The Majazz Project x Reel Palestine Collaboration
Reel Palestine presented a curated mixtape by the Majazz Project which is a research project by UK based actor and musician, Mo’min Swaitat, that was born out of an archive of rare tapes and vinyls from Palestine, many of which were acquired at a record store in Jenin, focused on sampling, remixing, and reissuing vintage Palestinian cassettes.
The mixtape includes archived songs and sounds from the late 1970s to the early 2000s with a diverse collection of genres, including; folkloric songs, contemporary jazz, soul, funk, hiphop, field recordings, and poetry reciting from acclaimed musicians and rediscovered artists such as Marcel Khalife, Umaima Khalil, Kamilya Jubran, Ziad Rahbani, Khaled al Haber, Tawfiq Zayyad and Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine Folklore Group, and more.
The mixtape’s soundtracks, historical information and cassette cover designs was displayed at The Flipside, an independent record store located adjacent to Cinema Akil in Alserkal Avenue throughout the festival from January 28th - February 6th 2022.
The mixtape includes archived songs and sounds from the late 1970s to the early 2000s with a diverse collection of genres, including; folkloric songs, contemporary jazz, soul, funk, hiphop, field recordings, and poetry reciting from acclaimed musicians and rediscovered artists such as Marcel Khalife, Umaima Khalil, Kamilya Jubran, Ziad Rahbani, Khaled al Haber, Tawfiq Zayyad and Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine Folklore Group, and more.
The mixtape’s soundtracks, historical information and cassette cover designs was displayed at The Flipside, an independent record store located adjacent to Cinema Akil in Alserkal Avenue throughout the festival from January 28th - February 6th 2022.
What is The Majazz Project?
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The aim behind Majazz Project is to safeguard the Palestinian sound archive and to make it more accessible in online and physical formats. It is also an outreach research project to connect Palestinian bands from 60s, 70s, 80s with new audiences and to make their music available through streaming platforms both in their original form and reinterpreted and remixed by contemporary DJs, artists and musicians. |
The Majazz Project Mixtape
Title: The Return
Artist: Umaima Khalil Genre: Lament Date: 1980s |
Title: Khayyal El-Mzaghirat
Artist: Sabreen (sung by Kamilya Jubran) Genre: Jazz/Soul Date: 1987 |
Title: The Poetry of Man
Artist: Sabreen (sung by Kamilya Jubran) Genre: Jazz/Soul Date: 1994 |
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"When I was child, I remember this track playing on the TV between news segments, showing footage of the First Intifada, and in cafés and restaurants. It became something of a soundtrack of that time, and was able to stir people without the need for any words." - Mo’min Swaitat
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Title: I’m From Jerusalem
Artist: Riad Awwad and Family Genre:Funk/Disco/Acid /Revolutionary Composer: Riad Awwad Date: 1987 ('The Intifada', 1987 reissued by Majazz Project, 2021) |
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“George Kormoz, a Palestinian-American, left Palestine for America just after the First Intifada finished and little is known about him from this point onwards. For twelve years prior to this, he travelled between numerous towns and villages across the West Bank, He made field recordings and held gatherings with men and women where they sang and played together. Much of his music from the period was inspired by and made in collaboration with these communities, who can be heard singing on various tracks.” - Mo'min Swaitat
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Title: The People Decided
Artist: Sumood Genre: Jazz/Funk Date: Late 1980s |
Title: My Son
Artist: Unknown Genre: Poetry Date: Unknown |
Title: They Stopped Me At The Border
Artist: George Kormoz Genre: Revolutionary/Jazz/Funk Date: Unknown |
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“This album was recorded in Akka by a group of friends in their living room. Majazz Project has been in touch with the band for the past two years and is planning on reissuing this album shortly.”- Mo'min Swaitat |
Title: Peace Dream
Artist: Abed Kattan Genre: Jazz/Contemporary Date: 1980s |
Title: First Arab Hip Hop
Artist: Tamar Nafar Genre: Hip Hop Date: 1998 |
Title: Unknown
Artist: “Al Arabeh” and “Al Arameh” Genre: Field Recording/ Hadda (Spoken Word Battle) Date: 1980s |
Title: Shepherd’s Metal Pipe
Artist: Saleh Shalata Genre: Field Recording/Traditional/Wedding Date: 1970s |
Title: Beautiful
Artist: Abu Al Leil Genre: Field Recording/Traditional/Wedding /Iraqi Choobi Date: 1990s |
Title: Unknown
Artist: Mahmood and Atef Swaitat Genre: Bedouin/Field Recording/Traditional/Wedding /Yarghul/Dabke Date: 1980s |
Title: Unknown
Artist: Qassem and Atef Swaitat Genre: Bedouin/Field Recording/Traditional/Wedding Date: 1970s |
Title: Unknown
Artist: Mustafa Al Khatib and Marj Ibn Amer Dance Group Genre: Field Recording/Electronic/Wedding Date: 2000s |
More Listening
For more listening: The Majazz Project archive has been broadcasted in regular episodes on the online radio platform NTS
As seen in:
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The label has released the first reissue is of a 1987 album titled ‘The Intifada’, the first album to be recorded after the outbreak of the First Intifada composed by Riad Awwad, with lyrics co-written by Mahmoud Darwish and Hanan Awwad. The digital album and vinyl can be ordered on: 
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Mo’min Swaitat Is a London-based Palestinian Bedouin actor, filmmaker, music label owner, DJ and archivist from Jenin. He trained at the Freedom Theatre, Jenin and arthaus (formerly LISPA), London and Berlin, before moving to London. He collaborated with the Arcola Theatre, Young Diorama Theatre, Rich Mix, Battersea Arts Centre, Albany Theatre Deptford, Theatre Temoin, Common Wealth Theatre, Mosaic Rooms, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai Expo, Radio Alhara and many others, working on solo and ensemble productions, with a focus on immersive, site-specific performances which blend storytelling, spoken word, music and movement. His debut short film Stones in Hand - an experimental piece inspired by his family archive - premiered on Ma3azef earlier this year. Since 2018, he has been one of the associate artists and creative directors of Sarha Collective, a platform for underground artists from the SWANA region. He is the founder of The Majazz Project, an archive of vintage Palestinian and Arab vinyl and cassettes and a record label and runs a residency programme in East London where he has recently hosted artists such as Kamaal Williams, El Far3i and Beirut Groove Collective. He is this year’s Jerwood Arts grantee for the Live Work Fund and has an ongoing residency at NTS Radio, where he has sharing music from the archive. |
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