She may have been listed as a 'UK artist' but everything about her cried Palestine. Her dress, her movement, and most evidently her song. Reem Kelani's performance at this years Sacred Voices Millenium Music Village was nothing short of breath-taking. She made me long for a land that I have never seen but have an affinity with none-the-less. The power and clarity of her voice brought visions of white doves flying accross a horizon dominated by a bold and shining dome. I cried.

Before that day I had not seen Reem Kelani perform, nor had I heard her sing. I have since had the opportunity to sit with her and talk to her about her experiences. Not only does she have a beautiful and resonant voice she has the intellect and knowledge that go to making her a fully rounded and talented musician.

Her love for the music she studies and sings was more than evident at the workshop she held a little under a fortnight after that day in Regents Park.

She took her 'pupils' on a musical journey of villages and camps she has been to in search of a history of their music. Of course there are more than sounds and rhythems in this history, there are stories. She outlined, sometimes detailing, a number of the stories both within the songs and of her meetings with her teachers. This clearly created an affinity between her and those who had come to learn from her. They sang and danced to their hearts content and all appeared to thoroughly enjoy the experience.

She ended her performacne at the park with a message [through a popular song] befitting the end of this review...

"My children and I, and my children's children are going to our country"

Written by Reem Maghribi
for The Young Arab Project