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Harmony in a Fractured World
Harmony in a Fractured World
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25 Years of The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
‘Our project may not change the world, but it is a step forward. Edward Said and myself see our project as an ongoing dialogue, where the universal, metaphysical language of music links with the continuous dialogue that we have with young people, and that young people have with each other.’ Daniel Barenboim
Founded first as a music workshop in 1999 by Maestro Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said, a Palestinian author and literary scholar, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has, for 25 years, provided a safe space for Arab and Israeli musicians - from apparently irreconcilable backgrounds - to come together in harmony in every sense of the word. The orchestra was named after the German nineteenth-century poet Goethe’s work, which links European and Persian traditions. The running sore of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict may seem an unlikely issue for a world-famous musician and a deeply intellectual polymath to become embroiled in, but the backgrounds of the two founders (one born of Jewish parents who took him to live in Israel at the age of 11 and the other, a displaced Palestinian who went to live, study and teach in the USA) symbolise the essence of the problem. They were two people from different cultures whose lives had been shaped by political disparities, not by human divergencies. Barenboim’s fortuitous meeting with Said, in a hotel foyer in 1990, bore fruit, not only in their close friendship, but in their acute awareness of the political divisions in the Middle East. While acknowledging that music could not of itself offer a solution to the seemingly intractable enmity between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the founders believed that the shared experience of music-making could help build bridges where only discord had been known. The spirit of cooperation that lies behind the orchestra was the result of a process of understanding that involved Barenboim and Said each helping to open the other’s eyes. In an article in the Guardian in 2003 (1), to mark the publication of his and Said’s book, Parallels & Paradoxes: Explorations In Music And Society, Barenboim recalls how, about a year after meeting Said, he went to the West Bank to ‘see for himself the plight of the Palestinians.’ If Said helped Barenboim understand what was happening to Palestinians, Barenboim helped Said find his musical direction with the orchestra. Following the initial workshops in Weimar, the orchestra established a base in Seville in Spain from where it rehearses. These bare bones of the orchestra’s history make it sound like a relatively straightforward enterprise, but finding the musicians was no easy task. Young Israeli players were not the problem, as musical education is part of Jewish/Israeli cultural tradition. However, it is a much more difficult undertaking to find young Arab musicians with a background in western classical music and an opportunity to develop their talent. Violinist Yamen Saadi, one such Palestinian, was born in Nazareth and joined the orchestra at the age of 11, much younger than most of the new entrants. Having decided he wanted the challenge of learning to play the violin, he started to study in the newly opened Barenboim-Said Conservatory in Nazareth and auditioned for the orchestra when he was just 10. Yamen will be playing as a soloist in the orchestra’s 25th anniversary tour this year. It is not surprising that the orchestra was controversial in the very region in which it was designed to promote mutual understanding. Barenboim received death threats when he played a concert in Ramallah in 2002, as well as an insulting review in the Jerusalem Post. As an Israeli who also has Palestinian citizenship, Barenboim is a clear example of that rare individual who refuses to take sides but respects the rights of all. For some this is seen as a model of understanding, for others a betrayal. Since the escalating violence in the region following the Hamas attacks of October 2023, the need for the kind of dialogue promoted by the orchestra is greater than ever. Writing in The Guardian (2) soon after the horrific event, Barenboim said, ‘Over the years, through this commonality of music-making …we have learned to better understand the supposed other, to approach them and to find common ground. We start and end all discussions, no matter how controversial, with the fundamental understanding that we are all equal human beings who deserve peace, freedom and happiness.’ The vision for the orchestra of bringing people from different backgrounds together for the purposes of mutual understanding was further developed through Barenboim’s plan for an educational establishment. This became a reality in 2012, when the city of Berlin issued a 99-year lease for use of the former stage depot of the Berliner Staatsoper as a home for the Barenboim-Said Akademie. The Akademie had its official opening in December 2016. It offers a conservatory education (3) ‘for talented, young musicians from the Middle East, North Africa, and around the world, combining intensive music performance studies with a grounding in the humanities – all in the heart of historic Berlin.’ In the same year the orchestra was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding, The remarkable vision of Barenboim and Said in creating the orchestra and its educational spin-off is a beacon of hope for peace in the face of deeply ingrained enmities. The founders believed that, in the midst of bitter political disputes, we lose sight of the fact that humanity is universal. While history, politics, ideas may drive us apart, we can find common ground in many ways too. Music is one such unifying force, a way of bringing people together to forget their differences and remember that we all have a right to peace, to freedom, to happiness. (955 words)
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