Billy Bragg has shared a new single called ‘Hundred Year Hunger’, in which he expresses his solidarity with the people of Palestine – check it out below.
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The singer-songwriter’s latest track delves into the current famine that Israel has created in Gaza. A recent report by The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine is taking place in the city.
It went on to acknowledge that the situation is “entirely man-made”, and aid organisations are also accusing Israel of the “systematic obstruction” of food entering the Gaza Strip.
Per a press release, Bragg’s new song looks “through the lens of a century of enforced food insecurity and malnutrition imposed on the Palestinian people, firstly by British imperialism, then as a weapon of mass displacement by the state of Israel”.
‘Hundred Year Hunger’ takes its title from the recent book of the same name by E Mark Windle, and was recorded at Echo Town Studio in Dorset.
Over a haunting piano line, Bragg sings of the “hunger“, “suffering“, “slaughter” and “dread” that Palestinians are experiencing. “Sumud! Sumud! Lan narhal/ Existence is resistance,” he adds. “Sumud! Sumud! Lan narhal/ We will not leave this land.”
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‘Sumud’ is an Arabic word that translates into English as steadfastness or perseverance. It is used by Palestinians to describe their non-violent everyday resistance against Israel’s occupation.
‘Lan narhal’ translates as ‘we will not leave’. Together, ‘Sumud! Sumud! Lan narhal’ conveys the determination of the Palestinian people to refuse to be displaced.
As well as releasing the track, Bragg has added Billy Nomates to the line-up for his ‘Days Like These’ Palestine benefit concert in London on September 20. Other artists on the bill include Jamie Webster, Reverend & The Makers and Big Special.
The gig will raise funds for the Amos Trust, which provides medical care, food, aid, therapeutic trauma support for women and children, and support for young writers in Palestine. Bragg said the participating performers would “help end the ongoing genocide in Gaza”, while speaking out on “the shocking images of starving families”.
Earlier this year, Bragg explained his support for Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap – vocal supporters of Palestine – shortly after member Mo Chara was charged by the Metropolitan Police for allegedly displaying a flag in support of the proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah last year.
For their part, Kneecap denied the offence and described it as a “carnival of distraction”. Chara’s terrorism case was adjourned until September 26 at his second court hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London last month. The group have since vowed to “win our court case”.
After Heavenly Recordings published an open letter defending Kneecap’s “freedom of expression”, signed by artists including Pulp, Fontaines D.C. and IDLES, Bragg first said that the document “lacks any sense of nuance or understanding of why this whole furore kicked off”.
However, he explained that he was “glad to see that a number of artists have signed a letter defending Kneecap from attempts to remove them from various festival bills in the wake of comments made at shows over two years ago”.
Bragg later added: “I understand that it may have appeared to some that I was arguing semantics while atrocities were being committed, but my genuine concern is that the artists were taking a position that could undermine future efforts to hold the Israeli government to account, which is surely not their intent.
“While I believe that being an artist doesn’t absolve you from taking responsibility for your actions, I do not believe that creative expression should be subject to criminal charges.”
When speaking to NME at Glastonbury 2024 about the Left Field tent he co-founded, Bragg discussed why musicians and creatives tend to be more left-leaning. “When you’re young with your life in front of you, you live in a world of possibilities,” he said.
“They fundamentally believe that the war in Gaza should end with a two-state solution and have got no other means by which to express that and put themselves on the line than by protesting at colleges and universities across the US and Europe. That’s not a brand new thing. Music has always been one of the few mediums we had for talking about these things.”
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