On Saturday, Feb. 15, Prospect Records, Georgetown’s student-run record company, and D to Z Presents, a student radio show, hosted a benefit concert for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). The concert, hosted in the Leavey Center’s Bulldog Alley, included performances from local D.C. band Pinky Lemon and student bands Wonk, Sense Memory, and Baltimore Avenue.
The show drew over 100 people in attendance and, through ticketing and donations, was able to raise over $1,000 for MAP.
MAP is a U.K.-based charity that provides aid to Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Lebanon. Their website describes their programming, which collaborates with local Palestinian partners, as providing essential health care services, such as mental health support and children’s healthcare.
MAP also works to build local knowledge and skills through health education programs, aiming to better address the health needs of Palestinians. Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine has fueled a lack of medical resources; as recently as last month, Israel has blocked essential aid from getting into Gaza, according to the United Nations (UN).
According to their website, MAP aims to uplift Palestinian voices and is “committed to bearing witness to the injustices caused by occupation, displacement and conflict.”
The Feb. 15 concert was headlined by Pinky Lemon, a genre-bending pop-rock band. Guitarist and vocalist Rob Cline and pianist and vocalist Caroline Corbett put on the entire performance as a duo, since the rest of the five-member group were unable to attend that night. Cline and Corbett introduced concert-goers to their unique emo, electronic pop sound.
Aside from Pinky Lemon, several student groups performed at the concert—some for the first time.
Baltimore Avenue is an experimental post-punk band from the University of Maryland-Baltimore. The group has most recently made an appearance at Georgetown at the Battle of the Bands in November, hosted by the Georgetown Program Board and WGTB, Georgetown’s student-run radio station.
In addition, Wonk and Sense Memory are two Georgetown-based student bands that performed.
Wonk is a recently-formed six-piece band that previously described their style to the Voice as “experimental art rock” and “crescendo chamber pop.” Wonk played original songs like “Money, Mother” and “Silence of Sound” at the benefit concert, which was their first performance as a full band.
The same goes for Sense Memory, Georgetown’s newest improvisational noise group. The duo newly-turned trio jammed out in front of their first audience together for over 30 minutes, creating an immersive bath of sound for concert-goers. The band is made up of Kiyan Saifi (MSB ’25) on guitar and electronics, Teymour Saifi (MSB ’25) on bass and electronics, and Pietro Elie (CAS ’25) on laptop, synthesizer, and electronics.
In a comment over email to the Voice, Sense Memory said their music is inspired by many different artists, including jazz musician Pharaoh Sanders and free improvisation artist Keiji Haino.
“But above all else, [we are] inspired by the soundscape around us and by the transformative power of sound,” Sense Memory members Kiyan Saifi, Teymour Saifi, and Elie wrote.
For an improvisational group like theirs, performing live is especially unique.
“It is a different experience playing for an audience, as the audience informs the improvisation,” Sense Memory wrote.
Although the concert raised money for Palestinians, during the show, bands like Pinky Lemon and Baltimore Avenue took time out of their sets to also raise awareness about Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people. Since then, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed over 48,000 Palestinians in a ground invasion and bombardment. In November 2024, a UN Special Committee found that the IDF’s methods of attacks on Gaza, including the deliberate blocking of food and other aid, have been “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.”
This is a recent escalation in a conflict that has been ongoing since before the 1947 UN Resolution 181, more commonly known as the Partition Plan, which led to the establishment of the state of Israel.
Several of the songs that Baltimore Avenue performed had political messages in their lyrics—some relating to Palestine. In one of their songs, “dreams deferred,” which they played at the concert, the band ends the song by shouting, “Free Palestine.”
Cline and Corbett of Pinky Lemon said that their goal of raising awareness during their performance was not unique to the Prospect Concert.
“It comes very naturally because we don’t just say that at shows that are benefit shows, we say that at every show,” Corbett told the Voice. “I’m sure both of us, not only do we say it every show, we think about it every day. When you have something on your mind that much and you are passionate about it, it’s harder to not say anything.”
Cline also stressed the importance of using your platform.
“For the last 15, 16 months—or however long it’s been since October 7th, 2023—I think we all as a band made an agreement that we’re not going to get on stage and say nothing that doesn’t matter,” Cline said. “You know, I could tweet about it and it would go right into the void and it would get eight likes. In this situation, you have a captive audience.”
Cline believes that it’s important to speak out about Palestine not only as a band, but as a Jewish voice.
“I’m Jewish, and our guitarist, who isn’t here tonight, is Jewish,” Cline said. “It’s important for us to show that Judaism and Zionism are not the same thing and there are Jewish people out here who do not agree with what is going on.”
In universities like Georgetown, acts of activism and raising awareness for issues like the occupation in Palestine is especially important, Cline said.
“We saw it last summer when there were campus-wide protests for Palestine. The schools people talk about were Columbia and Harvard—those elite schools,” Cline said. “People care about what’s happening here.”
Student-organized pro-Palestine encampments across the campuses in the U.S. last year drew extensive media coverage. At Columbia University in New York City, police arrested nearly 300 protesters at the encampment of the university’s central lawn.
Last spring, students from universities in the D.C. area, including Georgetown, George Washington (GW) University, and American University, organized a Gaza solidarity encampment at University Yard on GW’s campus. Police violently cleared the protest in May, arresting 33 students—including seven Georgetown students.
College is a time where students have a lot of power, Corbett believes, to organize for what they believe in.
“Anytime people who are already working really hard at school—and probably also have jobs and other commitments—also take the time to put on a whole event and raise money, when they absolutely didn’t have to do that,” Corbett said. “We definitely want to support that and always encourage people to speak up.”
