikh imam | wiki gaza strip

[download track]     [back to audio page]

Rissala min Qalandia (letter from Qalandia)
the samples we used on this track are based on a recording of the late arab poet Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998) reading his famous piece "Rissala min taht il ma" (Letter from under water). Nizar kabbani one of the greatest contemporary poets in the arab world was also known as the women's poet, the poet of love and the homeland poet. Qalandia is an israeli Checkpoint halfway between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

[download track]     [back to audio page]

Teoda (control)
this tune is based on field recordings we made in a bus during a Teoda (hebrew for identity check) by the israeli soldiers. The bus was on its way from Beit Jala* to Jerusalem...
(* Beit Jala is a palestinian city 2 miles to the west of the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and 8 miles to the south of the church of the Holy Sepulcher and of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem)

[download track]     [back to audio page]

Needle stuck on Lebanon
august 2006: although it really seems like one, the ongoing israeli attack on Lebanon is not a mere déjà vu. once again, lebanese citizens are under israeli fire. israeli bombings in southern, eastern, western and nothern Lebanon. once again. just like the sound of a broken record, the needle is stuck on Lebanon. this checkpoint 303 track mixes recordings we made from radio, tv & internet news broadcasts by BBC, TG1 & TG3 (italian RAI), TV7 (tunisian news broadcast), VDL (Voice of Lebanon), ARTE (french news edition) and FOX (no comment).

[download track]     [back to audio page]