Mustafa has dropped his new single ‘Gaza is Calling‘ with a powerful music video by Hiam Abbas. The song was written in 2020 and is about one of Mustafa’s childhood friendships. All proceeds go to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
Mustafa shares the story behind the song: “Gaza is Calling is about my first experience with heartbreak in friendship. I was 11 when I met this boy from Gaza. We were inseparable. With him I shared one of the deepest loves I’ve ever known, he grew up alongside me in a housing project in Toronto. And not even this love was a match for the violence we were up against; the one in our new home, the one that followed him from Gaza like a cold wind. In the end it was all the bloodshed between us that didn’t allow us to see each other without tears appearing, and one of the last notes he sent to me was about how we would continue on in another life. The string sample is the Arabian nostalgia that we share, the autotuned Arabic I sing is the balance we tried to reach being boys of cultural empires in a small hood, and the Oud is the instrument of our homelands, Sudan and Palestine.”
The music video for ‘Gaza is Calling’ features Palestinian model Bella Hadid and Gazan rapper MC Abdul. The video tells a visual story of the effects of conflict on individuals and communities. Conceptualised in 2022 by Mustafa and Hadid, the video shows urban decay and refugee camps alongside moments of reflection and introspection. Loss, resilience and hope are the universal themes.
Mustafa talks about the video: “I reached out to Bella in 2022 about the Gaza is Calling short film. I wrote a story about a grief that meets you on whatever land you escape to. In it, we follow Bella Hadid and Mc Abdul of Gaza as they journey through their grievances. A parallel story of Israa Ahmed and her younger brother plays out. Israa and her brother engage in the ruins & danger of a refugee camp in Palestine as Bella and Abdul engage with memorabilia & guilt in the Western world. Hiam Abbas directs. Israa and her brother are still in this camp in Jenin, Palestine, today. The hope is that this serves as a stark reminder that every path is ours, every child is ours, & every war is ours to answer for & speak against.”
‘Gaza is Calling’ is a powerful reminder that we are all human beyond borders and cultures. Stand with those affected by conflict and oppression. As the song plays, take action.
Watch ‘Gaza is Calling’ below:
