Yesterday the iconic Palestinian singer, composer, lyricist, activist Rim Banna sadly lost her long battle to breast cancer at the age of 51 in her home town of Nazareth.
Born in Nazareth, where she graduated from Nazareth Baptist School she was the daughter of Palestinian poet Zoheira Sabbagh and lived with her three children, Banna studied singing and conducting at the High Institute for Music in Moscow one of the worlds most challenging conservatory environments.After the release of two live records and six more years of formal study, she graduated from the institute in 1991. Tjat same year she married Ukrainian musician and former classmate Leonid Alexeianko, with whom she relocated to Nazareth. Upon the couples return to Banna's native region, she released a collection pf Palestinian children's songs that were on the edge of dissapearance. The Dream (1993) served to preserve and re-popularize the nearly forgotten repetoire. Banna continued to seek out Palestine texts and set them to traditionally influenced music, becoming a cultural icon among the Palestinians. Having achieved stardowm in the region she became notworthy on an international level with her appearance on the 2003, various artists release Lullabies from the Axis of Evil. The record featured female singers from a variety of nations (deemed enemies of freedom by George W. Bush) singing traditional lillabies alongside English language stars in the hope of introducing their music and culture to Western peoples. Her follow up The Mirrors of My Soul caught the attention of audiences the world over. Her population and reputation as a cultural advocate and political agitator continued to floursh. Banna performed the world over wirh patriotic music that called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Often hailed as 'the voice of Palestine,' Banna was also a messenger of revolution. Riding the waves of the Arab Spring. She set ancient and modern poems to music that is equally timeless. With a beautiful inspiring voice, enchanting performances and the sheer intensity of her interpretative gifts, she magnified and recast the politics of every verse, singing for love, humanity, childhood and homeland, with passion sang with the ecstatic spirit of freedom, shining a light of freedom where it has tet to shone upon. During the span of her musical career Banna released 10 albums most of which echoed words for the Palestinian cause.She would often appear wearing traditionally embroidered gowns and a keffiyeh scarf a symbol of Palestinian resistance and independence over her shoulders. Thee Palestinian Ministry of Culture honoured her prolific musical and artistic legacy by naming her Cultural Personality of the year in 2016.
The 51 year old had first discovered she was suffering from cancer in 2009. Her initial treatment had reigned her victorious over the disease, but it soon returned. Even then the singer still continued to sing passionately with such bravery. She always referred to her brutal battle against her illness as a battle against occupation. "just like Israel occupying our lands, cancer wants to occupy my body, and just like we resist occupation , I resisted my illness," she said in one of her latest videos.
Last week , her family issued a statement to highlight her deterorating medical condition, telling her fans that she was recieving treatment in one of the hospitals in Nazareth.
"She is continuing to resist... she will even announce new plans and reveal details of an upcoming musical tour," the statement read. and three weeks befored she passed away, she said goodbye, in her own way :" Life is beautiful and death is like history, a fake episode." Her mother wrote on her Facebook page:"My white gazelle departed. She took off the dress of sickness, and she left. But she left behind her bright smile which dissipates the scourge of seperation."
Bannab was laid to rest, in her hometown of Nazareth, on Saturday evening, hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respect and chanted some of her songs during the funeral.
Rim Banna, Rest in power and peace. You left the world with a strong legacy for the Palestinians and the world to cherish. Free Palestine.
Like an innocent flower fighting darkness
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/like-an-innocent-flower-fighting-darkness_b_7884588.html
Rim Banna - A Time to cry
Rim Banna - Fly Love
Rim Banna - Sarah : In memory of Palestinian children killed by Israel
