Date/Time
Saturday 21 June 2025
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Categories Music
Book here now: £15 full price • £10 or £7 if you prefer – please pay what you can*
‘The song bird of Palestine’ Zaid Hilal sings of creative resistance to repeated colonisation in a wonderful array of carefully-researched songs and music that express the deep roots of
Palestinian identity.
“The renewed cycle of oppression of Palestinians made me resort to the folklore and sounds that address our history” (Zaid Hilal Mirath:music – Goethe-Institute)
Zaid Hilal vocals/baglama,
Raji Majed Ghareeb (also Palestinian) keyboards,
David Mowat, trumpet,
Jim Rintoul, bass
Paolo Adamo drums,
Chas Whittaker Arabic percussion
Reviews of 2024 UK tour
“East meets West cosmic jazz fusion collaboration from the ever-reliable British European Jazz Ensemble (BEJE), featuring masterful bağlama and vocals from Zaid Hilal. Palestinian folk
/modal jazz of the highest order” (Headfirst)
“What a wonderful and very moving night at Curzon Cinema Clevedon” Bristol Coalition For
Palestine.
“Zaid Hilal and BEJE were very well received. It takes a lot to get us dancing in the aisles, and
Zaid showed that he has what it takes! His heartfelt songs, some traditional, and some more
recent, gave us a powerful insight into the culture and history of the troubled land of
Palestine.” Matt Geen Curry Rivel Old School Room
“What an amazing show. Thank you” The Jam Jar, Bristol’s premier world music venue.
“A golden voice and a great baglama player” Simon Leach music therapist
“Fantastic and moving set” Chris Hope, acclaimed Composer (Box Of Tricks Theatre)
Zaid Hilal is an eloquent and compelling Palestinian singer and master of the ear-catching
bağlama. From Beit Sahour, he trained from age 10 with the Edward Said Music Conservatoire in Bethlehem, has a BA in Arabic singing, produces and records albums, tours nationally and internationally.
With over a million views of his youtube videos he packs venues in the Occupied West Bank
with his gentle powerful and hopeful musical message, with BEJE’s
rocking-jazz take on the rich tradition of Palestine. BEJE is a Bristol-based world-jazz ensemble specialising in international collaborations.
The Zaid-BEJE link goes back to 2018 when the Arts and British Councils funded-
show ‘Longing Belonging and Balfour’ came to Palestine and Israel, and the musicians all met up in the Beit Musika in Beit Sahour for a jam. A joint UK tour followed in 2019. Despite a
pandemic-thwarted Edinburgh Fringe cancellation there was a triumphant UK tour with BEJE in 2024.
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See Access, Tickets & Finding Us for more about why there are three ticket prices, plus other useful info about coming to events at Ashburton Arts Centre: getting here, parking, loos, PA tickets, etc.
* We usually have three ticket prices – please pay what you can. If you can pay the full price, that’s great. If choosing a cheaper ticket allows you to come to more things, then please do! Ticket receipts are split between the artists (it’s usually their livelihood!) and the arts centre (keeps the place going). Except on the rare occasions when we have a sellout gig on our hands, it’s always better to have someone here in the audience than an empty seat, so genuinely, please pay whatever you can.