Saturday Sonata III, with LT.I'm working today so I've had to be a bit quick putting this one together, but it is at least a wonderful song and purpose.
"Volunteers for Peace" is exactly what it says: individuals and corporations volunteering for peace, at a time when a majority of the populations, inside the Green Line and beyond, were committed to attack and revenge. 20 Arab and Jewish professional vocal and instrumental artists, together with Arab and Jewish teenagers from the Peace Child Israel workshops and elementary school children from Qalansua and Tel Aviv, set personal agendas aside and answered the call at a moment's notice, to share their talents in an effort to make a small contribution to healing in the community. The anthem was heard on radio and seen on television screens throughout the country.
The song has that quality that music from that part of the world so often has: when all of a sudden the vocals rise and fill with such painful yearning and do something akin to jumping up a few quantum levels and your hair almost stands on end - just beautiful moments. I've listened to the song four times in a row now and I think I'm getting a bit wasted, to tell you the truth. I may never get this post up.
[From the text at YouTube] The song, commissioned by the organization Peace Child Israel, was arranged by Israeli composer and singer Shlomo Gronich (the one with the goatee). Ehud Manor and Magid Abu-Rokun composed the lyrics. Sung in both Hebrew and Arabic, this beautiful, Middle-Eastern song the power to heal and transform Arab and Jewish communities. It's high time to tell our leaders: End the siege on Gaza, negotiate in good faith with all Palestinian parties, and demand that both people teach coexistence, mutual respect and human dignity - as this song does!
Jewish singers (in order of appearance):
Leah Shabat
Shlomo Gronich
Zehavah Ben
Eli Luzon
Palestinian singers (in order of appearance):
Sahmir Shukri
Nivine Jaabri
Elias Julianos
Lubna Salame
Much more to read and look at at Peace Child Israel. And if you click on the image in the upper left you can view a large version with the lyrics to the song in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
Peace, dang it.
P.S. A postscript I had no intention of adding must be. I've just received word that the great American folksinger U. Utah Phillips has passed away. Good journeys, sir. You will be missed.
