From Refugee Camp to Global Stage: He Sings for Palestine's Lost Voices.
Play & learn about Marwan Abdelhamid, also known as Saint Levantt's arty refugee experience 🎮
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Back Story
Marwan Abdelhamid, who is more famously known as Saint Levant, is a Palestinian singer-songwriter and a multilingual artist. Born in Jerusalem during the second Intifada, he spent much of his youth growing up in Gaza and then Jordan, where he spoke a blend of French, English and Arabic. In 2007, Abdelhamid and his family were forced to flee Gaza and relocate to Jordan, where the singer spent a lot of his time in the Palestinian refugee camp of Al-Wehdat in the capital of Jordan. During his later teens, the artist moved to the United States for university where he pursued a degree in International Relations at the University of California.
Beyond his musical pursuits, Abdelhamid has also engaged in activism and entrepreneurship aimed at supporting the Palestinian people. For example, he co-founded GrowHome which connects Palestinian entrepreneurs with potential funders. Through these efforts, as well as his music, Abdelhamid seeks to amplify Palestinian voices and experiences, believing that they would otherwise go undermined.
Abdelhamid’s musical background stems from his childhood as he took up the passion for music from his father and maternal grandmother, finding enthusiasm for the piano and saxophone. It is through such artistry that activism also comes into play. His contribution to society largely focuses on raising awareness of the Palestinian struggle, oppression and displacement. Most notably, in 2024, the artist released a song called ‘Deira’ which was dedicated to his father’s hotel in Gaza that was destroyed in an Israeli bombing. It is both through using his artistic and musical skills as a platform and medium in conjunction with personal memories and experiences in Gaza, that Abdelhamid sheds light on the atrocities which have occurred in Palestine for decades.
In this post Mariyah highlights the arty refugee experience of Marwan Abdelhamid, more famously known as Saint Levant. She is a citizen journalist on a placement with us organised by Oxford University Career Services. She also organised the micro game to make the journalistic experience interactive.
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