Bizet meets Beatbox - back room pre-concert jam!
And then the Third concert…
Still in Jerusalem, at a local club, the metamorphosis took place. The classical trombonist and trumpeter became the jazzers, the first violinist took up the bass, and the oud player swung hard on those ivories - the joint was jiving indeed and it was a great way to end an action-packed day!
The second concert of the day…
....was to take place at the Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem. The Youth orchestra had given of their best at the Damascus Gate, now the Ramallah Orchestra was to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (Simon Hewitt-Jones as soloist), Beethoven’s Second Symphony, and Suite Andalouse, by the Lebanese composer Marcel Khalife with Dimitrios Mikelis on Oud solo.
Damascus Gate
This gate - which also goes by the Hebrew names of the Shechem or Nablus Gate, or the Arabic, Bab-al-Amud (meaning Gate of the Column) was, at the time of the Crusades, the most northern gate of the now ‘Old City’ of Jerusalem.
After we let the musical notes fly free into the air, some of the children were interviewed by Palestinian TV.
A very hot burst of Mozart…
The sun was beating down on Mozart’s Symphony No 6 in F Major, and our three pieces by Bizet: Danse Boheme and Habanera from the Carmen Suite, and our pièce de résistance, Farandole from L’Arlesienne…
Nearing Jerusalem
Back in the bus, Sandy Tolan was asking some of the children how it made them feel - going through this rather surrealistic 1984 process, but we were soon unpacking the instruments from the bowels of said bus, and music was at the forefront of all our minds as we walked toward the Damascus Gate where we were to give our first performance…
The Day of Three Concerts
I realize it is a while since I ve written. But I made a unilateral decision. Some days it took me up to 3 hours to just post one photo - dodgy wireless - and me technologically challenged - I was getting frustrated. I came all this way to be with the children - they are without a violin and cello teacher this year, and I felt it was much more important to spend time with them - so this comes a few days late, but it is just as real. And perhaps more considered having had the opportunity to reflect on what I was experiencing too.
These few weeks in Palestine have really changed me.
After a full week of intensive rehearsals - both the Ramallah Orchestra, and the Youth Orchestra were ready to perform, but this was the least of their challenges.
The first day of concerts was to be in Jerusalem. Many of the children had never been there before - permits, requested well in advance, are required (and not necessarily given - if the children are allowed, their parents may be denied, and vice versa), and then there is the not so small matter of negotiating the checkpoints.
We approached Qalandia checkpoint - one of the largest. As foreigners, we could have easily stayed in the bus, but all of us - local/international teachers and film crew, got off with the children in a gesture of solidarity. From a covered, dark, depressing area, aromatic, and garnished with only a few seats, we waited first in a narrow corridor of metal bars. At intervals, some of us were allowed through the next turnstyle, accompanied by some shouting in Hebrew - none of which I of course understood. We went one by one, through the screening area, holding up our passports against a window until we got permission to pass through.
Somehow I felt accused, but I know not of what. We waited on the other side until all of us came through.
The Ramallah Orchestra rehearsing with Diego Masson
