An evocative music and a poetry without compromise are the elements that characterize the work of Shadi Zaqtan , singer-songwriter author of of what many call " new song of Palestine." At the time
he has as consolidated his talent through the years until it became one of the most credible artists from the contemporary arab music scene .
The poetic vocabulary has always been part of his life , because his grandfather, Khalil Zaqtan , was a classical poet , while his father, Ghassan Zaqtan , a modernist poet .
He is the author of a musical language unfamiliar to the Arab public,
In 2010, the A. M Qattan Foundation in Ramallah has sponsored the creation of his first album titled " 'an balad " (translated " about a country " ) . The album consists of ten songs performed with guitar and voice , was created in collaboration with the musician Imad Sayrafi , also a refugee from the third generation. The entire work , which reflects the poetry of the two musicians , in addition to addressing important issues for the Palestinian people , sometimes offers a different point of view on which to reflect .
Shadi says : " It must be understood that the Palestinian world is not a revolutionary manifesto , as many people think . Ours are the aspirations of ordinary human beings who want to live a normal life, the life to which every person is entitled . "
The album has managed to carve out a place in the heart of the Palestinian public thanks to the simplicity of the idea, to the communicative power of words and to the modernity of sound.
2013 , during the commemorations for Land Day, Shadi Zaqtan presented at the ' Al- Balad Theatre in Amman his second album entitled " Ghanna ' ala al Hagiz " ( sing at the checkpoint ) .
The album, produced again by using the collaboration of Imad Sayrafi, musically continues the discussion started in the first album, but introduces some new features. Rather than sing only texts he composed, in some songs, Shadi has decided to use a more classical repertoire using poems by authors such Yusuf al-Khatib ("Qubbara"), Mourid Barghouti ("Watany") and the Tunisian poet As Saghir Walad Ahmad ("Nuhibbu to bilad"). An evocative music and a poetry without compromise are the elements that characterize the work of Shadi Zaqtan , singer-songwriter author of of what many call " new song of Palestine."
He is the author of a musical language unfamiliar to the Arab public, The song "Watany" in particular, whose music born from a collaboration with musician native of New Zealand Tiki Taane, musically presents a decided change of register.
The album was given as a symbolic gesture to the people of Qalandiya refugee camp, which is close to the famous checkpoint near the apartheid wall
“ the city songs “ 2017 is a collaboration with leading Belgian artists , Tomas Noel and wouter van den abeele and others , presenting and rearranging Shadi’s music and sending out with different instruments, piano , violin , double bass , Clarinet..
“ circus “ 2020 was a big band job , playing along with rap artists , poets , other , classic and modern musicians.
Going back to exile , due to the horrible circumstances in Palestine , shadi moved to Berlin leaving an archive of beautiful music that will stay .
Arab tunes .
