On a January evening at Café Istanbul in the Marigny, Simon Moushabeck wore a keffiyeh around his neck, his accordion strapped to his chest as he and his bandmates kicked off the evening with a brass rendition of the Palestinian song “Ana Dammi Falastini.”

A crowd of some 70 people listened as the band, NOLA Musicians for Palestine, performed with looks of concentration. The song, translated into English as “My Blood is Palestinian,” has become a popular hit from Palestinian Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf and embodies pride in Palestinian identity and land. 

There were signs that the show wasn’t an average brass band performance in the city. The bar was lined with banners with phrases such as “Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea,” and cardboard cutouts of watermelon and birds painted with the colors of the Palestinian flag. The aroma of falafel, chicken shawarma and other Middle Eastern dishes from Stella Maris filled the room. Volunteers sat at tables, letting attendees know how they could further get involved in local pro-Palestine activism.

NOLA Musicians for Palestine formed in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people. Since then, Israel has initiated a war on Gaza that has killed over 52,000 people, according to Al Jazeera. Many more people are believed to be buried under rubble. Moushabeck, who is Palestinian American, helps lead the rotating group of politically conscious musicians. Performing at small music venues and crashing large festivals, the band has promoted the cause of Palestinian freedom through music. 

“We’re trying to connect people to ongoing organizing and invite people in that way,” Moushabeck said. “It’d be incredible if any show you went to you heard a little update of what’s happening right now in the city or in Palestine.”

‘The point is to be loud’

More than a year has elapsed since the Oct. 7 attack. A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was initiated Jan. 19. But actions taken by Israel meant that ceasefire always remained fragile. Israel violated the ceasefire agreement on March 18, when it launched airstrikes against the Gaza Strip, killing over 400 Palestinians. Prominent human rights groups, along with a United Nations committee, have invoked the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Israel’s war in Gaza has sparked massive protests across the United States calling on the U.S. to stop providing military equipment and billions of dollars in foreign and military aid to Israel. New Orleans activists have protested as well, through pro-Palestine demonstrations, including a student encampment at Tulane University last year that led to student suspensions.

The physical violence of the war and occupation has reverberated locally. One example is of Palestinian American teenager from Gretna Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, who was killed by Israeli forces in January of last year when he went to visit family in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. 

Moushabeck said he started the group in December 2023 out of a sense of urgency he felt following Oct. 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza. He said that New Orleans is known for marching in the streets, but he hadn’t seen any kind of connection being made between pro-Palestine marches and the second lines and parades the city is known for.

Moushabeck grew up in Massachusetts playing music in a cover band with his brother and neighbors, along with listening to and studying Arabic music at retreats. He later moved to New Orleans, where he works as a professional musician. Now, he saw an opportunity to draw connections between music and protest.

He texted some musician friends he already knew in the city and set some rehearsal dates. The band started practicing at the house of Carl Patrick, one of the percussionists.

The band plays mostly popular Arabic music and Palestinian folk songs arranged for a brass band. The musicians don’t confine themselves to music from the Arab world. One song they play is “Leve Palestina,” a Swedish song whose lyrics translate to “Free Palestine and crush Zionism.”

Moushabeck plays accordion for the band, along with leading rehearsals, conducting and transcribing music, sharing these responsibilities as the band has grown. 

“The point is to be loud and to get people’s attention and focus their attention.”

SIMON MOUSHABECK, NOLA MUSICIANS FOR PALESTINE

Moushabeck has to modify much of the music he arranges, he said, because Arabic music has different musical tuning systems that Western instruments can’t natively play. That arrangement made him question whether the music was inauthentic. But, “the point isn’t to play only Palestinian music,” he said. “The point is to be loud and to get people’s attention and to focus their attention.”

He said he initially wanted to try to organize a strike or walkout among musicians on Frenchman Street, but it turned out to be too difficult to do because people were afraid for their job security. Eventually, the band came up with the idea of marching ahead of the Joan of Arc parade in January 2024.

So after a couple weeks of practice, NOLA Musicians for Palestine cut to the front of the parade for part of the route, marching ahead of the krewes until the procession got to Frenchman Street.

“Part of why we were crashing a Mardi Gras parade was people were already out there, excited and ready to see something, right? So we felt like we could get their attention for something that they would normally just scroll past,” Moushabeck said.

Since then, the band has crashed a few other Mardi Gras parades and marched through last year’s French Quarter Fest to draw attention to Chevron, a corporate sponsor of the annual festival that plays a key role in Israel’s energy sector. (Chevron did not reply to a request for comment for this story.)

Moushabeck said that helping to lead the group has taken up a lot of his free time. But the labor is worth it, he said.

“It’s been great to spend time with these people and brainstorm together and to know that we’re part of a movement of resistance together,” he said.

Liberation songs

Moushabeck said that the band is trying to make people comfortable with engaging in political thought and discourse in spaces where politics are not typically found. 

Patrick said the group’s music evokes a wider variety of feelings and emotions that people may not be used to experiencing at a political rally where people are talking. Music can boost morale and stimulate different emotions besides anger and sadness, he said.

Marco Saah, another percussionist for NOLA Musicians for Palestine, said that while some people may think of music as part of the human experience and therefore apolitical, he disagrees. “To act like it’s not political is…just untrue,” he said, pointing to folk songs about labor unions and overt protest songs.

Even songs from marginalized people without an overtly political message are able to humanize people who have been historically dehumanized, said Saah, who is Palestinian and Italian American.

Black New Orleanians have been using music as a form of resistance for centuries, from enslaved people gathering to drum in Congo Square to the free and collective improvising of jazz musicians to musicians taking to the streets to protest city ordinances and hip-hop artists using their songs to voice frustrations with the government.

Expanding their reach

Embracing the artistic realm of activism more fully, the group has also come to use art as a way to advance the cause they believe in.

Two days before the show at Café Istanbul, the group held an art build. In the basement area of First Grace United Methodist Church, supporters of the band cut out, glued together and decorated signs and banners. Soon, symbols of Palestine — pomegranate, watermelon, the sunbird — filled the room.

Saah said that the bird has symbolized resistance and represents what he says are martyrs rising to paradise, like birds rise above clouds. Pomegranates are another symbol of Palestinian national identity and are used in many traditional dishes, he said. The watermelon symbolizes the Palestinian flag colors, becoming popular as an icon after  Israel banned public displays of the flag after the 1967 Six-Day War.

“How can we not be political where there is injustice?”

MAGALI ORTIZ

Magali Ortiz, a supporter of the band at the art build, painted a quote from Palestinian poet Marwan Makhoul on a sunbird cutout: “In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political I must listen to the birds and in order to hear the birds the warplanes must be silent” onto an outline of a sunbird.

She said that she chose the quote because it is short and effective.

“How can we not be political where there is injustice,” Ortiz said. “I think is just kind of the main message of the poem.”

In recent months, NOLA Musicians for Palestine has also begun to expand its operations, adding a solidarity network to do outreach, establishing a Mardi Gras krewe named the Krewe of Zeitoun and renaming their brass band Hanoun Brass Band, after the Arabic word for poppy flowers, another symbol of Palestinian resistance.

Moushabeck said he hopes NOLA Musicians for Palestine inspires more musicians in the city to get involved in political movements. He also hopes to grow support for Palestinians, the group and its activities through the solidarity network. 

The Krewe of Zeitoun (the Arabic word for “olive”) debuted on Lundi Gras in March. The theme for the krewe’s parade was “return, rebuild, and remain.”

“Settler colonialism is warfare on everything that is precious and sacred in this world, and I believe that it is our duty to resist it in every way that we can, individually and in our communities,” Saah said before the parade. “Return is possible, rebuilding is possible.”

The krewe dressed in green and gold — symbolizing the olive’s foliage and oil — and marched through the Bywater and Marigny neighborhoods, accompanied by about 200 people in matching colors. Passersby on Frenchman Street stopped to watch the band, dance along and cheer them on. 

And in April, NOLA Musicians for Palestine officially renamed its musical arm the Hanoun Brass Band. Moushabeck said NOLA Musicians for Palestine, now a larger operation with three smaller subgroups, hopes to use Hanoun for more regular busking appearances. The renamed band performed its first show at Saturn Bar in April, playing its normal repertoire. During a folk song medley, three people danced the dabke, a Levantine group dance that has come to symbolize Palestinian identity and resistance. 

The show was also a fundraiser for Hanoun’s first professional studio album, which they started recording in late May. Moushabeck said some proceeds from album sales will go toward direct aid for Palestinians. 

During the show, Saah reminded everyone why the band was there that night.

“We hope that this music can help you to refortify you in your conviction to keep doing what you can, whatever is in your capacity and your power day to day for Palestine,” Saah said.

Solidarity through setbacks

The band has also learned to navigate setbacks in its organizing. This year, the band had planned to crash the Joan of Arc parade in January again. But following the Jan. 1 Bourbon Street truck attack,  which set off fears of increased Islamophobia and anti-Arab attitudes as well as fears of surveillance from the local New Orleans community, the band decided to readjust. Ultimately, they chose to perform a longer, singular event at Cafe Istanbul, accompanied by a couple of other local bands.

That night, the band took the stage at Café Istanbul around 7 p.m.

They played eight songs, with band members leading the standing room-only crowd in call-and-response chants at several points throughout the performance.

The atmosphere among the crowd was warm and engaged. People happily swayed along as the brass sounds overtook the halls of the New Orleans Healing Center, where the venue is located.

“I think that what we’re seeing now is that people are craving something different, not just around Palestine, but all our political organizing.”

CARL PATRICK, PERCUSSIONIST FOR NOLA MUSICIANS FOR PALESTINE

Chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “we will free Palestine, within our lifetime” rang out during the first song, “Ana Dammi Falastini,” led by chant leader and singer Anisah Sahibul.

Between songs, Saah explained the meanings of each tune. He started off the show with a reflection.

“Since last year, I’ve realized that it’s not just about how we resist and show our solidarity today, it’s not just about how we perform our solidarity through the music,” Saah said. “It’s about how we’ve persevered through these times together, and how we can build ourselves up and each other up to do more and to be more. It’s about what we do tomorrow, what we do for the rest of Mardi Gras and Carnival, and what we do for the rest of the year and beyond.”

And that night, the band was able to raise $522 to donate to Muhanned’s Music Tent, where a displaced musician living in Gaza teaches children music in a tent.

In the five months since NOLA Musicians for Palestine’s Jan. 6 show, many new developments have happened in Israel’s war on Gaza. 

Eleven days after the performance, on Jan. 17, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was announced. But the ceasefire only lasted two months, during which Israel periodically attacked Gaza and escalated a blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip. Since Israel broke the ceasefire on March 18, the country’s military has killed over 1,560 Palestinians, including hundreds of children. And the blockade has resulted in mass starvation, according to the World Health Organization.

Patrick told Verite News that the band’s work is even more important considering Israel’s sustained attacks on Gaza, and President Donald Trump’s policy proposals in the region — including a plan for the U.S. to acquire the land and push Palestinians out.

“I think that what we’re seeing now is that people are craving something different, not just around Palestine, but all our political organizing, how we respond to Trump and emerging fascism,” Patrick said. 

Saah said that the ceasefire and other recent developments have not changed the band’s mission.

“The Palestinian struggle has never been about getting a ceasefire,” Saah said.  “It’s about the occupation. It’s about ending the siege. It’s about ending apartheid and resisting colonialism.”

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