What do you imagine would happen if you put thirty five religious and secular Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze in an ancient building in an ancient center of Jewish Mysticism in Northern Israel?
They create harmony, that's what.
Sometimes difficult situations birth the mothers of invention.
And many mothers there are. Dr. Essica Marks, who you will see at the end of this video, along with Vered Yaakovich, two forward thinking, open minded women, one a kibbutz dweller, the other a religious Jew, co-direct the new three year academy which combines a unique blend of ethnic music: from Klezmer and Hasidic music to classical Arabic and Turkish Maqam with other mediterranean, Irish, Gospel, and Accappella music thrown in to round out the multi-cultural repertoire.
I am fortunate to lead the singing department of the college. This video begins with one of my students Lubna Salame, joined by other students as they warm up for the concert given on Thursday evening at Bet Hadassah in the ancient city of Safed.
Leading other departments are Yair Dallal, who leads the Jewish Arab music section who you can see in the following video, leading the orchestra in the opening piece:
Eyal Sela, who heads the Mediteranean Music and Wind Department, and Eyal Shiloach who heads the Hasidic Music and Violin Department followed with a wonderful blend of Hasidic and Klezmer music. Following was a traditional Arabic composition conducted by Emad Dallal, who heads the classical Arabic Music Department:
Unfortunately the battery of my phone cum video ran out, preventing me from recording the beautiful performances of the singers. Fortunately I was able to get a short clip of Shira Yaari singing a beautiful classic Israeli folk tune:
Every person involved in this school, from the administrators, to the teachers to the students to the audience who came to listen to our first concert are to be commended for contributing to a very constructive program.
Please pass it on. If you would like to learn more about the many faceted directions of Israeli music, check out wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Israel#Music_education
To hear more music peace: www.cdbaby.com/all/musicpeace
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3 comments:
Eliana, loved her voice in the first video. What do you use to take the video?
The music is so lovely - inspirational. Your work is a blessing.
Thanks for your comments. I use my handy sony telephone to film. When my old cell phone finally died of old age, I decided to choose my new one according to which had the best filming and camera features. This Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot is a great bet.
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