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In an era when war has illustrated the lives of humanity worldwide, the details are sometimes lost to us as we speak out against 'war' in general. Globally, we all know something about what is happening but when we're not there, we don't see it. We don't hear the truth of it. Checkpoint 303 has changed that as they bring us the sounds of the Middle East. Now we can know what war really sounds like. Checkpoint 303 gives us an idea.
In an effort to expose the world to the realities of life in the Middle East, Checkpoint 303 (named after an identity checkpoint between Israel and Palestine) has recorded the sounds of bombs, of protest, of guns worldwide, fusing them into a single music which is both disconcerting and supremely important. What they create is wonderful, musically speaking, though the sounds themselves are of course, disturbing. I still don't know how to approach this. I still don't know how to process my affection for a music which was shaped from such inconceivably disquieting circumstances. There are few music projects today which carry the significance of Checkpoint 303's works.
Checkpoint 303 began in 2004 when Tunisian sound cutter SC MoCha began collaborating with Bethlehem based Palestinian SC Yosh. Since that time, they have joined with many others throughout the world, most recently working with Cheikh Julian, Noise Generator SoM, VL MonaLisa, Ms K. SuShi, and Damski & Melski. For more information on Checkpoint 303, please visit http://checkpoint303.free.fr/.
This month, Unlikely Stories is pleased to bring you 3 songs from Checkpoint 303: Streets of Ramallah, Hawaya Dhay and Abraj. We hope you appreciate and enjoy their efforts as much as we have. —DG
The music of Checkpoint 303 remained on Unlikely 2.0 for one year, then was removed for reasons of space and copyright.
You will need an MP3 player to hear the music, such as the free Winamp.