JERUSALEM | “We were in the desert to create art to resist the status quo; to spark the imagination; to create human connection; to embody visions of what might be; to move people to action,” Daniel Moses, the Director of Educator Programs for Seeds of Peace, recently recalled.
It’s been nearly three years since the Seeds of Peace Mic & Pen Creative Retreat first brought together the Palestinian rapper SAZ and the Israeli indie artist Sun Tailor. But the song that the two would go on to create from that meeting, “Wake Up Now,” feels as relevant as ever, but especially during Ramadan.
It “was inspired by what Palestinian Muslims sing during Ramadan to awaken fasters so that they eat something before the break of dawn. If you take a look at the video, you will see singers who sing that traditional song for the people during Ramadan,” Daniel says.
“‘Wake Up Now’ expands the idea of ‘waking up’ beyond the spiritual dedication and discipline of Muslims observing Ramadan to a universal wake-up call to a world of suffering, oppression, and trouble.”
“To all of us struggling through these surreal, difficult, disorienting, and chaotic days of the Coronavirus when so much of what was until so recently taken for granted seems to be up for grabs, I wonder: what might it mean to “wake up now?”’
Learn more about Sun and SAZ and the Mic & Pen Retreat ››