From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Fri Sep 13 2002 - 05:43:35 MDT
All too rarely I see news items that warms my heart.
This article is one of them.
Quote I like best from this article:
"I'm not a politician," he said. "I don't have a plan to end the
conflict. But I think the lesson we have to learn from the 20th
century is that every human being - small, young as you or older like
I" - he is 59 - "has to think of his responsibility as a human being
and not always depend on the politicians and the governments."
Amara
P.S. For some reason Mr. Barenboim reminds me a little bit of
Kurt Masur and his fantastic efforts in Leipzig the day before
the East Berliners burst through the wall.
http://www.iht.com/articles/70407.htm
In West Bank, a concert for peace
Serge Schmemann The New York Times
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank The old Steinway grand had seen better days, but
when Daniel Barenboim drew the first nostalgic notes of Beethoven's
"Moonlight" sonata from it, 200 neatly uniformed Palestinian students
froze in delight.
Music, and especially music of this caliber from a live Israeli
master, is not something that has often graced young lives more
wrapped up in the daily misery of curfews, roadblocks, dangers and
hatreds.
Barenboim, the famed conductor and pianist, seemed forgiving of the
hoarse old instrument and the many television cameras with him on the
stage. The music was a message, which he spelled out after an ecstatic
ovation from the pupils.
"Each one of us has a responsibility to do what is right, and not to
wait for others to do it," he said at the concert Tuesday.
"My way is music. What I can do is play music, play music for you, and
maybe this way, in a very small way for these few moments, we are able
to build down the hatred that is so much in the region."
His words sounded incontrovertible. But Barenboim's music has stirred
some sharp debate in Israel, most memorably when he led a German
orchestra in a piece by Richard Wagner, Hitler's favorite composer, at
an Israeli arts festival in July 2001. Many in the audience walked
out, and Barenboim was accused of everything from insensitivity to
"cultural rape."
Barenboim, who was born in Argentina, raised in Israel and now divides
his time between Berlin and Chicago, has also been vocal in his
criticism of Israel's military crackdown on the Palestinians, often
posting his views on his Web site, www. daniel-barenboim.com.
In March, while Israeli troops were cracking down on Palestinian
towns, Barenboim announced that he would give a concert in Ramallah,
the Palestinian West Bank headquarters.
The Israeli Army barred him from going, saying it could not guarantee
his security, and the concert was canceled.
Three weeks ago, on his last visit to Israel, Barenboim gave a concert
at Bir Zeit University, a Palestinian university near Ramallah.
This time, there was little advance notice and Barenboim simply
ignored whatever restrictions were in force. He declined to discuss
how he got in, but a German diplomatic car was waiting for him
outside.
After a few weeks of relative quiet, the visit seemed not to generate
the same resistance as arose in March. There was no immediate comment
from Israelis, and the event was given scant notice on Israeli
television news.
But for the students who came to the Friends Boys School, a respected
private school, it was a day to remember. Barenboim performed only the
one sonata, and then invited the Palestinians to play for him.
Three girls rose to the challenge. Sileen Khoury, 15, gamely worked
her way through a Chopin waltz, followed by 15-year-old Nadia Arouri
with Mendelssohn's Barcarole, and Zeina Amr, 14, who was so nervous
she forgot the name of her piece. Barenboim told them all they were
great, and urged them to keep studying. "It was very nice of him,
because he took all the trouble to come here through checkpoints and
everything," said Amr.
"I was a bit nervous, but with Barenboim beside me I felt safe," said
Khoury, who said she wanted to continue with music. "Actually it was
an honor for us. The Israelis try to stop us from learning, working,
but they can never stop us from playing music."
She said that she had been studying piano for six years, but that her
seventh year at the conservatory had been delayed because curfews had
prevented her from taking her exams.
After the students went back to class, Barenboim, dressed in a casual
white jacket over a black polo shirt, sat down with reporters to
pursue his message.
As director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of
the Staatsoper Berlin, he is something of a citizen of the world, but
it has been largely his visits to Israel that have brought him
criticism. He was here this time for the International Chamber Music
Festival in Jerusalem, and the police were in evidence there Sunday
after he received death threats.
For the last three years, Barenboim has run summer workshops in
Germany and the United States for young musicians from Israel and Arab
countries.
To people who ask why he made the special effort to come to Ramallah,
he said his answer was simple.
"I'm not a politician," he said. "I don't have a plan to end the
conflict. But I think the lesson we have to learn from the 20th
century is that every human being - small, young as you or older like
I" - he is 59 - "has to think of his responsibility as a human being
and not always depend on the politicians and the governments."
As for those who might find fault with the visit, he said, "Anyone who
criticizes my being here today, I only have pity for him."
Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune
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