Daniel Barenboim interview with Al Jazeera

[Philidor]

Daniel Barenboim talks to Al Jazeera's Felicity Barr about the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Middle East politics.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDJui5-zoeg"]YouTube - Palestinian-Israeli orchestra marks 10th anniversary - 21 Aug 09[/ame]

[Herzeleide]

Interesting book:

[Mischa]

Barenboim had been bombarded for this unique project in many papers all around the world. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is often enough misunderstood as a PR-work of a do-gooder. I think this quote is a key to understand the motivation:

The Divan is not a love story, and it is not a peace story. It has very flatteringly been described as a project for peace. It isn't. It's not going to bring peace, whether you play well or not so well. 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 not trying to convince the Israelis to the Arab point of view.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008...dopera.culture

I've watched the Ramallah concert on TV and one concert live, I read a lot about problems for the musicians to take part in rehearsals in the other part, and had the chance to talk to some of the musicians after the concert. Watching this concert and knowing, that many of these Beethoven playing young musicians were about to return into their world of hate and horror on the next day was a very concussive situation. This concert alone was worth the trouble they had to found the orchestra and engage in it.

For what I know this orchestra is still the only bigger cooperation Israeli and Palestinian citizens are taking part in together (feel free to correct me here). They played last week in Bayreuth for what I know, btw.. One conflict isn't enough - take'em all!

[ImmortalBeloved]

I watched Barenboim and his orchestra on TV last Friday and Saturday evenings. They were playing at the Proms in London.

They played extremely well, (Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz on Friday, and Beethoven's Fidelio on Saturday). Barenboim conducted all pieces without the use of a score! Amazing to watch.

The joy on the players faces as the applause rang out was wonderful to see.

Barenboims' aim is not to bring peace to Israel through the orchestra, but purely to show that different peoples can work side by side together...and what better way to do that than through music?

A quote from another of his books goes-

"I am a short-term pessimist about the Middle-East, but a long-term optimist. Either we will find a way to live with each other or we will kill each other. What gives me hope? Music-making. Because, before a Beethoven Symphony, Mozart's Don Giovanni or Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, all human beings are equal."

(First published in Der Tagesspiegel, 10 May 2008).

The book is Everything is Connected The Power of Music by Daniel Barenboim, ISBN 978 0 297 85544 6

The book talks about Barenboims life in music, and the beginnings and development of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. It's a very good read.