The International Music Council (IMC) is pleased to announce that the 2025 IMC Music Rights Award is given to the project Gaza Sings: Voices of Steadfastness and Hope.
The project was nominated and is implemented by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (Palestine).
The IMC Music Rights Award stands as a powerful symbol of recognition and celebration for the dedication, creativity and impact of all those involved in the nominated programmes.
More than just an accolade, it is a call to action – an invitation to IMC members and music organisations worldwide to champion the five music rights and turn them into a living reality for people everywhere.
Manal Awwad, the director of the Gaza Music School, now displaced in Cairo, had this to say: “I wished that my colleagues in Gaza – the ones who, with unyielding determination, continue carrying out the activities of Gaza Sings: Voices of Steadfastness and Hope in the midst of the genocide waged by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, under the disgraceful complicity of the international community, teaching children music under bombardment, in tents, and among the rubble – were the ones standing to receive this award; for it is they who truly deserve this recognition.
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“Despite the systematic destruction of every aspect of life and the repeated forced displacement endured by our people in Gaza, our colleagues there insisted that the sound of music must remain present and loud in the face of Israel’s machinery of extermination.
“They carved out for the children fleeting moments of joy in a time when the Israeli occupation deliberately and brutally assassinates both childhood and humanity.
“The news that Gaza Sings had won the 2025 IMC Music Rights Award reached me at the very moment when Israeli warplanes were launching another stage in erasing the beautiful city of Gaza, demolishing its high towers, just as they had already done in Rafah, Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Shuja‘iya and Zeitoun.
“At that moment, the award was not merely international recognition of our work; it was a stance against genocide and a refusal to accept erasure. It was an affirmation of the Palestinian people’s right to freedom, dignity, security and self-determination on their land.
“These are the rights for which Palestinians have struggled, generation after generation, in an unbroken fight to end the occupation, achieve justice, and bring to an end the historical injustice imposed on them for decades.”
Born from the rubble of war, this project affirms music not only as a human right, but as a lifeline for dignity, resilience and healing.
Amid the systematic destruction of Gaza’s schools, hospitals, studios, homes and infrastructure, Gaza Sings became a bold act of defiance: making space for expression when everything else was being erased.
Since its launch in late 2023, the project has reached nearly 40,000 participants – mostly children and youth – across displacement shelters, public parks, tents, private schools and community centres in Gaza, Cairo (for displaced Gazans) and the West Bank.
Through community-based music education, participatory performances, creative workshops and digital releases, Gaza Sings reclaims joy, childhood and collective identity.
Andre Le Roux, chair of the advisory panel evaluating the nominations for IMC, said: “I am deeply proud to have chaired this prestigious award at such a critical moment in history – when freedom of expression, human rights and the Five Music Rights espoused by the IMC are increasingly under threat.
“In times like these, it is the arts that can help us erase the artificial boundaries that separate us. Music, culture and creativity have the unique power to build harmony and counterpoint – not just in sound, but in society.
“Now is the perfect time to harness that power, and to let exemplary projects lead the way toward a more just, connected and compassionate world.”
The impact of Gaza Sings reaches far beyond music. It harnesses the transformative power of collective creativity to foster healing, protect artistic livelihoods, preserve cultural memory and affirm that Gaza’s story will not be defined by sorrow alone. It will also be carried through melody, rhythm and resilience.
This programme embodies the spirit of the five music rights: the right to express, to learn, to participate, to create and to be acknowledged.
In Gaza Sings, music is not a response to survival – it is a bold affirmation of it.
IMC President Sheila Woodward commented: “Every nomination for the Music Rights Award this year is deserving of recognition. The work being done across the globe is deeply moving and significant.
“Our congratulations are extended to the laureates who have touched our hearts with their meaningful endeavours to keep the joy of music alive in a time of war and turmoil.”
The advisory panel of the IMC Music Rights Award was chaired by André Le Roux, the founding manager and director at IKS Consulting, and composed of:
- Roula Abou Baker, the manager of Fayha National Choir and vice-president of the International Federation for Choral Music
- Angharad Cooper, freelance consultant, director of operations at the Center of Music Ecosystems, and vice-chair of the European Music Council
- Susana Ferreres, the vice-head of the Center for Ethnomusicology and Creation in Traditional and Avant Garde Arts, Tres de Febrero University
- Dr Benon Kigozi, the vice-president for East Africa of the African Music Council
- Federico Rinaldi, an IMC executive board representative
- Tan Sooi Beng, the president of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance
The 2025 IMC Music Rights Award will be presented during the opening of Womex, the Worldwide Music Expo, in Tampere, Finland, on 22 October. – International Music Council
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