We are young digital natives reaching out across seemingly impenetrable national, social, political, ethnic, and sectarian barriers, employing the freedom created by media platforms to demand and create our own civil discourse.

Checkpoint 303 – New tunes from occupied territories

April 28th, 2007Esra'a (Bahrain)

I am providing two amazing samples of a band I recently found. I saw that we were getting a few hits from the band’s website, and after checking it out I couldn’t stop listening to their very unique and original music. How the band describes itself -

checkpoint 303 is inspired by the sounds that pace the daily lives of millions of people in the middle east. screeching sounds of bullets. echoing injustice. uproar. revolt. despair and sadness. and still amidst all this the soothing sounds. of hope. of normality. trivial acts. life like everywhere else. this is not a video game. violence is not a moving image on tv. it’s the daily nightmare of millions…

And below are two songs which are worth a listen. I’ll start with my favourite one of all -

(If you are an Arabic speaker, pay special attention to the lyrics it starts with, it’s the beginning of a beautiful poem.) The track’s name is Rissala Min Qalandia:

This next one includes sounds and noise of war and its destructive tools (guns, etc) and it’s very great how they integrated those sounds into the song, it would sound great to the background of a documentary.

This one’s called Streets of Ramallah:

Do you like what you hear?

Go check out the band’s website!

3 Responses to “Checkpoint 303 – New tunes from occupied territories”

  1. I found this band a while ago, there music is simply amazing! Thanks for sharing

  2. I’m their addict. Check out their MySpace page too.

    Omar if you find these kinds of bands you have to tell us!

  3. [...] France Author: Esra’a (Bahrain) – November 10, 2008 I have briefly written about Checkpoint 303 here when I first found out about their astounding music. It’s been my favorite band ever since. I [...]

Feel free to take part in our discussions and debates. Please be respectful and aware that what you say is only your opinion and may not agree with other points of views. Absolutely no hate speech or defamation will be tolerated. Be smart and comment smart. Read our comment policy to find out how not to annoy us.