100 Days
Phil Monsour
September, 2104
$19.99
www.philmonsour.com
Referring to the war in Vietnam, Joan Baez once said that if you don't fight against a rotten thing you become a part of it. It鈥檚 an attitude Brisbane-based singer-songwriter Phil Monsour lives by.
For more than a decade, he has made it his mission to fight the rotten thing at the heart of the Middle East: Israel鈥檚 genocidal dispossession of the Palestinians.
Like Baez, Monsour is a musician-activist who immerses his art in political solidarity. He sees music as an extension of his political being, and his political being as the crucible for his music.
No surprise then that his strongest work has coincided with his prominent role in the boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign targetting Israel.
Monsour's songs are, at one level, deeply personal, but the first person is rarely the subject. In the true sense of the folk tradition, his music gives voice to the collective experience in particular the oppressed masses of the Middle East.
On Monsour鈥檚 previous two albums, The Empire鈥檚 New Clothes (2008) and Ghosts of Deir Yassin (2012), he sang of the experiences and aspirations of the Palestinian diaspora, the colossal barbarity of the oil-driven US empire and the narrowness and racism of life in Australia.
Taken together, these records constituted a solidarity project in their own right. They were an affirmation that art has a legitimate role as a mode of political commitment, working both emotionally and cognitively to provoke, educate, inspire and sustain people in struggle.
In Monsour鈥檚 latest recording, 100 Days, the project continues, but with a twist. Monsour's band of Jonathon Lloyd on drums, Ian Kimber on bass and Graham Jackson on guitar is joined on seven of the 12 songs by master oud player Mohamed Youssef. This fulfils Monsour鈥檚 long-held ambition to blend the music of his Lebanese heritage with his own rock roots.
Though some of the songs have been recorded before, Youssef鈥檚 oud contributions, woven exquisitely around and through Jackson鈥檚 guitar lines and Lloyd鈥檚 percussive rhythm, bring an entirely new atmosphere to the material.
Played in Arabic tonal scale, the oud resonates with its own history as a folk instrument. It evokes, at least to Western political ears, the long narrative of Arab loss, suffering, resilience and resistance. On this record, its melodies and cadences place Monsour鈥檚 contemporary references in their broadest historical context.
Thematically, Palestine is the core of the album. Some songs 鈥 鈥淣ext Year in Jerusalem鈥, 鈥淟eft my Heart in Palestine,鈥 鈥淲e Will Go Home鈥 鈥 directly address issues of Palestinian loss, exile and memory. Other tracks draw back to the wider frame of imperialist domination and pan-Arabic resistance.
鈥淭he Empire鈥檚 New Clothes鈥 responds to the invasion of Iraq, while 鈥淔reedom鈥檚 at the Door鈥 was written at the height of the Arab Spring, when a Middle East free of tyrants and US interference seemed possible.
The title track links the story of Palestinian refugees lost at sea and the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia.
Even 鈥淪weet Hope鈥, a new track described by Monsour as 鈥渁 bit of an attempt at a love song鈥, is conceived as a tribute to women in the struggle.
Even accounting for Youssef鈥檚 sublime oud playing, 100 Days is musically richer than its predecessors, as if the gentler acoustic arrangements have given the songs space to breathe.
From the tenderness of 鈥淪weet Hope鈥, the slow-burning poignancy of 鈥淲e Will go Home鈥, the acoustic rock of 鈥淒ays Roll On鈥 and the rollicking folk stylings of 鈥淭he Haze鈥 (featuring Dale Murray on mandolin and banjo), there is something here for everyone.
At the centre of it, though, is a songwriter and singer at the peak of his craft, producing great art in the cause of freedom.
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