Music for Peace (continued)

My dear Friends

The concert last Sunday was very exciting, with Hebrew, Arabic and Yiddish pieces. The Middle East Peace Orchestra turned out to be an ensemble of six musicians playing the oboe, the accordion, the oud, the bouzouki and the darbuka with the Egyptian singer Fatma Zidan. It was founded by the oboe player Henrik Goldschmidt, a Danish Jew. Sometimes there is a wider ensemble with musicians coming from Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

The repertoire ranged from an Arab love song to a Yiddish song about bagels to a song which is a combination of an Arab love song, a Jewish tango and a Danish psalm. There were pieces about freedom and some dances. The audience responded by extended clapping in some of the pieces and loud applause at the end. Some of the music resembled Klezmer music.

Henrik Goldschmidt proved to be a remarkable oboeist and Fatma Zidan a gifted singer.Apart from teaching children music in Bethlehem, the ensemble performs in the streets, in hospitals and prisons and everywhere there is a need for a dialogue through music.

Very much after my own heart!

Shalom from
Sister Gila