Update 5/17/08: Listen to Tamer Nafar interviewed on Democracy Now! this week, as part of a series on the 60th anniversary of Al-Nakba. There are some clips of DAM’s recent US performances in the video streaming as well. I am happy to hear that “Slingshot Hip-Hop” has finally been finished and won awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

[From L-R: Mahmoud Jreri, Tamer Nafar, DJ Ori Shochat, Suhell Nafar]

No, I’m not kidding: along with a screening of the documentary Slingshot Hip Hop which features them so prominently, the Palestinian hip-hop group DAM performed last Saturday at the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side. Only two people walked out, one lady gave them all hugs, and afterwards I ate cupcakes.

DAM and Slingshot Hip Hop were featured as part of the Other Israel Film Festival, founded by philanthropist Carol Zabar, scion of the Upper West Side gourmet institution Zabar’s. Interestingly, while the festival professed to showcase the “stories of Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouin, defined collectively as Arab Citizens of Israel,” program literature excluded any mention of Palestine or Palestinians, except to state that “[t]his festival will be unique — it is not about the conflict — it is not about taking sides — this festival is about people.” (Hmm, that sounds familiar.) What about Palestinian people?

Members of DAM (which means immortal in Arabic, blood in Hebrew, and stands for Da Arabian MCs in Brooklyn-English) might officially be considered “Arabic citizens of Israel,” since they come from the town Lud about ten miles from Tel Aviv, but they strongly identify as Palestinian. In one song they initiated a call and response with the audience, repeating the lyrics, “DAM jayeem/Min falestin” (DAM is coming/We are from Palestine). They also performed their hit “Meen Er Habi” (Who’s the Terrorist) while the majority of the audience sang along.

DAM’s music melds American hip-hop rhythms with traditional Arabic music and samples from Arabic theater, while MCs Tamer Nafar, Suhell Nafar and Mahmoud Jreri rap mostly in Arabic. DAM members claim Tupac Shakur and Public Enemy as major inspirations. According to filmmaker Jackie Salloum, “What inspired Tamer to begin rapping was Tupac… when he saw the images in the video ‘Holler if Ya Hear Me,’ he thought it was Lud.”

Jackie Salloum introduced Slingshot Hip Hop by describing it as her response to misrepresentations of Arabs in the media. She was excited to learn about DAM’s music several years ago, and when she traveled to Palestine to visit family in 2003 (her mom is originally from Gaza), she asked DAM if she could make a documentary about them. Salloum said that she and her family are usually depressed after visiting Palestine, but groups like DAM make her feel hopeful.

Check out DAM tonight in Brooklyn, next week in California, and after that in Europe and the Middle East for your own anti-depression fix. Or, just eat more cupcakes.