Watching The Palestinian Youth Orchestra playing for two hours in Alhussien Theater yesterday was overwhelming. I was not watching only young Palestinian musicians playing music, I was watching 60 family overcoming occupation, suffering, land confiscation, separation wall and hundreds of checkpoints and diaspora. They are an example of the Palestinian Steadfastness in Arabic Sumud; a word that I personally love. A word that could describe the Palestinian culture of not giving up, and hanging on to all possible means to stay alive in Palestine and in Diaspora for 61 years.
The Orchestra resembles the Palestinian culture and reflects it very well; a mix of Palestinians coming from Palestine and Diaspora. A mix between Men and Women; a mix of Christians and Muslims.
I am not into discussing their performance or evaluate it as I am a mere listener. I did enjoy the three types of music they played; classical “Beethoven”, Arabic “Marcel Khalifeh” & last “Palestinian” accompanied by Reem Talhami singing.
They are a source of pride for every Arabic person.
Request for action
I checked the orchestra website it is outdated http://ncm.birzeit.edu/pyo/about.htm, it would be great if there is a company that could approach the institution to sponsor the development of their website and branding.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the concert in Amman. The standard was superb. The Romance for violin brought tears to my eyes and the Eroica was superb (my only quibble is it should have been more strident). The second half with Reem Talhami was a revelation - what a voice, brilliantly projected without being loud - wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI loved as well the interaction between the musicians; some were playful. They did accomplish a lot in just 5 years.
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