Yabous Relaunches Its Jerusalem Festival after a Three-Year Hiatus

After a three-year hiatus, Jerusalem’s Yabous Cultural Centre has relaunched a three-month program from August to October 2026 packed with a long list of events featuring distinguished artists and creative talents. This year also happens to mark 30 years since the launch of Yabous’s annual Jerusalem Festival—an auspicious event celebrated with the National Conservatory of Music, founded in 1996. For its part, the conservatory opened the festival with the 12th edition of its Layali al-Tarab fi Quds al-‘Arab (Nights of Tarab in Arab Jerusalem), celebrating Palestinian Arab musical cultures.

The festival this year offers a wide range of musical, artistic, literary, film, and other cultural events and discussions, with a program intended to reflect the Arab identity of Jerusalem. Unlike previous years, the program itself is offered solely in Arabic—reflecting both the celebration of Arabic language and culture, but also the absence of international performers and visitors due to the ongoing political climate that is preventing foreigners from coming to Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.

The last Jerusalem Festival was held in 2023, with the closing performance scheduled on October 5, 2023 (see Layali al-Tarab fi Quds al-‘Arab Festival Closes Its 2023 Season), two days before the al-Aqsa Flood attack and the launch of Israel's ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. The theme of that festival was “Stand Up Jerusalem,” though many have expressed that the situation has only become worse since then.

After a three-year wait, the opening had to wait for one more day when a rare torrential downpour submerged Jerusalem on August 15, 2026, the day the festival was meant to open, forcing organizers to postpone the event. The program launched on August 16 with the Al-Quds Arabic Music Ensemble of the National Conservatory of Music, and tickets were quickly sold out. The ensemble of 15 musicians and 5 choral singers performed a tribute to the late Lebanese composer, musician, and playwright Ziad Rahbani, who passed away in July 2025.

A long list of musical performances followed in August. Siraj Choir, a vocal ensemble performing classical Arabic music, took the stage on August 20, 2026. The choir offered audiences an unconventional experience, intertwining music with movement to create a theatrical performance infused with nostalgia and memory.

In another event, musician and composer Habib Shehadeh was joined by singer Rana Edris to perform their song “Sing with Us,” which the audience did. The memorable performance transfixed audience members with traditional Arab maqamat—the special melodic scales that evoke deep emotions, an experience known as tarab.

August also welcomed Marwa Yassin, who captivated the audience with her solo piano performance, and the Bayat Choir from the Upper Galilee village of Mi‘ilya, led by Darwish Darwish. The troupe was composed of oud, violin, buzuq, and baglama players, as well as the choir conductor, who performed under the theme of “Naghmat Asl” (the Note of Origin). The hypnotizing performance took the audience on a journey through Bilad al-Sham (Greater Syria), which, despite a century of fragmentation, was very much connected.

In addition to musical performances, the festival celebrated beloved Palestinian and regional artists through conversation. These talks were mostly led by media expert and academic May Abu Assab.

In August, May led two rich conversations with Dr. Nazmi Jubeh, Palestinian historian and archaeologist (see Nazmi Jubeh), and the late Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour, who defined modern Palestinian visual culture through his iconic paintings for nearly six decades. His deep ties to Jerusalem and lifelong commitment to resistance through art inspired generations.

Sliman was joined by Suhail Khoury, musician, composer, and director of the National Conservatory of Music (see Suhail Khoury), as well as the prominent Palestinian sociologist and historian Salim Tamari. Less than a week after this event, on August 24, Sliman passed away at the age of 79 (see Sliman Mansour).

Rania Elias, independent management consultant for arts and cultural development, who herself had been the director of the Yabous Cultural Centre and its annual festival for over two decades, shared that this was the last public honoring of Sliman. It included a talk with the beloved artist, as well as an art exhibition of poster images of his globally renowned paintings.1 For Rania and the organizers of the festival, this was a huge honor (see Rania Elias).

Attendees commented on the significance of the festival, beginning with a tribute to Ziad Rahbani and featuring the last public appearance of the Jerusalem artist Sliman. Ziad, who died of a heart attack on July 26, 2025, was an icon of Arab music in the region for over 50 years. The son of the inimitable Lebanese diva Fairuz, Ziad was a celebrated composer, playwright, political satirist, and pioneer of “Oriental Jazz.”2

“Everybody knows Ziad’s music,” Suhail told Jerusalem Story. The music of Ziad and Fairuz, like all music from Lebanon, Egypt, and the greater Arab world, “are all part of the heritage of Jerusalem,” he added.3

Interspersed between his eclectic, genre-defining musical compositions that merged classical Arab tarab styles with jazz and funk, Ziad often spoke critically and with biting sarcasm of politics, life, love, Palestine, the occupation, and everything in between.

“Not only are we familiar with these songs, but they are part of our songs. Historically, and prior to 1948, it was all connected,” Suhail explained. “Those traveling through Beirut, Damascus, and Aleppo would pass by Jerusalem and Jaffa.”

“Our opening night saw exceptional interaction from the audience, and it was a full house. They sang along, and even requested songs,” Ram Rabi, 21, a talented Jerusalemite musician told Jerusalem Story.4 Ram was four years old when he was introduced to the conservatory in 2009, after which he specialized in violin and joined the orchestra, with which he went on tour in Europe in 2019 at the age of 14. He is now a music teacher in the Western Classical Department at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and was a central performer at the festival.

“It was beyond special for our ensemble to play Ziad’s music,” he shared. “The material was captivating, and it was a new style for us. Ziad’s personality was down-to-earth, so playing his music made us take things with more ease, without being too formal.”

Another key member of the ensemble, Sivan Barghout, 27, highlighted that for Palestinian musicians, sharing music is essential “to reclaim narratives through skillful voices and instruments, and to reconnect with audiences who themselves get to partake.”5 Sivan expressed that “we narrate our narrative through music,” and noted that it has been a great delight to “finally revive and perform our music on stage in Jerusalem after years of interruption.”

A talented buzuq player and teacher, Sivan has been a member of the conservatory since he was nine years old, first as a student and now, an academic supervisor. As he describes it, his entire life path has been centered around music, whether through practice, workshops, travel, performance, teaching, or daily life.

“Music should not be confined to festivals,” he shared. “It must be integrated in everyday living and inside homes.” As a teacher, he is committed to teaching his students the full extent of what music has to offer.

September featured film screenings, literary conversations, art, and other cultural events. Amer Hlehel’s one-man performance, “I Am from There,” was a highlight. In this moving theatrical work, performed at the Faisal al-Husseini Hall at Yabous, Amer returns to his earliest memories while reflecting on the meaning of home, daring audience members to reconnect with themselves and consider collective memory after years of loss and separation.

Amer’s performance stands out for his courage and creativity, as well as his blend of painful nostalgia with humor, earning him long standing ovations.

May held another conversation during the festival with Marwan Makhoul, civil engineer, writer, and poet known for his prose and plays in Arabic. September also featured the launch of The Haifa-Jenin Train, a new book by Nazareth-based Palestinian human rights lawyer and writer Jinan Abdo. The Palestinian Jerusalemite actor Hussam Abu Eisheh (see Hakawati Husam Abu Eisheh: “The Heaviness of Jerusalem Makes Us Who We Are”) also took the stage with Kharareef, a comedic performance.

Other events included another session with Nazmi, this time with renowned Palestinian architect Khaldun Bishara and Rania Elias. Music continued with an enchanting cello performance by Fabienne van Eck, the talented Dutch musician who was joined by the Palestinian dancer Adan Azza; violinist Maya Attari; the singing of Muhannad Bilbisi, Duna Ayyad, and Miral Ayyad; and a folkloric performance by Shalabi Younes.

“The Jerusalem Festival is essential for several reasons,” Suhail began, “such as granting a platform for Palestinian musicians to showcase their talents and potentially get discovered.” There is massive interest among the new generation, he explained, “who have experienced a significant gap in their life and education, including music, due to the years of geopolitical instability.”

“It’s not at all easy in Jerusalem,” he stressed, “but we insist on creating experiences that are essential for launching new talents, providing them the space, and finding ways to take them out into the world.”