Music compilations are becoming an increasingly common form of resistance among Arab and global artists, bringing together musicians around joint causes, raising both awareness and funds to make an impact. Think of 2024’s ENOUGH!, a 63-track feat that raised money for Palestinian children in Gaza, featuring names like Nicolas Jaar, ZULI, and Renata.
Today sees the release of another one of these large-scale collaborations. Titled Fake Lines: Sono Levant, the new compilation – put together by Fake Lines, a non-profit record label in collaboration with music distribution platform Proton Radio – draws its strength from both its expansive list of collaborators and its sharp artistic and political statement.
The album features original works by artists from the Levant and its diaspora, including indie household names like Bu Kolthoum, El Morabba3, Tanjaret Daghet, Carla Saad, and Hello Psychaleppo, alongside contributions from Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Turkey, France, Venezuela, Italy, and India.
Proceeds will go toward the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature’s Revive Gaza Farmlands project, which aims to restore farmland and strengthen food sovereignty across the Levant.
The compilation will be released both digitally and as a six-disc vinyl set, complemented by a series of restored historical images of the Levant by Kelvin Bown, a Jordan-based artist and specialist in historical image restoration.
The photography series echoes the language of the press release accompanying the album:
“Every fake line drawn by colonizers implies the violence of division by splitting communities that share deep history, culture, and identity.”
The statement continues to argue that “the genocide in Gaza is enabled by the fragmentation of surrounding countries into pseudo-states – products of imperial divide-and-conquer tactics that have left them stripped of real sovereignty.”
The compilation is also dedicated to Hamza Abu Qenas, the Palestinian nasheed musician who rose to prominence for lamenting Gazans in his songs during the war, before being killed by an Israeli strike on his house in Northern Gaza in October 2024. In his last social media post, he joked with his friends: “If we are martyred, make a song for us.”
Photos Restored & Licensed from Kelvin Bown / ReAwakening The Past.
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