L: Stormzy, photo via publicist. M: Mustafa, photo by Samuel Engelking. R: Faye Webster, photo by Michelle Mercado.
Sudanese-Canadian artist and 2021 Polaris Prize winner Mustafa has announced a benefit concert to raise funds for humanitarian aid in Sudan and Gaza. The show is scheduled to take place on January 4 at Newark Symphony Hall in New Jersey and feature performances from Charlotte Day Wilson, Clairo, Daniel Caesar, Faye Webster, Nick Hakim, Omar Apollo, Stormzy, 070 Shake, 6LACK, comedian Ramy Youssef, Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed el-Kurd, and Mustafa himself, as well as some unannounced special guests. Tickets are on sale now, with 100% of the event’s proceeds going to the Muslim-Canadian international relief organization Human Concern International.
The concert’s announcement comes as the situations in both Gaza and Sudan continue to worsen. In Gaza, where Israel’s brutal and disproportionate response to Hamas’ October 7 surprise attack has decimated entire cities in the densely populated strip, the confirmed death toll is approaching 20,000. In Sudan, rival factions of the nation’s military government have been locked in a bloody civil war since April, leaving nearly 10,000 civilians dead and displacing 5.6 million others.
