RajieenMultiple artists

Rajieen | راجعين (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

This track brings together 25 artist groups from 11 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, singing—over a grand sound that weaves hip-hop and soul—of the suffering of people driven from their homelands and their unyielding will to return.

With searing words that indict historical tragedies and the world’s injustices, the powerful declaration, “We will return,” resounds like a cry straight from their souls.

Created in October 2023, the song was produced to support people in Gaza facing a humanitarian crisis, especially children.

Rather than thinking it has nothing to do with you, why not spend eight-plus minutes listening to the urgent hopes poured into this work?

Over JerusalemJethro Tull

Jethro Tull – Over Jerusalem (Official Video)

How can we break a 5,000-year chain of intolerance and reprisal? Posing that very question, this track appears on Curious Ruminant, the album released in March 2025 by British stalwarts Jethro Tull, famed for their distinctive, flute-driven sound.

Within a grand sonic tapestry woven from progressive rock and folk, the work portrays the tragic history borne by the land of Jerusalem.

Drawing on the central figure’s repeated visits to the region since 1986, it conveys what feels like a searing cry for peace.

Paired with an animated video crafted by a Portuguese studio, it’s a piece to hear when you want to face the weight of history.

War Isn’t MurderJesse Welles

War Isn’t Murder

Jesse Wells, a modern troubadour who emerged from social media, hails from the United States.

Released in April 2024, this work hurls piercing questions with nothing more than a gravelly voice and an acoustic guitar.

It confronts the reality that the word “murder” is being hollowed out by the lofty justifications brandished by those in power.

I can’t shake the feeling that his singing, asking “Isn’t this murder?” strikes directly at the heart.

This piece, which drew attention for his performance at Farm Aid, is also included on the album Under The Powerlines (April 24 – September 24).

It’s a song I especially want people to hear who ache over events in distant countries and are tormented by a sense of helplessness.

Its rugged resonance reveals an unvarnished truth.

Noam’s Song 2Maor Ashkenazi & Noam Cohen

מאור אשכנזי & נעם כהן – השיר של נעם 2 / Maor Ashkenazi & Noam Cohen – Noam’s Song 2

Israeli rapper Maor Ashkenazi and Noam Cohen, who survived the October 2023 music festival attack despite losing a friend, co-wrote this work—a track that plays like a documentary of a searingly painful experience.

The extreme circumstances of gunfire and explosions, and the survivor’s personal memories, are vividly rendered over a heavy, icy drill beat.

This is not merely an indictment; it is the very cry of a human soul struggling to rise from the brink of death.

Upon its release in November 2023, it reached No.

10 on the charts in Israel.

Rather than seeing it as a distant country’s event, why not reflect on the value of peace as one person’s story?

Funeral for JusticeMdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar- “Funeral for Justice” (Official Music Video)

Mdou Moctar, a guitarist from Niger known as the “Hendrix of the Sahara.” The title track from his band’s May 2024 album, Funeral for Justice, is a scathing indictment of a world where injustice prevails.

Confronting the exploitation and inequality facing his homeland, he describes his guitar as a “cry for help.” His playing slices through our indifference like a siren.

Although the song was created before the 2023 coup, the hardships the band endured afterward lend it an even greater sense of urgency.

Listening to this work, you realize you can’t look away and dismiss it as a distant country’s tragedy.

Will you lend an ear to the sound of his soul—fiery music that pleads for peace?

من النهر (From the River)Ethel Cain

من النهر (From the River) – Ethel Cain

This is a song by American singer-songwriter Ethel Cain, created as a prayer for the people of Palestine.

Composed solely of tranquil piano and her ethereal vocals, the piece runs for about nine and a half minutes.

It was made during the production of her experimental EP “Perverts,” and mourns lives silently extinguished in a distant land; the repeated phrase “Please don’t forget me” resonates with piercing poignancy.

In February 2024, shaken by the loss of more than 30,000 Palestinian lives—especially the airstrikes on Rafah—she released the track imbued with a quiet anger toward the world.

It feels as if it implores those of us who might otherwise consume the tragedy of a far-off country as mere information to never forget the reality of what is happening.

Bajo los EscombrosResidente, Amal Murkus

Residente, Amal Murkus – Bajo los escombros (Live Session)

The prayer-like singing that echoes from beneath the rubble makes my chest tighten.

Created by Puerto Rican rapper Residente together with Palestinian singer Amal Murkus, this work is nothing short of a cry from the soul.

Amal Murkus is an activist who continues to advocate for peace and rights through culture.

In this song, Residente’s accusatory rap intersects with Murkus’s Arabic vocals, as if singing of the anguish of people whose everyday lives have been stolen by bombings and their love for their homeland.

Included on the album “Las Letras Ya No Importan,” released in February 2024, the track was postponed from its original release date in response to the humanitarian crisis.

On nights when you feel powerless in the face of events in distant countries, why not listen quietly, alone?