The Music of George Kirmiz

Born in Jerusalem in March 1953 to a Palestinian Syriac Christian community in the Armenian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Kirmiz attended St. George’s School, a British boys’ school in East Jerusalem, run by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. Growing up in poverty, he learned how to play guitar as a teenager and joined the group al-Baraem in 1971, where he played guitar, sang, and composed his first song for the group in 1976: “Iʿtidhār ʿAn Khalal Fannī Ṭāri’” (“Apology, for an urgent technical difficulty”) to poetry by Haydar Muhammad. 

Supported by older brother Mark, a biochemistry graduate from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Kirmiz moved to the US in 1976. However, Mark didn’t enjoy working in the field and instead opened a shoe repair shop in neighboring Ypsilanti. Between long hours and some unique stock investment strategies, Mark did well financially. George worked long hours in his brother’s shoe repair shop.

During this time, Kirmiz became very active in the Ann Arbor area in Michigan, and collaborated with various musicians, including pianists M. Abdein (on the “Anā Ismī Shaʿb Filisṭīn” album) and Randal Faber, who recorded with him between 1980 and 1984, double-bassist Glenn Bering, who appeared on many of his recordings and some of his concerts, and percussionist Bob Cranmer. Remaining in the US, he recorded four albums and toured frequently until the mid of the 1980s.

Kirmiz gained popularity among Palestinian audiences in the United States, Europe, and the Arab World. He appeared at Palestinian student events and was associated with the left. According to supporter Waem Garbieh, the DFLP “considered him one of us,” and bought Kirmiz his first ʿūd, partly in an attempt to recruit him to the organization. One of the many political events in which he performed was the June 1983 national conference of Palestinian students in Chicago.

Kirmiz’s 1985 album “Min Anṣār Ila-ʿAsqalān” (“From Ansar to Asqalan”) was directly dedicated to the cause of political prisoners, responding to the recent designation of 17 April as an annual day of solidarity with Palestinians locked up in Israeli jails. 

In most of his songs, Kirmiz relied on Western instruments, compositional devices, harmonies, and form. Kirmiz mainly composed poetry in standard Arabic by Palestinian poets like Mahmoud Darwish, Rashid Husain, and Tawfiq Zayyad. Most of these poems were already widespread, a trend many songwriters utilized to popularize their songs. In addition, he wrote and set to music poems in standard Arabic and lyrics in mostly colloquial Palestinian dialect. Kirmiz worked on his music with the group and would bring in songs in finished form. 

Kirmiz also modestly played the ʿūd, adding some “quarter tones” to his singing and melodies, a feature absent in al-Baraem’s and Kirmiz’s early songs. Faber recalls that Kirmiz was a strong leader who knew what he wanted and envisioned the form of his songs in detail. He produced all his albums at Brookwood studios in Ann Arbor with recording engineer David Lau.

Among Palestinian commentators, there has been intense speculation over the reasons Kirmiz stopped performing and recording. While he continued to sing at concerts in the early years of the 1987-1993 intifada, he told band members he intended to retire.

Kirmiz was a superstar on tour and a shopkeeper during the day. A craftsman who maintained the humility of his roots. When his brother retired early, George took over the shop and focused on custom shoe work. He eventually sold the business and retired incognito at a young age. Faber last saw Kirmiz in 1990 when he retired and moved away from Michigan. He’d settle in Paradise, California, where he opened a shoe repair shop in Chico, 13 miles away from his home. Unfortunately, the shop was permanently closed during the pandemic.

Issa Boulos and Louis Brehony