Jivana Heyman 09:45:07
Hi everyone, its Jivana I just want to come on for a moment and thank our sponsor offering tree. They're an all in one easy to use community back business that saves you time, energy and money as a Yoga teacher. Offering tree allows you to create a website in less than 30 minutes. Plus you get a discount to accessible Yoga. Just go to offering tree.com backslash accessible Yoga to get your discount today. Okay, here's our episode.
Anjali Rao 09:45:37
Welcome to the love of Yoga podcast. I'm your host, Anjali Rao. This podcast explores the teachings of Yoga for self and collective transformation. We dive into how spirituality and philosophy can ignite social change. I share conversations with folks who are on the front lines of justice and liberatory movements, thought leaders, change makers, and healers.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the love of Yoga podcast. I'm your host Anjali Rao. And today we have with us a really special guest, Leila Hegazy, who is an Egyptian Italian American singer songwriter, a Social Media Creator, a teacher and activist in New York City. She uses music to advocate for Palestine. And that is one of our passions and adaptations of popular songs aimed to help those in the pro Palestinian movement. And and people who are pro Palestine feel seen as they battle the absurdity of the occupations and Western propaganda. Lila is currently working on a protest album for Palestine and plans to donate the proceeds to the Palestine children's Relief Fund. She's also in the process of recording her next project with a twin sister do tigase. Thank you so much for joining me, Leila. And you and I met you know, in the accessible Yoga, I think, one of the one of the philosophy sessions that we did. So I've always enjoyed, first of all, being in community with you and seeing you just be so upfront and talented and doing all the things that you do. And I'm so glad to have this conversation with you. Welcome.
Leila Hegazy 09:47:45
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.
Anjali Rao 09:47:48
Could you share a little bit more about yourself, other than what we what I just read and your path into the work?
Leila Hegazy 09:47:58
Yeah, so I live in New York City, Staten Island, New York, specifically, I grew up here most of my life. And you can actually see the Statue of Liberty from here. So yeah, it's fun. And I have been a musician all my life. So pretty much since I was five years old, I've been singing, making up songs about various things, art supplies, and school, whatever it was, I was always making a song about something. And you know, I started taking piano lessons when I was maybe like 10 years old or so. And I loved being in chorus in school and all those great things. And I actually can honestly say I wouldn't be a musician, if it weren't for the public school system, right. And just like having that introduced to me in elementary school. So I'm really grateful for that. And now I'm a music teacher. So I teach piano and voice lessons for a living. I'm also a Yoga teacher. And I like to be in lots of different places. So I've never really had just the one job, I have a lot of passions, and I find that they all really connect and the activism work is something that I've gotten into recently in a formal way. So I'm in candidacy to be an organizer with the PSL. That's an organization national organization that does really great work. But also you know, I grew up in the struggle around Palestine as every Arab American every I want to say Arab kind of does. You know, when I was a kid, I remember really kind of being the only one of my friends who understood anything about this issue. So you know, now it's like really amazing to see so many people who weren't informed before be so informed now. I think the tides have definitely changed and it's really great to see.
Anjali Rao 09:49:58
Yeah, what what was the thing that you you said that your friends did not get into this much? either and you were what was your? Why did you get into this work and awareness about Palestine earlier on you think?
Leila Hegazy 09:50:17
Yeah, well, I think, you know, like I said, I think every Arab person kind of grows up understanding the pain that they're around this, and especially because it's such a taboo subject and has been really untouched even a lot in a lot of social justice circles. It's been a taboo subject. So yeah, I think especially also growing up, post 911, I was 11 years old when 911 happened, and just seeing, you know, and experiencing the ways that Muslim and Arab Americans were treated, and just Muslims and Arabs in general and realizing in all of these wars, how oftentimes dispensable Arab life really is to the west. That's an experience I, you know, I can remember, from a very early age actually, like, especially post 911 really feeling that and I mixed also, like, I'm half Italian also, but, you know, my name is fully Arab and Egyptian, my last name is unmistakably, unmistakably Egyptian, actually, because it has a G in it. And we're the only country that pronounces the letter G like Gah, every every other country, it's like a shot. So it's Hegazi is like, everyone knows I'm Egyptian, just like off the bat. Otherwise, it would be spelled with like a J or pronounced that way, like, Hejazy. Yes. So it's like, almost impossible not to grow up around it. I mean, my, my dad remembered when he passed now, but he, he would tell me about when Egypt and Israel were at war. And, you know, it's not just also the cultural appropriation of Palestinian culture. It's also just Arab culture in general. So like, I remember being at a restaurant with my father. And we saw the words Israeli salad on the menu and kind of watching him get a little upset about it. And not maybe if I didn't understand all the reasons why as a kid, it was still like, okay, there's a lot of frustration and anger here. And yeah, I got older. Yeah, just understanding I'm sorry, go ahead.
Anjali Rao 09:52:22
No, no, I was just, I was just going to ask you, as a follow up as folks who don't know the difference between what is ready slash salad? Or what does that really mean? Can you share a little bit about that? And because food in appropriation is very close to my heart. So as an Indian, so I can understand that. So can you also share for the listeners?
Leila Hegazy 09:52:43
Right, of course, well, so basically, the idea of Israeli food is a very, very hot topic, very contentious topic, especially in the Arab world and amongst Arabs, because a lot of the foods that are sometimes attributed to Israel are really foods that are eaten all over the MENA region, the Middle East, and North Africa. And you know, even kind of in Asia, you know, Turkey, like these foods span, a really, really wide range of countries. So to call them Israeli food, it's a bit disingenuous, especially because, of course, Israel is a colonial entity, we're not bound, you know, we're not dancing around saying this anymore. It is also a new country, right? A new entity that has only existed formally since 1948. And these foods are so much older. So that's sort of where a lot of the frustration comes in. It's like, okay, well, you know, it's one thing for an Israeli family to sort of, like, open an Israeli restaurant and call it an Israeli food, but do people do people really understand kind of the nuance and the cultural? I want to say this, the span of countries that these foods belong to, because it's a huge span of countries that people are often kind of unfamiliar with, to begin with, and so also, like a racialized aspect to it, because, you know, Israeli is whether they are white or not, I mean, Israel is a very diverse place, but they sort of get to enjoy the benefits of whiteness, because of the way that the West has treated them and the way that the West regards them. So, you know, again, whether there's definitely it's not that all Israelis are white, but it's sort of like they get to be white. Right? Yeah. And there's a whole complicated, like, racial part of that, too. So it's, it's a hot topic.
Anjali Rao 09:54:34
Hmm. Yeah, no, I also think that, you know, culture and appropriation of specific elements like food, music, dance, Yoga, you know, all of that is on a spectrum. And it is it rests rest in a dynamic of power. It doesn't come like out of out of the blue it comes in a dynamic of power of people who can take things and make them make it their own and people who are, you know, who are left behind who are from the source culture and will never really know allege for, for their contributions. So thank you for bringing that up. What I know we were going to talk about other sources for people who are away from even identifying as Palestinian or Arab or any of that for folks who are not a part of these cultures, how can we be allies? Or can we be in solidarity?
Leila Hegazy 09:55:35
So I think the first step is listening to Palestinian voices in particular, especially right now, because their voices have not always been heard, or valued, right. So there's really a lot of catching up to do, I want to say, because the West has sort of controlled the narrative for so long, and only given the microphone to certain people uphold that narrative. So I think the most important thing right now above all else is to center those voices. And it sounds obvious, but you know, it's really not like I think some people, of course, are going to need to hear Jewish voices speak about Palestine in order to really fully empathize and understand that no, this movement is not inherently anti semitic. It is not, you know, anti Jewish in any way. And they need that reassurance. But I think, you know, sometimes I feel as much as I appreciate our Jewish allies, which is, of course I do. It's, it should be enough to listen to Palestinian voices, and Arabs voices. And we need to ask that question of like, well, you know, why do we need, for example, like a Western source? To sort of stand with us in order to be heard, and I'm not Palestinian. So I still, you know, I'm still saying, like, let's center a Palestinian voices first and foremost, when it comes to any conversation about the occupation. But yeah, I think that that's really where it has to start for anything productive to happen, because there's been such an imbalance. So for so long, just in the way that this is talked about, even on a base level.
Anjali Rao 09:57:17
Yeah. Yeah, do I totally understand.
Jivana Heyman 09:57:21
Hi everyone, I just want to pop in here really quick, and remind you about our sponsor offering training. As Yoga teachers, we are our own business managers, website, designers and producers. It's a lot. An offering tree offers an all in one platform that makes it easy to succeed while we're doing all the things. And I just like to say that through this partnership with the love of Yoga podcast offering tree has shown that it's committed to supporting accessibility and equity in the Yoga world. Offering tree is a public benefit corporation. And they're driven by a mission of wellness accessibility, which we share with them at accessible Yoga. As an offering tree user, you'll get to join a supportive educational community. And you'll also get free webinars with top experts in wellness and entrepreneurship. And of course, you get a discount. So go to offering tree.com, backslash, accessible Yoga to learn more, and to get your discount. Okay, let's go back to the episode. And
Anjali Rao 09:58:19
we have briefly talked about this. And you also alluded to that right now about how mainstream media has sort of framed it in a certain way or completely erased the story until very recently, they have just started picking up threads, and that to framing it as like a war or, you know, very, very particular kind of language. And so social media, and presence and talking about that becomes absolutely integral not only with Palestine, but so many other conversations like for Sudan for Congo, you know, all of that. So, where do you play social media? And this the voices in there as a really big part of the movement?
Leila Hegazy 09:59:03
Yeah, I think the movement is so dependent on social media and social media is really the biggest determining factor right now. And the biggest, I want to say, this has been the factor in changing public opinion. across the entire world, we're seeing the entire world rise up for Palestine. If you watch Western news, it's a it's almost just a blip. You know, they barely cover these massive protests that are happening. It's like media blackout, but the public discourse around this issue has changed so much, because on social media narratives can't easily be controlled. And that's actually why the censorship is so bad, which is a whole other conversation, right? We can't even necessarily free say free Palestine loud and proud the way we want to because, you know, meta in particular is censoring us so much, but, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, just being able to shine light on what's actually happening without that filter of Western media. bias has been so crucial to why people are changing their minds on this issue, because I don't think it's that people intend to be ignorant about it. But unfortunately, Western media leaves us really very little choice. Yeah. Because like you said there, when when did they start the clock? When did they start reporting? So there was October 7. But does anyone know what happened on October 6? Yeah, in October 5, and every day before that? Probably not. Right?
Anjali Rao 10:00:42
Yeah, no, absolutely. I completely agree. I do think there are different ways of getting into any sort of movement work. And I know that we also are looking at what skills do we have? And how can we use this in a way which is authentic and sustainable. So I know for you, it's music, has has music always been a part of your activism work?
Leila Hegazy 10:01:08
Somewhat. So it's funny, because, as you mentioned, I'm in a band with my twin sister, and she was always the political twin, who was out there, you know, very outspoken on the news, doing whatever she was doing, having political debates. And I was the one who was just trying to make like, pop, r&b, whatever I was doing. And I think at the end of the day, part of that, for me was that if you're Muslim, if you're Arab, and you live in the West, your identity is just inherently political. So I, I never really set out to be political with my music. But then, you know, once my sister and I became a band, we thought we would just make music. And however it turned out, it turned out but yeah, it turned out to be quite political. We started writing songs about the immigration issue, and the here to stay movement and so many things. And just I don't know, it was maybe a little bit naive to think we would really stay away from politics. But you know, I think for the first like, month or so of this genocide, I really didn't have the ability to use music this way. I don't really think I had the ability to do much of anything. I felt like I was in a state of almost paralysis. But then what happened was, it was Christmas time. And I was hearing all these Christmas carols around me, and everybody was sort of going on. Like, there was nothing wrong. This is what about what I was seeing around me, right? It's Christmas in New York, everyone's holiday shopping. And other than a few Palestine strikes, right, where we tried to like, you know, particularly like actually stopped spending money on particular days, it didn't really feel like much was happening. And I just started like singing Christmas songs with lyrics about Palestine. Yeah. And then it became this thing where now we're covering pop songs, and maybe people will get it if we do this. And I don't know if that was like a conscious thought. But it just started, it started to come out of me. And then once it started to come out of me, it literally did not stop. And this, like, this whole thing has been a surprise to me. As much as it is to everyone else in my life, to be honest,
Anjali Rao 10:03:27
no, it's brilliant. And I remember seeing it, and I was like, Oh, wow, this letter, you know, this is amazing. So I'm so glad you're doing this. And I also wanted to kind of like touch base about accessibility and activism. Right? For people who cannot go in March and being be in solidarity in a very visible out there kind of way, and still want to do things I know you want to, like, bring that conversation into because of your own personal experiences. So can you share a little bit about that?
Leila Hegazy 10:03:59
Absolutely. Yeah. So I mean, I have a chronic condition myself, I have fibromyalgia, probably since about 2020. And it's been a very interesting life shift. So I can go to a protest if I feel okay. And then some days I'm not okay. And it's a little bit hard to predict how things are gonna go. Yeah. And then some days I am okay. But then if I go, I used up all my spoons at the protest. And now I need to take off like a whole day after. Because I was marching. You know, I was not able to go to the March this past weekend. It was March 2, it was the sort of global March and it was raining in New York, and people were standing in the rain like, and I am so proud of them, and I could not physically do it. Yeah. So it's interesting because I don't think I consciously realized that. protesting this way through music was a way to make protesting more accessible for me. But it became my way of sneaking out in the way that I could in a way that allowed me to kind of maintain My energy levels as I needed them, because of course, you know, we're all regardless of what causes we're standing with, you know, we live under capitalism, and we do have to work and we do have to kind of be okay if we are to give. So I had to figure out ways to protests that were more sustainable for me and also more predictable, to be honest, because, like I said, sometimes going to enlarge or doing particular things like it, I don't know how I'm going to feel on any given day, but I know I'll probably be okay enough to sit at the piano, maybe I haven't made a lot of videos lately, actually. Because I've just been like, really going through some players, this condition. So yeah, it's been a very interesting journey and, but also kind of empowering at the same time, because I figured out that I can do this in a way that actually makes sense for me, and that I have a sort of different role in the resistance than a lot of people, which is kind of nice. You know that I get to do that. I guess I get to use these things that I'm already doing. For the cause. Yeah.
Anjali Rao 10:06:19
Yeah, I Totally understand. And thank you for sharing that. And thank you for being in this conversation with me. I hope this doesn't take off. But that you know that the spoons that are so important for your for you, I really appreciate this. Anything else you want to share Leila? And also how can folks be in connection with you and uplift your work up I know we're going to be sharing some of the album's and that you've covered and as a part of the promotion for the podcast, but anything else you want to share and uplift.
Leila Hegazy 10:06:54
So I recently released a it's a very modest piano vocal demo, I just went into the studio with a friend of mine and said, Hey, let's record a couple songs. And then there's one in particular that I said, Okay, I guess we'll put this out and donate the money to a good cause. So the song it's called, if I must die, which is the title of a poem by the late Palestinian writer, poet, professor, he was really, really loved in the Palestinian community and in the world. And he was martyred in December, by Israeli forces. He was killed along with his, I believe his brother, his sister, and her four children. And he was still in the north of Gaza, his family, his wife, and children are still alive. So actually, all of the proceeds for this song, which are it's basically the lyrics of his poem, which I knew at the moment I heard it, I have to write a song to this because it just hits me right in the heart, who everyone was sharing it right after he was martyred. And I just, you know, it was like, probably the next day that I wrote the song. And it's only a minute and a half. It's a short poem. But, you know, I released it on a really wonderful site called Bandcamp. Which, if you want to support musicians, it's really the best one. I made a point not to release on Spotify, because we want to donate more than pennies and musicians especially, you know, it's an it can depend on which country you live in, also, in which countries you're being streamed from. But we typically get only like point 003 of $1 of every stream. So it's incredibly low. Yeah, it's incredibly low. So the thing that is so wonderful about Bandcamp, and why I chose to release there and focus on that is that basically, first of all, I released on Bandcamp, Friday, where all the proceeds go to the artist, so I got essentially 100% of everything on that day, which will be donated to the family of Rafa Oliveira, who was martyred in December. And it's really incredible that the Instagram pipeline actually got me to someone who could put the money into His family hands family's hands, and it's, they're going to use that money to rebuild. And we were waiting on it also, in a sense, because eight is not getting into Gaza right now. So it's a whole complicated thing to actually get the money to them. But you know, when money is is able to go in, we know exactly where it has to go. And it's I'm just really actually touched by the Instagram community that made that possible. Right. It's, I have faith in people now.
Anjali Rao 10:09:36
I do I really, we have no choice but to Yeah, so yeah, no, I do too. I do too. I've been seeing so much grace and so much. Just love pouring from people who are complete strangers for people who are so far away and concern and you know, so I'm hoping that that kind of really is one of the munitions needed catalysts needed for some sort of change, radical change, which is so required. And I, you know, I really want to thank you for everything and all that you're doing and we'll continue to, you know, obviously be in touch and share all the things that we need to thank you again for showing up and I hope you get some rest at the end of this and take good care of yourself and your heart.
Leila Hegazy 10:10:29
Thank you so much. You too. It's hard right now. We all need to take care of our hearts.
Anjali Rao 10:10:35
Yep, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Leila. Thank you so much.
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai
