Every Bandcamp Friday matters. Some matter more than others…

This Friday, more than thirty-five independent record labels are turning theirs into a lifeline for Lebanon, a country where a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on 16 April but means very little on the ground. The Israeli military offensive that began in March has displaced over 1.2 million people, and strikes and exchanges of fire have continued throughout the truce, the IDF’s own chief of staff said this week that there “is no ceasefire.” Entire villages in the south have been levelled by Israeli forces. Families have no homes to return to, donations from abroad have dropped sharply, and as Beirut-based musician Julia Sabra of Tunefork Studios/Snakeskin puts it, the truce has created a dangerous assumption that help is no longer needed, when the opposite is true.

It is against this backdrop that these imprints from across four continents and twelve countries have organised the Bandcamp Fundraiser for Lebanon, running from tomorrow, Friday 1st May through Sunday 3rd May. Every participating label donates its share of digital sales income across the weekend to Beit Aam, a Beirut community space that pivoted to full-time relief work when the conflict escalated. Beit Aam’s volunteers now run a public kitchen serving hundreds of daily meals and coordinate shelters across the country, distributing hygiene kits, sleeping supplies, food parcels, baby formula and clothing. Their March activity report details exactly where funds have gone: useful reading for anyone wondering whether donations actually reach people.

The roster reflects the global reach of the initiative. London’s Honest Jon’s has built its catalogue on calypso, dub, jazz and Windrush-era recordings drawn from the EMI archive, while fellow UK imprint Strut has spent twenty-five years reissuing African, Latin and Caribbean funk, soul and disco. Brighton’s Hive Mind specialises in Moroccan gnawa and contemporary global underground recordings, sitting alongside Berlin’s Habibi Funk, whose ethically sourced reissues of 1970s and 80s Arab world groove have redefined the region’s musical history. Based between Germany and Slovenia, five-time WOMEX award-winner Glitterbeat offers cutting-edge global psych, desert blues, and international bass. France contributes Paris global jazz specialists Heavenly Sweetness and the archival imprint Akuphone, dedicated to rare non-Western pop, folk, and political protest music. Geneva’s Bongo Joe brings its trademark DIY ethos, from Anatolian psych to microtonal oddities; Brussels’ Rebel Up champions heavy global bass and hybrid diaspora club sounds. Lisbon’s Príncipe channels the batida, kuduro and tarraxinha sounds of the city’s African-Portuguese suburbs. Rounding out the selection are Wonderwheel Recordings in New York, with their focus on global dance and electronic fusion, while Portland’s Mississippi Records issues blues, gospel and outsider music in unfussy editions, and Awesome Tapes from Africa reissues cassettes pulled from markets across the continent. Many more labels are involved, and the range of music on offer means there is plenty worth buying on its own terms, before the cause is even factored in.

The project was organised by Lewis Robinson of London label Mais Um and Duncan Ballantyne of Ballantyne Communications, both drawing on personal ties to Beirut’s music scene and inspired by earlier fundraising efforts from Tunefork Studios and the Beirut Synthesizer Centre.

 

For anyone who would rather give directly, 
a GoFundMe campaign targeting £4,000 runs alongside the Bandcamp drive

Visit the participating labels' Bandcamp pages from Friday
or find the full label list and social assets via the official fundraising hub