Rock in Palestine

we are “CheckPoint 303″, a new electro-oriental underground band, our music deals with the daily life of the Palestinian people, the struggle and hardship but also the beauty and the trivial aspects of life in Palestine, things that obviously don’t always make to the media. Our music is an attempt to combine audio reporting from the daily life in the occupied territories with a contemporary approach to arabic music fusing electronic beats with the field recordings we perform on the streets in Ramallah, Bethlehem, etc. and adding some instrumental arrangements we play on the oud and the piano…

you’re welcome to check out some of our music on our new website: http://www.checkpoint303.com

The name checkpoint 303 alludes to the Bethlehem checkpoint 300…The members of the collective are currently split between Bethlehem and Paris.

One of the Checkpoint Tune’s is 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.

Another Checkpoint Tune is rissala min 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.
Listen to more music here!


'checkpoint 303 is inspired by the sounds that pace the daily lives of millions of people in the middle east. screeching sounds of bullets. echoing injustice. uproar. revolt. dispair and sadness. and still amidst all this the soothing sounds. of hope. of normality. trivial acts. life like everywhere else. this is not a video game. violence is not a moving image on tv. it's the daily nightmare of millions.'

Source: Sabbah's blog and Checkpoint 303 website