Music brings harmony and unity to Ramallah

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By Charlotte Higgins
Ramallah
August 23, 2005

An Israeli-Arab orchestra aims to foster dialogue and reconciliation through classical music.

IN A concert hall atop a dust-swept, sun-beaten hill, conductor Daniel Barenboim was putting an orchestra through its paces, urging them, as he brandished his way through the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth: "Wake up! If you are tired, please stay at home. There's no point playing the concert like this. Now: TEE-ya ta-ta TEE-ya ta-ta."

The players could be forgiven for being a little distracted: the concert hall in which they were rehearsing was the Cultural Palace in Ramallah, and the ensemble the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra — the youth orchestra founded in 1998 by Barenboim and his close friend, the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, consisting of musicians from Israel and Arab countries. Banners strung along the side of the hall proclaimed that the concert was in memory of the late Said, and in larger letters bore the slogan "Freedom for Palestine".

This was a historic day. Few had dared hope that the orchestra — which aims to foster dialogue and reconciliation through music — would succeed in performing in the West Bank. A similar attempt by the orchestra to play in Ramallah last year was abandoned because of security fears.

On Sunday, Barenboim, who has played in Ramallah as a piano soloist, was keen to reassure his young players: "If I could give you one piece of advice: don't worry about security. Every discussion has been agreed with the authorities, and everything that is humanly possible has been done. I don't want you to have worries about security that might take away from your enjoyment at being here."

It is not every day that one sees a rehearsal being guarded by troops armed with semi-automatic weapons, but the atmosphere among the musicians was relaxed and excited. To enter Ramallah, each musician was issued with a diplomatic passport. "Believe me, the logistics of this concert are worth writing a book about," said Barenboim.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/middle-east-crisis/music-brings-harmony-and-unity-to-ramallah/2005/08/22/1124562802846.html