During Ramadan last year, the four rappers from the Syrian group Refugees of Rap were sitting with their families in Yarmouk camp in Damascus, listening to the bombs fall, watching the news and writing lyrics. Yaser Jamous and his younger brother Mohammad, Ahmed Zarouk and Mohammad Jawad grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp and started making music together in 2005, spending most Ramadans together.

This year, the brothers are in Europe, Zarouk is in Iraq with his wife and Jawad is still in the camp trying to arrange for his family’s safety and hoping to rejoin the group. Although Yaser and his brother are now safe and can finally perform again, Yaser said they would prefer to spend Ramadan in Syria.

“Last year, I was in my home living the revolution with my family within the atmosphere of Ramadan. Here, I’m just with my brother and we are moving from place to place,” he told Al-Monitor. Since they are constantly in motion, moving between France, Denmark and Sweden they decided to postpone the fast until things stabilize. Although they observed the fast in previous years, it has been three years since they celebrated Eid al-Fitr, a massive celebration that marks the end of the holy month. In 2012, the group was invited to perform in Jala Stadium in Damascus for Eid, but they decided against it.

“Eid is about being happy, how can you go and party while people are dying,” said Yaser who feels guilty about having left Syria. “We feel we didn’t do anything for this revolution. We have to release this album to get our fans to know our real viewpoint.” But with Jawad still in the camp amid heavy fighting between government-supported forces and the Free Syrian Army, they hesitate. So, they continue their efforts to reunite in France one day soon, where they can finally release their long-awaited album — which they have yet to release, fearing retaliation for the critical lyrics against the regime.