Israeli Music Stars Promote New Album Benefitting Festival Massacre Victims: ‘We Want To Help
A month after the deadly attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7, the group of electronic music stars are introducing a new 73-song project to raise money for the victims of the Supernova festival massacre.
Their remix covers the electronic spectrum from trance to techno and features contributions from many of Israel's biggest names, including Contaminated Mushroom, Asterix, Red Access and Astral Projection. At least 260 people were massacred - and dozens were taken hostage - when Hamas militants stormed the Israel-based Supernova Gosa Nova image festival in Israel's Negev desert, five kilometers from the Gaza border.
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"The Nova tribe that organized the event that was attacked by Hamas are good friends of mine," Asterix, whose real name is Avi Shmailov , told Rolling Stone . "The sytrance tribe is very united, we all know each other. Hundreds of innocent dancers who have been killed, seriously injured and kidnapped are like my family. Thousands of successful people are also in difficult times. We want to help them in any way we can.
Shmelov contributed to the project with the opening track "Shamanic Tales" from his latest album, which is now available on Bandcamp. He was visiting Brazil when heavily armed Hamas fighters attacked the festival. Later, Omri Sassi, a partner in the Munclips techno project, heard that Avi Sassi's uncle had been killed by a grenade thrown into a shelter where festivalgoers were hiding. Shamailov described Avi as "the kind of person you like when you meet him. You can recognize his personality by looking at his jewelry."
The musician also said he knew several hostages allegedly held by Hamas. Asked for his thoughts on the wider conflict now plaguing the region — including unprecedented retaliatory airstrikes and an Israeli ground offensive that has reportedly killed 10,000 Gazans — Shamaylov said he had no answers. Only the hope of peace.
“I am an ordinary person, an artist, a musician. "Just because millions of people have listened to my music, I don't see myself as someone who has the knowledge to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he told Rolling Stone . “I think innocent people on both sides are victims of Hamas. Hopefully we will find a way to live in peace after they are gone. I have fans from many Arab countries and have been in regular contact with them over the years. We met at a festival. I know this and you know that we all live together in peace.
Funds raised from the 'Bring Them Back' collection will be donated at the festival to genocide survivors and the families of those killed, kidnapped or missing, according to the organization behind the project, Electronic Music Society. The group said some of the money would be used to develop psychiatric and residential treatment centers.
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