Connect in Voluntary, Ongoing, and Meaningful Ways
Last night (July 4, 2020), on television there was a performance of the West-Eastern Divan Chamber Orchestra. This is a powerful example of a project that brings together, in a voluntary, ongoing and mutually meaningful way, two groups who traditionally experience one another as the “other.”
The orchestra is a project inspired by Argentinean-Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim and the Late Palestinian professor Edward Said. It brings together young Israeli and Arab musicians from surrounding countries with a shared passion for music. The young musicians live together, eat together, and participate in an intensive workshop aimed at developing their musical skills. Following the workshop, the orchestra gives concerts around the world. Several performances can be found on youtube.
Barenboim says this about the project:
“The Divan was conceived as a project against ignorance. A project against the fact that it is absolutely essential for people to get to know the other, to understand what the other thinks and feels, without necessarily agreeing with it. I'm not trying to convert the Arab members of the Divan to the Israeli point of view, and [I'm] not trying to convince the Israelis to the Arab point of view. But I want to – and, unfortunately, I am alone in this now that Edward (Said) died a few years ago (2003) –create a platform where the two sides can disagree and not resort to knives.”
Are there current or potential for projects bringing together young White and People of Color in (1) voluntary, (2) ongoing and (3) mutually meaningful ways?
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