Contrasting Music Styles in Jerusalem

Initially, I was particularly excited about this week's readings. As a musician myself, I understand the calming and collaborative atmosphere that music can bring about. When our class focused on Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim's orchestra, a key point that was emphasized within their website was how the orchestra allows students to hear and be heard. This concept is necessary for the cohesiveness of any group.

Sadly, when I reviewed the website of the Jerusalem Music Centre, their image showed a different story. Although they seem to reiterate the idea that the orchestra would be an "open invitation to all" as Isaac Stern said. Yet, they never mention Palestine or other Arab countries once throughout any of the information sections. In fact the first time they mention Arabs is in the "Missions" section of the "Who We Are" tab at number 6 where they state that the group tries to play overlooked genres including "Arabic music". They even mention that the group is "Handicapped accesible" on the "Locations & Facilities" tab but nowhere include "Palestinian accesible". Now, I do not mean to bash the group considering that they do seem more inclusive on a universal perspective than the East-Western Divan Orchestra and maybe they do include Arab musicians in the group, but they sure do not show it.

On the other hand, I also surveyed the "Heartbeat Project". For every time that the Jerusalem Music Centre said they were free of bureaucracy, this group is ten times that. In my opinion, this grassroots musical movement is exactly what Jerusalem needs to overcome the opposing differences seeded amongst its divided colonies. The first thing I see is "Heartbeat: Jerusalem - The Palestinian and Israeli Youth Music Project" followed by a photograph of young Israelis and Palestinians actually interacting with one another (and I'm not talking about a radical suicide bomber on an Israeli bus or an IDF soldier patting down a Palestinian for 20 minutes). No, these young musicians are "musicians" in the most honest sense of the term. They are not just going through the motions recreating what some dead white European guy wrote down 200 years ago. Instead they are making music: suggesting ideas, dealing with differences, talking about their mistakes, compromising on the sound they want to hear, and finally experiencing bliss at the thought that they created something out of nothing together. And they show this. If you take the link to their site at www.heartbeatjerusalem.org they have uploaded videos that reveal the tension and later the glee that such a project has led to. I commend them on this.