Qoumi EP by Etyen & Salwa Jaradat

Etyen & Salwa Jaradat Unveil 'Qoumi' EP on Thawra Records
Lebanese musician & producer Etyen and Palestinian singer Salwa Jaradat are set to release their latest and much anticipated collaborative work, the three-track EP titled Qoumi, under the Beirut-based label Thawra Records.

The release follows their acclaimed 2022 EP Galah Waji, which received significant recognition, including a feature in Bandcamp Daily's "Best Electronic Music Releases" in April 2022, and in which the pair fused industrial soundscapes with traditional Palestinian rhymes, exploring themes of mother-tongue and the use of coded language in folklore as forms of resistance against censorship and oppression.

With Qoumi, Etyen and Jaradat delve deeper into their shared heritage, further exploring the traditions of coded language in Palestinian folklore, where secret messages were delivered via song - even in celebratory chants like "Meddi Dayyatik", a folk wedding song, where the themes of resistance, oppression, and occupation are deeply embedded within the lyrical context.

The EP features Jaradat's soaring and powerful voice, over Etyen's unique Electronics and arrangements producing “an altogether new kind of Arabic-industrial songcraft”, resulting in a bold, brave and powerful statement, one amplifying the stories of the voiceless, and a heritage that has been censored for generations, on a backdrop of decades of suffering, which continues to this day.

Lebanese musician and producer Etyen & Palestinian singer and researcher Salwa Jaradat join forces to create an "altogether new kind of Arabic-industrial songcraft" - Joe Muggs, Bandcamp Daily 2022 - as they explore the connection between their shared Palestinian heritage and the theme of music as a form of resistance, in a contemporary artistic lens.