Laibach issues ‘Yom Kippur’ single featuring Palestinian Children’s Choir via Nika
Laibach in Jerusalem (Photo by Valnoir)
Laibach has released the new single “Yom Kippur” today, October 23, 2025, via Nika. The track is presented as a commemoration of the peace agreement to end the war in Gaza and is dedicated to civilian victims, especially children.
The track features Donna Marina Mårtensson, Manca Trampuš of Koala Voice, the Kinderreich Children’s Choir (directed by Marina Mårtensson), and the Palestinian Children’s Choir (directed by Israa Majdalawi). It was recorded at Laibach Studios, with the Palestinian Children’s Choir recording their parts in Beirut. Mixing took place at Eastside Sound Studios in New York with Marc Urselli, and mastering was done by Maor Appelbaum in California. The design and video were created by Komposter and Laibach.
The band frames the song around the Jewish Day of Atonement, describing it as a “requiem dedicated to the innocent victims,” and as a call for “acknowledgment of guilt” and reconciliation. The group states that the work is “directed toward the perpetrators and all those who have watched from the sidelines and refused to feel complicit.”
Here’s the complete message from the band:
“The song is dedicated to all the innocent victims of this conflict, and above all to the tens of thousands of children who have been killed or maimed, as well as to the child victims of all wars.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, dedicated to repentance, remembrance and the possibility of moral and spiritual renewal. It emphasises collective responsibility, reconciliation and the seeking of forgiveness, not only from God, but also from other people and from history itself. It represents a metaphor for the moment when society looks into the mirror of its own sins and denials, when repentance becomes a collective duty, with the aim of understanding guilt and striving for moral and spiritual renewal.
This song is therefore a requiem dedicated to the innocent victims, but also directed toward the perpetrators and all those who have watched from the sidelines and refused to feel complicit. It speaks of forgotten compassion, a silenced conscience and the responsibility the world continues to evade. In it, Yom Kippur is no longer merely a religious ritual, but a reminder that without reconciliation there is no future. Moreover, without acknowledgment of guilt, there can be no peace or redemption.”
Taken at face value, their position is: stop the war, mourn the dead, foreground children, and pursue moral reckoning and peace. It sounds like an artistic, universalist peace message, not a partisan one.
“Yom Kippur” continues Laibach’s 2025 run that includes the German-language reinterpretation “Die Kanone (feat. Bijelo Dugme)” and the large-scale work “Alamut,” which appeared in May 2025. Both projects were released alongside a series of one-off singles, including versions of “I Want To Know What Love Is” and “Strange Fruit.”
About Laibach
Laibach formed on June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, then in SR Slovenia (Yugoslavia). The earliest lineup coalesced around Dejan Knez (founder), with Tomaž Hostnik, Ivan “Jani” Novak, and others; vocalist Milan Fras joined soon after.
The group became the musical arm of the NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) collective in 1984. After early bans and controversy in Yugoslavia, Laibach’s international profile grew through releases on Mute Records, including “Opus Dei” (1987) and later projects such as “Volk” (2006), “Spectre” (2014), and post-2010 works spanning film/theatre collaborations and orchestral productions.
In 2025, Laibach issued “Alamut”.
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