Tag: music

A glimmer of hope …


The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra brings a glimmer of hope to a troubled region

August 2024

The news from the Middle East is uniformly grim with the death toll in Gaza rising remorselessly to over 39,000 with more deaths a day or so ago following a bombing. Violence is emerging in Lebanon which threatens to worsen following the events in Tehran. A peace deal seems as far away as ever. Salisbury people still congregate every Saturday afternoon for a peace vigil.

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is a rare glimmer of light in the seemingly never ending gloom of conflict. Founded 25 years ago, and based in Seville, it is an orchestra consisting of both Arab and Israeli players with three desks for Iranians. Founded by Danial Barenboim and Edward Said, it is not a political venture but:

“The Divan is not a love story, and it is not a peace story. It has very flatteringly been described as a project for peace. It isn’t. It’s not going to bring peace, whether you play well or not so well. The Divan was conceived as a project against ignorance. A project against the fact that it is absolutely essential for people to get to know the other, to understand what the other thinks and feels, without necessarily agreeing with it. I’m not trying to convert the Arab members of the Divan to the Israeli point of view, and [I’m] not trying to convince the Israelis to the Arab point of view. But I want to—and unfortunately I am alone in this now that Edward died a few years ago—create a platform where the two sides can disagree and not resort to knives.“

Barenboim emphasises the role of dialogue and a feature of recent conflict is to note that there are people on both sides, who recognise the opinions, feelings and rights of the other. The orchestra performed at the Proms last evening (11th August) in a concert consisting of Brahms’s Violin concerto performed by Anne-Sophi Mutter, followed by Schubert’s 9th Symphony ‘the Great’. Looking down on the 80 or so players, could one tell them apart, Arab from Jew? Would one want to? A band of people from two nations tearing themselves apart, sublimely playing two wonderful pieces of music offering a glimmer of hope …

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim accepting applause.

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Israel/Palestine concert


A concert is being organised by Sarum Concern for Israel/Palestine on 27 June at Salisbury Methodist Church.  Tickets are £12 on the door or £10 in advance with students £5.  http://www.thelittleboxoffice.com/palmusic.  Also 01722 349740.

The performers are the Palmusic Ensemble and the aim is to raise money for Palmusic UK scholarships. Three out of four of these four talented young musicians are making a return visit to Salisbury at the end of June when they again will play a mix of Western classical and Palestinian music.

For those who were at Salisbury Methodist Church in February 2018, it was a very memorable evening.  Omar and Tibah are brother and sister
studying viola and cello respectively at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. They are Druze from The Galilee. In the past Omar was conscripted to serve time in the Israeli Army but as an Arab Palestinian refused, serving time in prison.  On this occasion they
are joined by Lourdina – another violinist – who has studied in Bethlehem (her home town), Paris and now at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory.

All three have been awarded scholarships through Palmusic, which is short for The Friends of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, a UK charity, which  supports them financially, so this is a fund-raising evening for them. Iyad who works with them is a Jordanian-Palestinian and already a professional pianist who has recently made a recording of Khachaturian’s piano music.  The concert will include Mahler Piano Quartet in A minor, Mozart Piano Quartet in G minor K.478 and Arabic folk songs.

Further details from http://www.sarumconcern.org or http://www.palmusic.org.uk

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