This week, we take you to the National Folk Festival in Canberra, where we chat with three women from Dabke & Tatreez, a music and dance ensemble. Dabke & Tatreez formed in Sydney (Gadigal land) with musicians and dancers from, and with roots, in Palestine, Lebanon, Turkiye, Cyprus and Indonesia. We spoke with Ayse Shanal (Artists for Peace) and Hala & Hoor al-Sammak (Three Rivers Ensemble and Dahnoon Dabke) about resistance through music and culture in Palestine and the Levant. We also hear Dabke & Tatreez live at the 60th National Folk Festival, playing songs and tunes from a time that pre-dated 1948 and continues to this day in spite of Israeli occupation and blockade.
Cleis Hart, Kannagi Bhatt, Phuong Tran & Scheherazade Bloul.