Death of the Prophet

Readers may be familiar with Parisian oud player Kamilya Jubran for her collaborative work with Swiss based trumpeter and electro-pioneer Werner Hassler. Back in 1982, while still in Jerusalem, she joined a band called Sabreen, which translates as ‘Those Awaiting’ – an all-Palestinian band, which became the voice of the Intifada. Now Akuphone has just come out with a vinyl reissue of Sabreen’s cult album Death of the Prophet, initially released on cassette at the beginning of the first Intifada in 1992.

In this, their second album, Sabreen run the gamut of emotions – from meditative and sorrowful to joyful and ecstatic – while drawing all the while from such Arabic musical sources, most notably Oum Kalthoum. Hailed at the time as a modern Arabic band that nevertheless tended its connection to the past, 40 years on – and bearing in mind the avant-garde tenor of Jubran’s current work – the album – with its qanun- and oud-laden sound – seems more steeped in the classical past than ever. Today if one sought to represent the Palestinian struggle musically, one would opt for something punkier, tweaked with electronica.