The song calls out US President Joe Biden stating: ‘blood is on your hands’.
Screenshot from this TikTok video showing Macklemore perform Hind’s Hall for the first time, in New Zealand on 07 May 2024.
While on tour in New Zealand earlier this week, US rapper Macklemore surprised his fans by performing his newest song, Hind’s Hall, which he had just released the day before. “Yesterday [Tuesday], I put out a song called ‘Hind’s Hall’ – can I play it for you guys?” Macklemore asked the crowd and before that he declared solidarity with the Palestinian people: “I stand here today and every day forward for the rest of my life in solidarity with the people of Palestine, with an open heart, in the belief that our collective liberation is at stake – that we all deserve freedom in this life of ours,”
Macklemore released the new song on X (formerly Twitter) and stated that once the song is up on streaming platforms all proceeds will be given to UNRWA. The post features a lyric video with images of recent campus protests, the ongoing genocide in Gaza and more.
The song title refers to campus protests at Columbia University in the US. Student’s occupied what is called Hamilton’s Hall and renamed it Hind’s Hall, in reference to and in remembrance of 6-year old Hind Rajab who was killed by Israeli forces on January 29 2024.
Their song ‘We are not a small nation” spread like fire.
Screenshot of YouTube video of the song ‘We are not a small nation’ by Tor Band from the YouTube channel Tor Musical Band. Fair use.
As the BBC reported, members of the Belarusian music group Tor Band were sentenced to years in prison at the end of October 2023.
This marks yet another escalation of a nationwide campaign against dissent that Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been conducting for years.
The band’s leader, Dzmitry Halavach, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Another member, Yauhen Burlo, received an eight-year sentence, while third member Andrei Yaremchyk was sentenced to seven and a half years.
Tor Band actively participated in the protests against Belarus’s dictatorship and unfair elections in 2020. Their most popular song at the time, called “We are not small people” (Мы не народец), was one of the symbols of the uprising. The musicians, together with their wives, were taken into custody at the end of October 2022.
Before 2020, the Tor Band was already quite popular, performing in both Belarus and Ukraine together with famous rock and pop bands. During the election campaign and post-election protests, where Lukashanka’s victory was challenged by the opposition led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the band’s songs were playing everywhere at opposition rallies. The BBC notes that at that time, “We are not small people” spread like wildfire.
Here is the most popular Tor Band’s song at that time: “We are not small people.”
We are not cattle, cattle and cowards, we are a living people, we are Belarusians! With faith in our hearts, we keep the formation, the banner of freedom over our heads!
Something has happened, something is wrong,
something has broken in our heads.
My soul is very empty, faith is broken,
there is only a stink around, of any size.
But the garbage can is full to overflowing,
well-fed and stupid, you are waiting for an order
when they tell you to beat your people, so the sick puppeteer wished.
I believe, I believe, I believe that….
We are not cattle, cattle and cowards,
we are a living people, we are Belarusians!
With faith in our hearts, we keep the formation,
the banner of freedom over our heads!
Where is our conscience? Really sold?
I’m afraid my answer will be very banal.
We began to be afraid, afraid, trembling,
we were taught to snitch again.
And if something happens:
“My hut is on the edge, I haven’t seen, I haven’t heard, I don’t know for sure!” That’s what a moral freak does,
but not the native Belarusian people.
I believe, I believe, I believe that…
We are not cattle, cattle and cowards,
we are a living people, we are Belarusians!
With faith in our hearts, we keep the order,
the banner of freedom over our heads!
After the protests were brutally crushed by the Lukashenka dictatorship, the band was warned to not organize concerts or release new songs. However, the band’s leader, Dmitry Golovatch, said in an interview with local media in September 2020:
We didn’t have any questions about whether to continue playing. We had songs that we wanted to release: the tracks “Long Live,” “Who, if not you.” There was tremendous support. We made so many friends all over the country! In general, it seems to me that Belarusians have learned to love themselves. There has never been such a feeling of love, and the feeling of patriotism is now going wild. We got to know our country
Lukashenka’s repression has came for the band in October 2022. Their songs, including “Long live Belarus,” were deleted from their popular YouTube channel, and the musicians were detained.
The BBC cited Viasna’s Human Rights Center lawyer, Pavel Sapelka, saying that the musicians received “an unprecedented prison sentence for creativity.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled opposition leader from Belarus, whose husband is serving an 18-year prison term, said on social media: “Lukashenka’s regime shows its fear. Music can be silenced in courts, but never in our hearts.”
This article was written by Daria Dergacheva and originally published on the Global Voices website on 27 February 2024. It is republished here under the media partnership between Global Voices and Shouts – Music from the Rooftops! and a CC BY 3.0 Deed license.
Patria o muerte (translated homeland or death) is a saying that was born in communist, revolutionary times in Cuba. For over six decades, the authoritarian regime on this Caribbean island has held a firm hand over its citizens which has resulted in many people looking to other countries for a more positive life or being exiled for their words or actions.
Many artists have faced severe oppression by the regime in recent years but that does not stop them from using their voices and talents to try to bring attention to the tyranny their people face on a daily basis.
Since its release in February, the rap song Patria y Vida, has accumulated over 9 million views on YouTube and become somewhat of an anthem for people in Cuba and all over Latin America. The rap hit was recorded in Miami (the home to an enormous exiled Cuban population), by a group of artists, some of whom are currently living in exile.
The song title is a more positive take on the before mention saying and part of its lyrics read: “We are artists, we are sensitivity/The true story, not the wrong one/We are the dignity of a whole people trampled on/At gunpoint and with words that are still nothing”.
The song has helped motivate the Cuban people to stand up and raise their voices for a more equal and just society. In an unprecedented event in July this year, great masses of people took to the streets in protest, an collective act that was not possible in past years.
The song also pays tribute to the San Isidro movement, a response to state censorship of artistic works: “They broke our door/they violated our temple/and the world is aware that the San Isidro Movement is still in position”. The current president has called this movement (as well as the rap song) unpatriotic and for it to be crushed.
Now, as fuel to protest fire, Patria y Vida has been nominated for a Latin Grammy award, an achievement that is sure to help keep the torch of protest going for some time (Update: on Thursday night the song won Song of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards!).
