A Denver benefit house show for the children of Palestine 🍉
A stellar lineup, a personal mission, and a traumatized generation in Gaza
Hello everyone! I have a review of the new Jon Hopkins’ album, RITUAL, up on Resident Advisor, and a magazine piece coming out later this month. Please reach out with any music, news, thoughts, ways to squeeze the queasy out of my stomach, etc.
Next month will mark one year since the Hamas-led attack on Israel and the Israeli army’s decimation of the Palestinian territory and people of Gaza. Near incessant shelling by Israeli forces has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera’s updated tracker. Forty percent of those were children.
Thousands more have lost their parents in the attacks. The New York Times met with kids who were so traumatized they couldn’t speak or broke down into pieces. Others wouldn’t accept their parents would not be coming back.
The World Health Organization is now vaccinating more than 640,000 children to prevent an outbreak of polio, among other infectious diseases breaking out by the “overcrowded and unsanitary conditions created by the war.”
Anthony Ruptak, a musician and paramedic at Denver Health, said emergency situations involving children are “the most terrifying, heartbreaking calls.” That perspective, along with the US government’s ongoing support of the Israeli military in the war, led him to organize a backyard benefit show to raise money for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
“It’s the product of feeling like I’m part of a system that I can’t control,” Ruptak, 33, said. “I’m just trying to figure out something we can do other than hit the streets.”
The Saturday, Sept. 7 show will feature Denver stalwarts Los Mocochetes, who Ruptak called “the best, most vocal, socially aware, powerful-fucking-force-of-a-band in Denver.”
Also playing is the magnificent Nina de Freitas, FoCo folk artist Nathaniel Riley, soul singer Sunstoney, and Ruptak’s own electric band. There will be an art sale and words by Palestinian artist Meera Alul of the Colorado Palestine Coalition.
The art, the music, even the house show venue (the Barnum Better Animal Center) was all offered at no cost with the mission of raising money for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. You can buy a ticket or make a donation on the event’s fundraising page. (Make sure you DM or email for the house address.)
“If we can all be there at the same time of the same mind, being there in peaceful protest, listening to music, sharing art, fostering community,” Ruptak said, “that’s pretty much what we have control over.” 🍋
Thanks for sharing!