Palestinian Surgeon Cuts Jazz-pop CD for Cause

Residing in the Netherlands, Doc Jazz, a Palestinian general surgeon with musical talents, has made his new CD "The Musical Intifadah" available for download from his website.

Amsterdam, NL July 13, 2004 -- Encouraged by an avalanche of downloads of his song "Down Down Dubya" (over 3000 downloads in two weeks), the musical surgeon decided to bundle his songs onto a CD titled "The Musical Intifadah," similar to the name of the online musical project.

The songs are all written, recorded and produced by Doc Jazz himself, who is capable of playing most instruments that are commonly used in modern music, like drums, bass, keyboards and guitars. The lyrics, mostly in English, and a few in Dutch, deal with issues concerning the Palestinian struggle against oppression and dispossession, with a song like "Home (for Jenin)" addressing the Jenin massacre of 2002, "Bring Down the Wall", concerning the illegal barrier being built by Israel in the occupied territories, and "Intifadah", which is featured in two versions, dealing with the backgrounds of the Palestinian uprising against the continuing occupation.

Some of the songs deal with the occupation of Iraq, while there is also a song in Dutch in response to the discrimination of Muslim ethnic minorities in European society.

Although the music is definitely influenced by jazz, it incorporates many other styles, producing a sound that varies from fast, modern beats ("Real People") to slow, ballad-like songs accompanied by piano only ("My Lovely Palestine"). In some songs, the music is more reminiscent of rock music ("Free" and "Intifadah: the new version") through the use of electric guitars, while others disclose the jazz-fusion background of the artist, through creative blends of rhythms and styles ("Castles in the Sky").

All songs are available for direct streaming from the website, enabling visitors to hear the product before downloading it.

According to Doc Jazz, music that contains a message should be freely available. He considers his CD a "musical pamphlet," and encourages the distribution of the CD through the Doc Jazz CD Sales Program, enabling people in the possession of a CD-burner and a printer to produce their own supply of CD's and selling them through their own channels.

Doc Jazz: "I am not interested in making any money through my music, so anyone can download it from the website. This is why I decided not to produce an actual CD, but something I call a "Virtual CD": all the ingredients are there, but you will need to download them to have an actual CD. So if some people should feel like saving some others this trouble, and are willing to take on the costs of recordable CD's and cover paper, then why shouldn't they be able to keep the profit?"

The CD can be obtained by visiting The Musical Intifadah at http://www.docjazz.com . All songs are the copyright of Doc Jazz, and can only be distributed according to the terms specified on the website.

Contact information:

Tariq Shadid, MD
The Netherlands
+31-6-48568665
http://www.docjazz.com

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