Israeli-Palestinian Peace song
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A special musical event took place in Israel last Sunday, when David Broza, an Israeli pop star and Wisam Murad, a Palestinian musician, performed a beautiful, simple peace song that they co-wrote, In My Heart (B’Libi). The song was played for the first time simultaneously on Galei Tzahal, the Israeli Army Radio and Voice of Palestine. Richard Silverstein blogged the event and added lots of background to the story.
Raqs al-Janub, by oud-player Issa Boulos
Ruba Hatem, a Palestinian-Jordanian pop singer
Gentle Stars, electronic composition by John Kameel Farah, Palestinian-Canadian musician
The Chehade brothers. Despite all the difficulties inherent in the business of making, performing and enjoying music in modern day Palestine, a remarkably vibrant and dedicated musical community has grown up in the country, especially in East Jerusalem where the National Music Conservatory continues to nurture successive generations of Palestinian talent
El-Funoun Palestinian Dance Troupe
From her bio: Maysoon Zayid, the “Palestinian Muslim Virgin From New Jersey With Cerebral Palsy!”
Musical Intifadah - the website of Doc Jazz, amateur Palestinian musician in Netherlands
Iron Sheik - Palestinian-American hip hop artist. On the scene of the New Pro-Palestinian Rap Music
The Philistines - U.S. based rap group
This is the first post that I am composing together with another blogger, Hanan Levin of growabrain. Thank you Hanan.
If I get some positive response, I may want to repeat the process with other bloggers perhaps, and on other topics. Contact me for details.
The bloody songbook above was stained when Itzhak Rabin was murdered in 1995. The song he just finished singing was called “Song of Peace”.
Update on July 8th 2005: See MSNBC article about the event: “Peace song serenades Palestinians, Israelis”
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8 Comments on “Israeli-Palestinian Peace song”
They say music has healing power; i wonder if it can rebuild homes and resurrect the dead. Hmm, some wounds are just too deep i guess…
Haitham: Thanks so much for your kind link to my blog post about B’Libi.
But I must ask you instead of linking directly to the mp3 file on my server to upload the mp3 file to your server & link to it in this post. When people at external sites link to song files on one’s own blog it bleeds huge amounts of bandwidth which I pay for. So I love the idea of your visitors hearing the song here. But let them listen to it on your server instead of mine, please.
Thanks, Richard
Opss…
Sorry Richard. I’ll do that right away.
I’ve written a peace song, “Walk out of Jerusalem,” which you might be interested in. An introductory note and the lyrics are included below, and sound clips, sheet music, and the lyrics in English, Arabic, and Hebrew can be found at http://www.department-of-justice.org/songs/lyrics/jerusalem3lang.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This is a song of peace and reconciliation.
This is not a song about which party is the oppressor or the oppressed, who is more virtuous, or who has been more wronged. But that does not imply that gross imbalances and injustices do not exist, for they most certainly do (and so the forms and extents of “walking out” must also differ significantly).
Jerusalem is not simply a place. It is also a metaphor for histories, cultures, values and ideals. May it soon become the international city of peace its name portends …
Walk out of Jerusalem
Two women claim one infant child
And the court will rule the sword shall divide it.
But if neither one relents as the long blade rises
Might neither be worthy, might neither be righteous?
Two peoples claim an ancient land
When but one is all that graces the planet.
So man, woman, child, the violence rends
As if the retribution coming could bring the retribution’s end
Walk out, walk out
Walk out of Jerusalem
Walk out, walk out
Walk away to save the land you’re of
Two women claim an infant child
But if love guides both, the child is foremost.
Not to own or conquer, but in honor for others
May we all be children of the love of many mothers.
Walk out, walk out
Walk out of Jerusalem
Walk out, walk out
Walk away to reach the land you’re of
Walk away to reach the land you’re of
(C) 2003 Jack Chernos
Haitham: I’ve moved my blog since you posted about David Broza & Wisam Murad’s B’Libi. The name of post URL from my blog is no longer the one you list above: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2005/03/post.html
It’s now the link associated with my name here at this comment: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2005/03/david-broza-wis/
do you think you might update that link above ?
Also, I wanted to reaffirm that if your server allows you to host the song & you want to allow people to listen to it here you may copy it fr. my site & offer it here. If you need any help in doing this let me know.
From OneVoice Youth Leaders, Saed Bilbeisi and Elad Dunayevsky
Dear International Friends of OneVoice,
There are rockets flying into Israel?s Northern towns as far down as Haifa as we write this, while the people of Gaza are in fear for their homes and lives, without electricity and running water. People are suffering, people are dying and people are afraid. It?s a crisis. We are writing to tell you though not to give up on us, or to give up on hope for an end to the conflict.
The situation today makes it very difficult to talk about conflict resolution - to see an end to the conflict. Sometimes it is easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel, at the moment the tunnel is dark. But this crisis and this conflict will end, and we say that with sobriety and rationality. As much as we feel helpless today, as rational people we must see any crisis as an opportunity to rise up and overcome the reasons that brought that crisis.
The situation will come to an end, when we do not know. In the meantime both people suffer so badly. Believe us that no-one is happy with this life. We want everyone around the world to know that we, and many friends and colleagues like us at OneVoice, are working to change this situation. We are ready. We are ready to do anything necessary to help end this situation. We have done so many activities and introduced so many people to OneVoice and it always gives them hope and energy. We can not and will not lose all of this however hard it is at this moment. We will strive to improve this life.
A resolution to the conflict may seem like a dream, but let us dream it and keep helping us do whatever we have to do to make it a reality. The day will never come when Israelis and Palestinians are prepared to accept living with this situation. How far we are from the day when we have a situation we will accept is hard to say, but we will work for it, even as the fighter jets and rockets go overhead, we will work for it.
Thank you,
Saed and Elad
Saed has been involved with OneVoice for around a year. He visits the OneVoice office to meet with other youth leaders and staff at least once a week and has even pioneered his own workshops on OneVoice in Ramallah, which have recruited many new volunteers. He spoke about OneVoice in Synagogues, community centers and campuses during OneVoice?s International Education Program tour to Canada.
Elad has also been volunteering for around a year. He uses his Arabic and Hebrew language skills to speak with both Arabs and Jews about the work of OneVoice and has served to educate and recruit activists in the Region and also in the US, where he spoke at over 10 venues on behalf of OneVoice during their International Education Program tour to New York.
OneVoice is a grassroots, non-partisan Israeli-Palestinian group working to empower moderates to stand up against extremism and seize back the agenda for conflict resolution. At a time when extremists are once again dominating the agenda, its need to exist and to deliver could not be more crucial.