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Some 92 minutes for a live broadcast on satellite TV. Such is the amount
of time Al-Jazeera and Ramattan, a Palestinian news agency, alloted the
?Conquering the Silence? concert in Ramallah on Sunday. During that
time, musician Khaled Jubran, who produced and hosted the event, juggled
artists performing in recording studios all around the world: Paris,
Dubai, Cairo, New York, London and Beirut. An hour and a half after the
opening note, organizers breathed a sigh of relief: Everything had gone
as planned, except for a few hitches, which did not interfere with the
festive atmosphere. Millions watched it all over the world.
Jubran seemed nonplussed by the pressure of such a complex production -
one which he worked on with friends for three months - as he stood
onstage at the Ramallah Cultural Center, juxtaposed by a couch and an
enormous screen. He kicked off the event with a moving virtuoso, solo
performance on the Arab buzuk and then proceeded to navigate the event
smoothly. He joked with artists who appeared onscreen, but did not
conceal his strident opposition to oppression and occupation. Such was
the artists' objective for the evening: to break the silence. Satellite
technology made it possible to mock the limits to freedom of movement
imposed on them by appearing in tandem, despite prohibitions.
In the first performance, Lebanese director and actor Roger Assaf
appeared in Beirut, emphasizing the walls and boundaries erected between
nations of the Middle East and the ensuing silence. Assaf, who remained
in the capital during the shelling in the recent war and who has written
his impressions in numerous articles, described a trip to the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian audience; his is a trip which can
only be taken in the imagination. In the end, he begged the forgiveness
of viewers for replacing the traditional moment of silence to mourn the
dead with a moment of screaming. Live on screen, he removed his glasses,
closed his eyes tightly, clenched his fists, and emitted a shriek which
sounded like the groaning of a wounded heart. From then on, each
performance seemed to be a continuation of that cry.
The concert's virtual jaunt around the world revealed many different
facets of music, dance, art and reached new summits. One performance
featured a piece by celebrated guitarist John Williams. Despite his shy
demeanor, he executed the piece with typical perfection.
Musician Kamilia Jubran appeared onstage after Williams; she formerly
led the Sabreen group. Jubran offered her own contemporary music style
to accompany protest lyrics. Her rendition turns its back on all
accepted forms of Arabic singing and oud playing. The Arabic instrument
rang with grating dissonance under her hand and the music was an
innovative departure from Western tonality and Arabic scales - her voice
screamed more than sang. Hers was the only performance that challenged
the audience in the auditorium: Some fidgeted in their seats and an
audible murmur arose.
Artists ascended and descended the stage and screen: Breyten Breytenbach,
the South African poet who fought apartheid and was jailed for seven
years read poems which he dedicated to Palestinian prisoners; Khaled
Muhammed Ali, an Iraqi oud player exiled in Dubai, played a classic
Arabic piece; Cairo poet Amin Haddad read the nationalist poems of his
father Fuad Haddad, drawing resounding response from the audience when
he called for continued resistance and mentioned the name of Hassan
Nasrallah; and Palestinian actor Yusef Abu-Wardeh, who resides in
Israel, stunned the crowd with his superb performance.
The cultural face of the Arab world
Finally, the moment that everyone waited for, adored Lebanese composer,
singer, and musician Marcel Khalife appeared onscreen, causing
pandemonium in the audience. A satellite gaffe which silenced Khalife
for many, long minutes created anxiety and disappointment. The audience
unanimously sang one of his songs and rhythmically clapped hands to fill
the void. But Khalife went back on the air with the song, "Rita and the
Gun," by Mahmoud Darwish. The erotic song of love between the poet and
the Jewish girl he was forced to leave after 1967 brought the audience
to its feet.
"This protest is supposed to take the place of action. It's typical of
middle-class residents here, who are capable of applauding Nasrallah
despite the fact that he did nothing for them," said one Ramallah
resident. But another Palestinian praised the way the concert "opened
people's minds," by presenting artistic material in unfamiliar styles
and showing the cultural face of the Arab world - one which the West is
anxious to suppress.He added that the Palestinian public was hungry for
defiance and encouragement from artists after a long, depressing
silence. "Any break in the silence is welcome," he remarked.
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