Musicians overcome Arab-Israeli discord

Musicians overcome Arab-Israeli discord

Barenboim began orchestra of youth from both sides

December 5, 2006

BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter

There is harmony in conflict.

This much Mina Zikiri knows, after seven years spent playing violin in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a group conceived by renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim that brings together young Arabs and Israelis to play music on neutral ground and, in the process, learn from each other.

"It's very amazing how close the Israelis and Arabs are in blood and in habits," said Zikiri, 29, a native of Cairo, Egypt, now living in North Chicago. "But it's also amazing how far apart they are because of politics."

On Dec. 17, the Divan will perform at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, its only U.S. appearance aside from two New York shows. The group last played in Chicago in 2001.

 

SEEING THE SHOW

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will perform at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, at 2 p.m. on Dec. 17.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the theater box office at (312) 334-7777, or on the Web site www.harris theaterchicago.org. Tickets are $52 to $98.

Barenboim, who is Jewish, started the orchestra in 1999 with the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said. Barenboim has said it was never intended to be political, but rather a forum for expression for youths whose peoples have long been at war.

Zikiri joined the Divan in its first year, then moved to Chicago to attend DePaul on a music scholarship. Members, as young as 16, come from Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia.

Though Zikiri had experienced such diversity years earlier as a teenager at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire, he was struck by the "energy coming out of this group, and how much will you can feel."

Informal talks can be heated

The orchestra is based in Spain and tours across Europe. Summertime, when it convenes for rehearsals, feels like a reunion, Zikiri said. Still, the world finds a way to intrude upon them.

This summer, with the latest conflict in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, the orchestra canceled a concert to be held at the pyramids in Egypt. Some 15 Lebanese and Syrians didn't attend rehearsals at all, either by choice or because of travel difficulties, Zikiri said.

Informal discussions of current events that Barenboim encourages of the group can get heated. But most differences stem from "completely normal human interaction," Zikiri said. "An Egyptian who doesn't like an Israeli, not because he's an Israeli, but because this guy's annoying."

'It's a model'

Zikiri, who conducts his own orchestra of young professional musicians in Chicago, recognizes that the Divan can't bring peace to the Middle East.

"But it's a model," he said. "Barenboim has said, [playing music] is what people would be doing ... if there was peace."