It felt as though I had landed on another planet — a land that, as poet Mahmoud Darwish once described, is like “a jewel that glimmers for the far upon the far, and illuminates what is outside it.” In the spring of 2022, I crossed the border into the West Bank for the first time.

What followed became a musical diary titled West Bank Echoes — part travelogue, part transcendental exploration, and part musical manifesto.

 

The compositions are largely born of improvisation, interwoven with elements of classical Arabic music. From the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem through the desert wilderness of Al-Bariyeh to the Dead Sea, from the Jordan Valley to Ramallah — this journey unfolded as an instrumental song cycle, echoing the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and seeking to glimpse the Palestinian soul.

West Bank Echoes stands as a modern “grand tour”: a reflection of encounters, landscapes, and cultural resonances.