To mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we organized a meeting with artist Haya Zaatry in Madrid on November 30, called “Borders and Promises.” As part of Palestine Week we held a dialogue with Zaatry on identity, music and Palestine, at Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Madrid.

Haya Zaatry is a Palestinian singer-songwriter, architect and researcher who was born and raised in Nazareth. She is currently based in the city of Haifa. She is a co-founder of “Eljam,” a non-profit community project that seeks to empower and enliven the Palestinian underground music scene. Through her melodies and lyrics, Haya, whose musical education was self-taught, invites listeners to explore the most intimate corners of her soul, while also pushing across boundaries in social, political and gender-related issues. In 2017, she received a full scholarship to take part in the XABACA Project, a month-long artist-in-residency program in Barcelona whose purpose was to empower and connect female artists from the Arab world. During the project, Haya was featured in “Borders and Promises,” a documentary named after one of her songs and a concert at Casa Árabe, along with Lebanese and Tunisian artists. Haya is currently working on her debut album, “Rahawan.”