SOME of Scotland’s finest musicians will take to the stage next month in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The concert will be held in Edinburgh’s prestigious Queen’s Hall to raise much needed funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
The charity has been struggling to provide aid in Gaza which lies in ruins due to Israel’s continuing bombardment. There are now more child amputees in this nation of two million people than anywhere else on the planet and the World Health Organisation estimates that the true death toll could exceed 150,000 (70% of them women and children).
Among the casualties have been MAP staff members who have kept working in near impossible conditions, with surgeons battling to perform life-saving operations without electrical power, running water or anaesthetics.
Musician Aidan O’Rourke, who is organising the forthcoming concert with Douglas Robertson of Soundhouse, told the Sunday National that it was difficult not to feel helpless in the face of such suffering but it was important to help in any way possible.
“What Israel is doing is absolutely appalling,” he said. “I believe it is a genocide. I believe both Palestinians and Israelis have a right to exist but the way they are dealing with this is so overly heavy-handed and tragic.
“It is horrific but this night is about getting money to medical personnel on the ground to help in any way they can in the hope that things one day can get better.”
O’Rourke and Robertson have previously raised funds for MAP but O’Rourke said the latest developments in the Israeli attacks on Palestine would make the forthcoming event feel even more poignant.
“You can feel quite helpless amongst it all but I think a concert like this can be good for people’s mental health,” he said. “If you can get in a room with 900 people that feel the same way as you, and if you can show solidarity and listen to music coming from musicians who feel the same as you, it can help.”
He added: “Everyone in that room will want to see an end to the suffering and for the Palestinian people to have the right to exist. That does not really need to be said on the night but I think all of us in that room sharing that feeling will make it really emotional and lead to a very special night.”
It is hoped that around £20,000 will be raised by the event.
“This is a tiny fraction of what is required – perhaps 2% of the replacement cost of one scanner vandalised by the Israel Defence Forces – but all of us must do what we can,” said Robertson who began fundraising for MAP around 16 years ago after growing increasingly concerned about the oppression of Palestinians.
He hit out at the UK Government for failing to stand up for them.
“There seems to be no crime committed by Israel that our spineless government will condemn,” said Robertson.
“Currently 2.3 million brutalised people, including a million children, are being starved to death while the world watches. Keir Starmer, David Lammy and every single Labour MP has more concern for their own career than Israel’s victims, those with principles having been thrown out of the party.”
He pointed out that MAP was still struggling to keep the people of Palestine alive despite the occupation forces’ determination to “wipe them out”.
“Someday the medieval siege will lift – most likely after starvation has taken many lives – and MAP trucks will again take vital water, food and medicine into ‘the world’s largest concentration camp’,” said Robertson.
At the concert O’Rourke’s will be playing with LAU and also featured will be Fergus McCreadie, Cahalen Morrison, Karine Polwart, Dave Milligan, Lizabett Russo and Graeme Stephen.
The musicians chosen to perform come from both the folk and jazz genres although O’Rourke said it wasn’t a conscious mingling of the two.
“They are just the musicians we think would add a strong voice to this concert and it so happens to be those steeped in both worlds,” he said.
“Karine is remarkable in that her work is always not just laced with politics and inspirational political thought but is at the forefront of a lot of it. The folk scene has traditionally been a voice of protest and although I think that tradition has been lost in many ways, it hasn’t for people like Karine who have kept that flag flying and used their voices very well in protest.
“Then we have Fergus McCreadie who is the best known jazz musician coming out of Scotland just now, as well as the brilliant Cahalen Morrison from the States but who is now based in Glasgow. He plays banjo, fiddle and guitar and sings in this raw but absolutely gorgeous voice. He is a contemporary song writer in the tradition of American folk song. His family roots are in Lewis, not going too far back – not that he wants to make any parallels between him and another American!”
O”Rourke added: “We are also pleased to have Lizabett Russo, a fantastic Romanian folk singer who has been living in Scotland for many years. She has a very distinctive take on her tradition and will perform with the brilliant Graeme Stephen.”
A Night For MAP will be held at the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, on May 30. For more information, visit thequeenshall.net/whats-on/night-map
