Model and singer Anwar Hadid, the younger brother of models Bella and Gigi Hadid, has released a music video filmed in Palestine to his 2.5 million Instagram followers.
The 19-year-old Valentino model made a recent trip to Palestine and documented his time on Instagram, which inspired the new music video, directed by Vin Arfuso.
The song, titled ‘Progression 101’, features The Door guitarist Robby Krieger. It’s part of Anwar’s debut music album, ‘Bleach’, which he released in April.
The music video is filmed in the style of a home video. It takes viewers around the streets of Palestine, capturing its people and children, featuring several shots of a Palestinian flag blowing in the wind.
The song’s lyrics include: “Just to be erased from it all, by a bullet or iron bars … This [expletive] is disgusting.”
The video begins with a man — presumably Anwar himself — sitting in a car and asking into a speaker phone: “He can’t take us to the border?”
“It’s a big problem,” a police woman replies.
“Why is it a problem?” the man asks, before the music begins.
GIGI AND BELLA SHOW THEIR SUPPORT
Both sister Gigi Hadid and mother Yolanda Hadid have responded to Anwar’s music video on Instagram, commenting with a single heart emoji.
While Yolanda is the Dutch-American TV personality and former model, their father is the Palestinian real-estate mogul Mohammad Hadid, who regularly posts about his heritage and advocates for the right to return.
On Wednesday, the 70-year-old Nazareth-born businessman reposted an image of son Anwar with a Palestinian flag painted digitally onto his face. Behind his son was a comic strip from Joe Sacco’s graphic novel, ‘Footnotes in Gaza’, titled the Gaza Strip.
“Identity.. pass it on .. Palestine #palestinian roots as deep as the earths [sic] depth,” Mohammad wrote below the photo.
Anwar is named after his paternal grandfather. His name is in Arabic and can translate into ‘radiant’, ‘luminous’ or ‘brighter’.
‘WE MAKE A CONNECTION’
Sister Gigi Hadid has also spoken about her roots in the past.
In May of last year, the 24-year-old model tweeted: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. For me, this is not about religion or one against the other — it’s about the greed. #FreePalestine #freegaza #coexist”
Speaking to Gulf News tabloid! during a visit to Dubai with Tommy Hilfiger in 2016, Gigi said: “I love it here, and I love going to places that remind me of my dad’s side of the family … I especially love it when you meet other Arabs.
“There’s such a sense of family, regardless of whether you are blood related or not, anywhere in the world. When someone comes up to me and they tell me, ‘I’m Palestinian,’ and we make a connection, it’s beautiful.”
Anwar’s music video has 10,000 views on YouTube at time of writing.
