On the sublime BETHLEHEM بيت لحم, walls in time and space fall

The exquisite collaboration of Lawrence Sammour, Sary Moussa, and Abed Kobeissy, Bethlehem, is released this month. And it has become a rich sanctuary, a shared space that refuses erasure or fragmentation. It also refuses to obey the boundaries of colonialism and occupation, weaving together what was pulled apart, as taut and resonant as the strings of the buzuq.

30+ labels join to raise funds for Lebanon; music to support

Over 30 labels are uniting to raise funds for the 1.5 million people now forcibly displaced in Lebanon. With Bandcamp Friday today, now’s your chance to maximize album purchases for that effort. Here are the details — and a few music selections to consider.

Peter Kirn - May 1, 2026

Music for the displaced from Tunefork Studios and Beirut Synthesizer Center

In Lebanon, over one million people, about a fifth of the population, have now been forcibly displaced by Israel. From inside the country and uniting an artist community around the world, Tunefork Studios and Beirut Synthesizer Center have issued a powerful protest in two musical compilations — and an urgent cry to support those displaced […]

Peter Kirn - March 23, 2026