Bob in Jericho

I will attempt to pen a few tales from the Holy Land, in particular the WestBank of Palestine where (for those of you who don't know) I have come with agroup of 6 musicians to hold musical workshops for children in RefugeeCamps, towns and villages. The aim is to provide some musical "relief" fromthe effects of the Israeli occupation which hit everybody very hard here -it's a difficult place to grow up.We have done about 5 workshops so far, including in Balata Refugee camp, theUniversity, an Orphanage, the childrens wards in the Hospital and a largecollaborative party with a Palestinian Circus. We try to perform some ofour own music (which includes Mozart and Schubert Arias, Mexican Mariachimusic, Mack the Knife, Bach (instrumental and chorales), Gershwin,Mussorgsky, Jazz standards for example) and also to have interactive musicgames, and opportunities for the children to conduct us. We also encouragethe kids to sing their own songs and dance their own dances for us.It is a lot of fun for everybody - the Palestinians, I think, find it veryamusing to hear an "operatic" voice, and to hear this "bizarre" westernmusic full of harmony (Arabic music tends not to focus on harmonic elementsof the music, generally rhythm and a melodic line). We were asked by thestudents at the university "Why don't you use percussion in the Mozart?" towhich I replied "Why doen't your music have harmony?" The most successfulparts of the workshops for us are when we find possibilities to combinetheir musical and artistic cultures with our own. For example, jamming to asong that is sung to us, with a Local on the drum (they all seem to befantastic drummers) and getting up to dance with the children. Also wespent an evening preparing a childrens party with a young new circus here,to provide music to accompany the acrobatics, Diablo, clowning and
300 kids enraptured - this integration of ourselves and the Palestinianartists was the most rewarding thing we have done so far.The Palestinians are unbelievably welcoming hosts and take so much care ofus. We spend lots of time with them when we are not doing our music andlearn lots from them about their situation. From this, and from just seeinghow things work around here, it is hard to see how the Palestinians can beoptimistic about what is portrayed recently in the Western Media as"Cease-Fire and progress in the Peace Process." The reality, as I have seenand heard, is that their freedom of movement is still restricted (though notas much as when we came last year - the notorious Hwara Checkpoint outsideNablus was comparatively a breeze to get through), their economy is stillbeing strangled as a result of this, the wall is still going up and dividingcommunities and farmers from their farmland. Israeli military incursionsinto the Nablus Refugee Camps are down to "only about 3 times a week now" asthe Director of the Hospital told us and has resulted in a massive drop inwounded admitted to Hospital - though when Israeli Checkpoints outsideNablus are tightened, they see patient attendance at the hspital drop to asmuch as 20% the normal. (also 50% of the hospital staff live outside Nablusand have to commute through the checks to work.) But think how theseinvasions of the camps affect the children growing up in them - during ourworkshop in Balata, gun shots were heard fairly close by, but I didn\'t see asingle child flinch or turn his head. It is so normal here. There arestatistics from humanitarian organisations working here that a largepercentage of children suffer from post-traumatic stress. We are very awareof the short time we can put smiles on the childrens faces, but can only",1]
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unicycling - the resulting show was a lot of fun and had the crowd of about300 kids enraptured - this integration of ourselves and the Palestinianartists was the most rewarding thing we have done so far.The Palestinians are unbelievably welcoming hosts and take so much care ofus. We spend lots of time with them when we are not doing our music andlearn lots from them about their situation. From this, and from just seeinghow things work around here, it is hard to see how the Palestinians can beoptimistic about what is portrayed recently in the Western Media as"Cease-Fire and progress in the Peace Process." The reality, as I have seenand heard, is that their freedom of movement is still restricted (though notas much as when we came last year - the notorious Hwara Checkpoint outsideNablus was comparatively a breeze to get through), their economy is stillbeing strangled as a result of this, the wall is still going up and dividingcommunities and farmers from their farmland. Israeli military incursionsinto the Nablus Refugee Camps are down to "only about 3 times a week now" asthe Director of the Hospital told us and has resulted in a massive drop inwounded admitted to Hospital - though when Israeli Checkpoints outsideNablus are tightened, they see patient attendance at the hspital drop to asmuch as 20% the normal. (also 50% of the hospital staff live outside Nablusand have to commute through the checks to work.) But think how theseinvasions of the camps affect the children growing up in them - during ourworkshop in Balata, gun shots were heard fairly close by, but I didn't see asingle child flinch or turn his head. It is so normal here. There arestatistics from humanitarian organisations working here that a largepercentage of children suffer from post-traumatic stress. We are very awareof the short time we can put smiles on the childrens faces, but can only
that it does. We had to cancel a childrens party in Askar Refugee Campyesterday as a "Wanted" man, living near the centre where the party was tobe held. had been killed by the military the day before. Some say he shotfirst, some say it was them.But its not just the kids who have problems. one of our hosts is 18 andstill has to sleep with his mother sometimes. If he cant get to sleep atnight, he is often late for school in the morning. When he was 16 he wastaken by the military for 3 days - a harrowing tale - he went for a soldierwhen his mother was pushed around by them. They put him in a 2 x 2 metrecell with 10 other men overnight, apparently with food enough for 2 that hadbeen left out in the sun for a while. Then he was taken to a prison near TelAviv for a couple of days where he was interrogated for hours at a time,throughout the day. He finished his tale by telling how he was left in aJewish stettlement where he was chased off by settlers (with guns), runningfor his life it appears, until he found refuge in an arabic home. Who cansay how much of it is true, all I can say is he told it very sincerely. Healso told me about a missile attack from a helicopter on a car at the end ofhis road. Because he is a medical relief worker, he helped to take thecharred body out of the car (it gets a bit gruesome here), the shoes weremelted on to the pedals, so he had to pull the leg out of the shoe - but theleg was too hot to touch for a while, as he pulled the head off the steeringwheel, the skin from the head came away onto his clothes, and the hands hadto be peeled off the steering wheel. He told me other tales of how a coupleof his close friends had been killed by military attacks (shot for throwingstones at tanks). And the morning before we arrived in Nablus, he ha been",1]
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hope it makes a little difference. Our hosts are marvellously reassuringthat it does. We had to cancel a childrens party in Askar Refugee Campyesterday as a "Wanted" man, living near the centre where the party was tobe held. had been killed by the military the day before. Some say he shotfirst, some say it was them.But its not just the kids who have problems. one of our hosts is 18 andstill has to sleep with his mother sometimes. If he cant get to sleep atnight, he is often late for school in the morning. When he was 16 he wastaken by the military for 3 days - a harrowing tale - he went for a soldierwhen his mother was pushed around by them. They put him in a 2 x 2 metrecell with 10 other men overnight, apparently with food enough for 2 that hadbeen left out in the sun for a while. Then he was taken to a prison near TelAviv for a couple of days where he was interrogated for hours at a time,throughout the day. He finished his tale by telling how he was left in aJewish stettlement where he was chased off by settlers (with guns), runningfor his life it appears, until he found refuge in an arabic home. Who cansay how much of it is true, all I can say is he told it very sincerely. Healso told me about a missile attack from a helicopter on a car at the end ofhis road. Because he is a medical relief worker, he helped to take thecharred body out of the car (it gets a bit gruesome here), the shoes weremelted on to the pedals, so he had to pull the leg out of the shoe - but theleg was too hot to touch for a while, as he pulled the head off the steeringwheel, the skin from the head came away onto his clothes, and the hands hadto be peeled off the steering wheel. He told me other tales of how a coupleof his close friends had been killed by military attacks (shot for throwingstones at tanks). And the morning before we arrived in Nablus, he had been helping to evcuate a 10 year old boy who had been shot in the head by a plastic bullet - he was shot in a kind of cemetary - when they arrived atone exit, the military had blocked it; when they went to another, themilitary had blocked that also, eventually they went back to the first oneto put the boy in the ambulance. So these are just the tales of one normalguy here...even if just some of it's true, Im not surprised he has to go and sleep with his mum sometimes.

We are actually now in Jericho, working with Palestinian circus - a chancecombination that is working very well to entertain the children here...itmight have a good future, european music and palestinian circus, LOOKOUT!!!!!

Ill be back soon, take care all.you can read this and other notes from the other musicians on www.musicformusic.blogspot.com

Bob / Rob / Robert