Abeer aka Sabreena da witch
Palestinian R&B singer and educator.
Abeer Alzinaty, was born (1984) and raised in Lyd, Palestine/Israel. The challenges of being a Palestinian woman living inside of Israel led Abeer to express herself through art. She studied film and photography in the Israeli art academies and became active in political and social events in the Israeli
and Palestinian territories after the second Intifada started in 2000.
Abeer writes and composes all her music. Her lyrics are about the struggle for freedom and justice in the world and in Palestine specifically.
Abeer also is one of the only musicians in the world to discuss the subject of honor-killing, and of women's struggle for independence in the Arab world and beyond ; singing and rapping mostly in Arabic, using her unique Eastern R&B and Dancehall style.
“Palestine's First Lady of R&B", Abeer established herself in Palestinian
Hip Hop singing on the song "Born Here" with DAM.Inspired by Public Enemy's music video for "Fight the Power," Juliano Mer-Khamis, Director of the award-winning film Arna's Children, helped DAM and Abeer turn the song into a popular music video in 2004. Hundreds of people participated in the creation of the video; which became a direct action protest against an
Israeli checkpoint in their neighborhood. The Born Here video was played
throughout Israel and established Abeer in the national music scene.
as a result of death threats from men in the society for taking part of the video.
Abeer had to cancel her participation of the campaign tour.
Abeer had to stop performing publicly in 2004 for four years,
Abeer has participated in various initiatives to support Palestinian children. along with friends, she founded a youth club;“Future Seekers," in their hometown of Lyd to provide children with a place to play and grow. At it's height, Future Seekers served 300 children before closing due to a lack of funds. Since then, Abeer has gone on to work with the US/Palestine Youth Solidarity Network supporting refugee children in the West Bank in the creation of their own digital stories. She has also worked in east Jerusalem in the Israeli women's Lobby, as a mentor to young women. The program focused on female leadership in societies, and women's role in the world's progress.
Abeer is featured in two documentaries:
"Maria's Grotto", a film by Palestinian director Buthaina Khoury, explores honor killing; a fate that many women in the Middle East are confronted with, yet is still hidden in society, and is considered a taboo subject. Abeer's experience with family resistance to her music, is one of four stories in the film. Maria's Grotto was released in 2007, and won the following awards : the silver Muhr award at Dubai film festival and the Jury Mention at Tatwan film festival.
"Slingshot hip-hop" is a documentary that braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank, and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. The film was an Official Selection at the 2008 Sundance film festival, Documentary Competition. the movie won the following awards:
"Audience Award" and "best director, feature film" at the Beirut International Film Festival
"The Festival des Libertés Award" in Brussels, Belgium
"Audience Award" at the Arabian Sights Film Festival-presented by the Washington, DC International Film Festival.
Abeer moved to the U. S. in the end of 2007 and has been living in Baltimore, Maryland since then.
once residing in the states Abeer began performing publicly again, and has recently released her first Mix-tape collection titled ; Witch's Intifada. The collection includes 14 songs recorded in-between 2002-2008; most while being an underground "off-stage" Hip-Hop artist.
While touring and performing in the states, she is currently working on a solo album entitled "Woman under the influence" . She's interested in continuing her exploration of feminist and revolutionary themes while collaborating with artists from around the world.
to learn more about Abeer:
www.myspace.com/sdawitch
www.womeninstruggle.com/j/
www.slingshothiphop.com
heey . how are you sister ??? thanks for accepting my add ... i am bboy from palestine ,from gaza i'll get the freedom by break dance,insha'llah , i hear your songs , so good so nice , keep it up. take care good shark c,b crew , free gaza
You were fucking AMAZING tonight, I'm so glad we got to meet, and I can't wait to see ya again tomorrow night, I will be bringing my daughter for sure! Seriously, getting to see you perform with Invincible tonight may have been the highlight of my year so far!!
I'm not sure if you got my last message, but here is one more try. :) :) I'm working on a project, and would like to know if you would like to collaborate, it will be a collective of all girls mcs. I'm currently working on this track,where Ximbo from Mexico, Aima from Oaktown and I are putting togeteher. and ready to start the next one !!! I'll be getting more international collabs, and trying to put togeteher the best girls mcs from here as well. I will be glad if you participate and bring your voice to this project:)
please let me know if you are interested. and I'll give you more deatils.:)
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