Oriente OccidenteOriente Occidente Logo

MUSIC BREAKS THE SILENCE

Radio Gaza concert in Rovereto

Giving voice back to the Palestinian people through music, to denounce the genocide in Gaza and other Israeli crimes in the rest of Palestine. A group of associations, together with the Municipality of Rovereto, promote the concert of Radio Gaza as a preview of the Oriente Occidente Dance Festival. On 3 September at 6.30 pm, in the courtyard of the Oratorio Rosmini in Rovereto.

Giving voice back to the Palestinian people through music, in an attempt not to remain in silence in the face of the genocide and the many other numerous human rights violations that are now before everyone's eyes in Gaza. The indiscriminate carnage in the Strip and the obvious plan of territorial conquest, rapidly advancing also in the West Bank, reveal that the Israeli government's goal is ethnic cleansing and the erasure of the entire Palestinian population and its thousand-year-old culture.

Around these considerations and with a clear desire not to be indifferent to what is happening in the Middle East, numerous associations in Rovereto have come together to create a programme entitled Gaza. Lì dove brucia l'anima del mondo (Gaza. There where the soul of the world burns), a path of information and awareness-raising that began on 11 June and will continue until next November.

Within this context, Oriente Occidente is hosting a Festival preview organised in collaboration with the network of associations promoting the entire cycle of events.

The guest of the evening, scheduled for 3 September at 6.30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Oratorio Rosmini in Rovereto, will be the Palestinian music collective Radio Gaza.

Radio Gaza is not just a band, but an artistic project that brings together Palestinian talents from Gaza: Watar Band, Abu Joury and singer Moneim Adwan. Together they reinterpret traditional Palestinian music, blending traditional elements such as oud and bouzouki with electric guitar, ancestral percussion and hip-hop rhythms, infusing their songs with the energy of rock and the power of activism. Moneim Adwan's voice restores the story of a people that must not be silenced.

In January 2025, eight families of musicians from Gaza were welcomed to France through the PAUSE programme, an initiative promoted by the Collège de France and the Al Kamandjâti Association, created to offer protection and artistic continuity to those forced to flee violence and destruction. After an initial refuge in Egypt, the artists were hosted in several French cities - including Angers, Montpellier and Bordeaux - with biannual artistic residencies allowing them to continue their work safely. The PAUSE programme, supported by public institutions and civil society, encourages the creative renaissance of artists who share practices and music through concerts and workshops, enriching the communities that host them. The project is made possible thanks to a collective effort of volunteers, associations, French local authorities and various partners, as well as a group of solidarity-based artists.

In Rovereto, civil society, public administration, associations and cultural institutions have come together to organize a concert that, through music, stands against the silence and impunity that seem to allow the massacre of an entire people.

Network of promoters

Comune di Rovereto
Donne in Nero Rovereto
Ass. Giuristi Democratici - Sezione Trentino Südtirol
Ass. Pace per Gerusalemme onlus
Centro Pace Ecologia Diritti Umani di Rovereto
Casa delle Donne Rovereto
ANPI Rovereto-Vallagarina
CGIL Rovereto
Forum Trentino per la Pace e i Diritti Umani
Circolo ARCI "Ugo Winkler" Brentonico
Biblioteca Civica Rovereto e Patto per la Lettura
Oriente Occidente Impresa Sociale ETS