The Ibn Rushd Fund for Freedom of Thought mourns for Reem Banna, who left us today, Saturday March 24, 2018. Through her moving music and her emphatic lyrics, the Palestinian singer brought the pulse of the Palestinian people and of all other Arab peoples to the world.
With her musical oeuvre, she supported the Palestinian people’s striving for freedom and their wish for an end to injustice. Her songs describe humans between serenity and trouble, between joy and pain; they mirror their painful present while paving the path for dreams and insisting with great emphasis that one should always keep hoping for a better future.
The Ibn Rushd Fund awarded Reem Banna in 2013 with its prize for Freedom of Thought for poetically condensing in her song texts the critical or creative thinking that is indispensable for change within society, for her lyrics dealing with the quest for freedom, civil rights, and democracy, and calling for implementing these changes.
We have to bid farewell today to Reem Banna. Her body has left us, but her soul will live on in her songs; they will remain inspiring for many generations.
For many among us in the Ibn Rushd Fund , Reem was a great enrichment also in their personal lives. We mourn her death together with her family, her friends and her large following, and wish her close relations the strength needed in these difficult times.
Reem, your bright star will keep on shining in the sky of arts. Your struggle for freedom and humanity will keep on inspiring us. We will miss you.
