At the heart of this initiative is a vision to collect, protect, and connect the songs that have sustained Palestinian life across generations. Combining existing ethnomusicological archive–gathered through years of fieldwork–with a crowdsourcing platform that invites Palestinians worldwide to contribute recordings of their parents and grandparents singing folk songs from their childhoods.

Through this digital commons, anyone can upload audio or video clips, lyrics, translations, and family stories–transforming fragments of private memory into a shared cultural inheritance.

Why This Work Is Urgent

Palestinian folk songs–lullabies, wedding chants, harvest songs, and laments–have survived in domestic and communal spaces, passed down orally rather than through institutions. But as elders age, pass away, or are murdered, these archives vanish with them.

Today, there is no centralized mechanism for collecting, accessing, or sharing these songs. Without immediate intervention, this intangible heritage risks disappearing forever. Building this archive is therefore not only a preservation project–it is a moral and cultural imperative. It transforms remembrance into resistance and ensures that even in the face of destruction, our soundscapes endure.