Euca, with Sanjay Noonan on guitar. Pic: Cornelia Falknäs
More than £2,000 was raised for Medical Aid for Palestinians in a fundraising gig in Stoke Newington on Friday.
The event at The Others was organised by the newly formed band Euca, and sold out the 160-capacity venue.
Apart from Euca, the line-up also featured Akin Soul & The Soul Tribe (who have performed at festivals such as Glastonbury and We Out Here), Zami Yazeed, and DJs Ghadimi and Sasoraye, all of whom played for free.
Sanjay Noonan, Euca’s guitarist, told Eastlondonlines: “It’s a difficult thing because in the creative industries, you don’t really want to be asking people to provide their talents and their time and their effort without being compensated for it, particularly in London where life is very expensive at the moment.
I put out a no-pressure: ‘Would you be interested in playing on a fundraiser for Palestine?’ Everyone was incredibly keen and very forthcoming with the help. It came together very quickly.”
Akin Soul & The Soul Tribe. Pic: Cornelia Falknäs.
Through ticket sales and donations on the door, and online on Resident Advisor, who agreed to waive their usual ticket fees, £1,430 was raised. It cost £300 to hire the venue, leaving £1,130; A company known to the band offered to match the sum, making a total donation of £2,260 to Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Noonan said: “They provide a very indisputably vital contribution to what’s going on at the moment. In essence, they’re kind of putting a band-aid on a very severe wound, so anything that you can give to them is going to be very helpful, and it felt like quite an easy choice, actually.”
Medical Aid for Palestinians is a U.K. charity that works with healthcare in Palestine.
Apart from Noonan, Euca consists of band members Yas Gariba-Hamilton, Rox Devlin Horton, Daniel Michalek and Rob Goode. The fundraiser was their first ever gig.
“We were thinking: ‘let’s hold off and wait until the right thing comes along’,” Noonan said, and continued: “Everything that’s been happening in Gaza was something that’s close to all of our hearts and we cared a lot about it. So we just thought actually if we’re kind of waiting for a gig, that’s a good one. Rather than just continuing to wait, why not just take matters into our own hands, we can put on a really good night.”
Noonan said that the big turnout was a pleasant surprise. “In my mind, it was absolutely bonkers that we’d sell out, I was hoping we’d get 70, 80 tickets or something that would be enough to make it a worthwhile donation.”
