There is so much to say. Frustrations, amazements, hopes, confusions.
A lot has happened since I posted the last two videos, almost too much to even think of putting into a blog entry. Thankfully, all in all, things are great. The band continues to come up with some beautiful original music and keeps getting closer and closer to actually playing and thinking like a band. Still it seems there is never enough time to do everything. Music, politics, fixing the world…it’s a long process.

I hope you enjoy this video of Dana’s song, “Dance on a River.” The clip is from the first time the band played the song together, so you can see we’re working out quite a lot as we go along. Hopefully you’ll pick up on the atmosphere in the room. For me its some mixture of excitement, nervousness, tension, joy, hope and complete calm. I wonder what it’ll be like for you. A big thanks to Lola Kalman for the great film work; capturing the energy of the whole room with one camera isn’t easy.

Thanks once again for tuning in. We’ve got a lot of great material on the way, as always.And thanks to everyone who’s written. Your comments, feedback, suggestions, questions and shout outs are always appreciated.

With Love,
Aaron

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

YES! We have videos online! These clips are from our 3rd and 4th meetings. The first shows the band playing and improvising over a classical Arabic song called Lama Bada Yata Sanna. Wissam Murad taught the song to the group to give them a taste of the Arabic scales and rhythms and to get them improvising. Clearly he succeeded on both accounts. The song is in 10/8, which for all you non-musicians means that it’s not an easy rhythm, especially for any student of Western music. The students in the band picked it up with no problem. I especially love how you can hear the jazz backgrounds of a few of our players coming through their solos and fitting in perfectly, bringing the song to new places. I’m sure this song has never sounded like this before!

The second video is a sample of one of the group’s slightly more recent jams/songwriting sessions. These fellas have been working on the song for a few weeks, but this video is from the original jam. Our hip hop emcee, Mohammed (aka Beat Box), has strong words to say about the situation in Jerusalem, particularly concerning the life of Muslims in the city. So far, the group has been reluctant to get into politics, out of concern that if we start talking politics, no one’s political opinion will change and we’ll just walk away from the meeting angry at each other. Mohammed has given the group some brief explanations of the words he is saying, but both the Israeli and Palestinian participants have been hesitant to get too deeply into his lyrics, for fear of causing useless rifts between the group. Especially given this week’s escalation of violence, I don’t think the group can afford to avoid the conflict any longer. This Thursday will be interesting…

I hope you enjoy the videos.Peace
Aaron

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Hi Friends,

This has been a very hard week. From Jerusalem I can’t hear the rockets or the gunshots but what is happening in Gaza and in the nearby Israeli towns is felt in every corner and seen on every face. For me, the most frustrating part is that many people here are only concerned with the loss of life on their own side. Why does our national identity come so far before our human identity? Over 115 people have lost their lives this week. I sincerely hope we as humans can find compassion for each other and stop this bloodshed.

Some face to face dialogue organizations have decided to postpone their events this week due to the current violence. Some say emotions are too high. Some fear being criticized by their communities for interacting with “the enemy” during a time of war and tragedy. Some even say that we shouldn’t be talking if the politicians aren’t talking. While I have only sympathy for people with these sentiments and deeply respect their need to protect themselves, I firmly believe that this is THE time to be talking. What will we accomplish by sticking to our own sides? If we want the other side to change they will have to feel our pain and understand our suffering with compassion. The whole reason we’re in this mess is because people feel the need to separate, generalize and intellectualize “the other” and have forgotten that the enemy is not an anonymous group of people way over there, but he’s someone a lot like us. The highly emotional times might be the times when we are the most powerful. I am very sad when groups that deeply believe in the need for dialogue get so dragged down by the forces of hatred and violence that they cannot find the strength to justify and insist upon meeting the other and fulfilling their mission.

HeartBeat will be meeting this week.

Here are two photos that brought me some hope in recent days…

Bob on the Bus: This week nearly every bus in Jerusalem has these awesome ads stating that, “Music Has No Boundaries.” Maybe it’s hard to read but the sign says Bob Marley is playing all around the world, and this one particular radio station is playing his music everyday in Ramallah AND in Jerusalem. Maybe one day soon they’ll be playing music by some very talented young people…

No No No You Can’t Kill the Dove: The hope for peace cannot be killed, no matter how hard people sometimes try. This painting is on the side of a building in Bethlehem. I don’t know who the artist is.

Videos of the band will be up tomorrow…I mean it.

Good things are on the way.

Peace
Aaron

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Yes. It’s time for an update! Heartbeat is off to a great start in 2008. Despite a “blizzard” and security precautions for President Bush that temporarily shut down Jerusalem, we’ve managed to hold three fantastic meetings. Kela, Yael, Sameera, Tamer, Roi, Fouad, Kareen, Samer, Mohamed, Dana, Ron, Isam, and Rami are VERY excited to e-meet you all soon…

The quick low-down:
The first meeting was mostly intros, names, where we’re from, the kind of music we listen to. Each musician played or sang us a little sample of the music they’re into. My feeling is that people left excited, but still a bit confused as to what this experience is going to be like. I continue to insist that the experience is exactly what the musicians choose to make it… Our second meeting was at the Sabreen Studio in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, right around the corner from the Palestinian National Theater. We took the first couple of hours to get to know each other a bit more and then we split into small groups (about 4 people per group) for a songwriting activity. They came up with some pretty nice stuff. After about two hours, we cut the meeting a bit short so we could walk down to the aforementioned theater and see Wissam Murad and his band in concert. Wissam is a fantastic Oud player and singer with a unique style, blending new and old sounds. The show was stunning. You can check him out at www.wissammurad.com

For our third meeting, Wissam lead a workshop on Arabic music, teaching some of the main scales and rhythms along with a beautiful classical Arabic song. What’s most striking is that Wissam got the students who had never played these very difficult rhythms (in 10/8), playing them beautifully; he got the students who had never improvised, improvising beautiful melodies, and he got this band that had never quite sounded good before, sounding great! As soon as the release forms are in you can see and hear their beautiful work. Until then, many thanks to the people at the Consulate for introducing me to Sabreen and Wissam, and please do enjoy some pics of Jerusalem in the snow…

Take cover! Snowballs incoming.

From the promenade near my house, facing east.

From the promenade, with the dome of the rock, Al-Aqsa mosque, the western wall, and the Mt. of Olives in the distance. sometimes I can’t believe I live here.

Olive branches and Snow.

Thanks for your support. Please keep writing. And YES, you should apply for a mtvU-Fulbright! I’m happy to answer any questions.

With Love
Aaron

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

I’m doing well. I hope you are too.

The past few weeks have been amazingly powerful and eye opening. With some frustration, I’ve learned that the important things can’t be rushed, but will take their natural course, even if that means missing some self-imposed deadlines. I had originally hoped to be sending you videos of rehearsals by now but alas…the good things take time.

I’ve spent the past two months trying to meet every person in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem who is involved in music and/or education. Thankfully, things are moving forward. Two amazing locations (a Palestinian recording studio and an Israeli performance venue/recording studio) have offered to host our rehearsals. Right now I’m wrapping up auditions and wracking my brain over which students to put in the band. Over 40 students have auditioned! We’ve got rock guitarists, R&B singers, oud (lute) players, hip-hop emcees, violinists, pianists and even a guy who plays dijeridou and bass guitar at the same time! By the end of the week an awesome “auditions highlights reel” will be up for your viewing pleasure.

But before getting to the fun stuff, I wanted to share some of the tougher lessons I’ve learned since being out here, namely the differences in what my project means to Israelis and to Palestinians…

On the Israeli side, reactions to my project run from eagerly supportive to highly skeptical. Truth be told, it’s been very easy to recruit Israeli students to participate. I visited three Israeli music schools in Jerusalem. The directors of all three schools love the project and have opened theirs doors for me to invite their students and even hold rehearsals at their schools.

The spectrum of responses on the Palestinian side has been much wider. Most Palestinians very enthusiastically support my project, including EVERY high school student who has heard about the project (especially when I mention MTV). However, a significant part of Palestinian society feels that this project could be detrimental to Palestinians. Conservatory directors, university professors, music teachers, and non-violent activists have explained that while joint projects involving Israelis and Palestinians often have the most sincere of intentions, these projects can have very negative side effects for Palestinians. There are many examples, but for the sake of brevity I’ll just share one. As they explained to me, the media often portrays these “co-existence” projects in the most picturesque ways possible. Some typical headlines might include: “Palestinians and Israelis are ready to live side by side.” Or “Palestinians and Israelis move beyond the past and build a better future together.” Many Palestinians view this kind of media portrayal in the West and in Israel as very damaging to the Palestinian cause because it weakens their demands for justice and freedom, and instead portrays Palestinians as ready to accept the Occupation as normal, encouraging Israel and the world community to also view the current situation as normal. There have been other Israeli-Palestinian music ensembles in the past. Often they’ve sung songs in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, with a hopeful refrain of Shalom, Salam, Peace Peace Peace, but in the end of the day what changes? Following this logic, it would be much better for Palestinians to focus on strengthening their society from within, developing industry, education, social services, and cultural institutions.

Being told that I could harm Palestinians with this project was a harsh wake-up call. Maybe I’m just a naïve American who, lacking better answers, was duped into believing dialogue could change the status quo and fix the world. Of course, I know that is not true. As naïve and as American as I am, my years doing this kind of work have shown me very clearly how powerful dialogue is. Even so, I’m very grateful for this chance to re-evaluate why I’m here and ask what exactly is the best use of my time.

A member of Combatants for Peace offered an interesting clarification. He defines a “normalization organization” as any project that brings together Israelis and Palestinians to talk, build friendships, and understand each other, but doesn’t then work to change the status quo. He explained that his group of former Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers is an anti-normalization organization because it brings the two groups together for dialogue and then works together to influence their governments and communities to change the current situation.

This just highlights the complexities of the conflict. Coming together without highlighting the realities that people face can serve to ignore people’s struggles and therefore prolong the current situation. But doesn’t an organization that brings together Israelis and Palestinians by definition go against the status quo? In my view, the lack of trust and over-abundance of fear remain the main obstacles to creating lasting, positive change. How can we be unwilling to speak, but ready to fight for hundreds of years? Maybe the only way to create true and lasting societal change is by changing hearts and minds, one person at a time.

A few of the students who’ve auditioned have not been interested in politics, but come with a deep desire to connect with the other side and build relationships. With the lessons of the past two months in mind, I explain that while these relationships are extremely important to this project, we wouldn’t be doing anyone justice without addressing the political realities that people face. There are serious problems within and between each community and I believe that HEARTBEAT: JERUSALEM has to address and raise awareness of the struggles that exist, in order to utilize “the power of music” to influence people, build trust, and create change.

…Sounds good to me. What do you think?

Video clips from the Auditions will be up very soon…

Thanks for reading.

Ma’Salam-B’Shalom-With Peace

Aaron

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

October is a great month to arrive in Jerusalem. In three weeks, I’ve celebrated Ramadan, Sukkot, Eid el-Fitr, Simchat Torah, a Palestinian wedding and a Sheva Brachot meal for a newly-wed Israeli couple. In some ways I might be one of the luckiest people here. As an American outsider with a wonderful network of friends from Seeds of Peace, I have a unique opportunity to spend time with all of the people here and to learn, first-hand, what life is like in their shoes. As tremendous political and social barriers usually limit interaction between Israelis and Palestinians living here, I am very grateful for the freedom to cross those barriers and get to know both sides.

One of my most memorable experiences was the Palestinian wedding last week, where I was politely forced to dance to Arabic music blasting through the street. After about 30 minutes of attempting to dance just like every other guy there, the DJ abruptly shut off the Arabic song and put on a techno song, apparently just for me. Suddenly all of the men formed a circle, ushered me into the middle and encouraged me to show off my dance moves. Normally I’d be more than happy to share my “culture” with people from another country, but tonight, as a guest of a guest, I was hoping to blend in a bit more. Either way, the people there were amazingly warm and eager to share their customs with me. And the food was delicious! It’s an experience I’ll never forget.

My project is coming along. We’ve decided to call it HEARTBEAT: JERUSALEM. This week I have meetings with school directors in East Jerusalem and at the music conservatory in Ramallah. Even though the Israeli high schools are on strike, I’m hoping to meet with the directors of various arts magnet schools here in Jerusalem over the next week. Overall, people have been very receptive to the project and I’ve had quite a few high school students very enthusiastically approach me about joining the group. The plan is to wrap up the recruitment phase within the next two weeks and hold auditions during the second week of November.

In the next update I promise to spice things up a bit more with some of the sights and sounds of J-slam. Please feel free to contact me and let me know what you’d like to see on this page. I’m interested to see who’s reading… Thanks again.

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for tuning in. I’m in the middle of last minute racing around, getting things ready and spending time with friends and family before flying out in three days! I’m beyond excited.

As soon as I arrive, drop off my bags, grab a falafel and a quick nap, I’ll get started with recruiting high school students to audition for “The Israeli-Palestinian Jerusalem Youth Ensemble” (name in progress…if you have suggestions, send ‘em my way). I’ll spend the first few weeks meeting with school principles, teachers, community organizations, and professional Jerusalemite musicians to put together a support network and recruitment base for the project. Ideally, I’ll be able to go into every high school in East and West Jerusalem and announce the program directly to the students there.

In case you don’t already know, I’m using my Fulbright-mtvU award to create an ensemble of about 10 Israeli and Palestinian high school students. The ensemble is a chance for students from opposite sides of the conflict to come together to learn, write, play music and create something extraordinary.

The project has three goals, and you, Reader, are very involved in two of those goals.
First of all, this project is a chance for these student musicians to learn from each other’s life and musical experience and build a deeper understanding of their world. Second, the project is a tool for empowering these students to share their voices with their communities and with the world. By following the story of this ensemble and listening to their stories, YOU will empower these youth. Their voices are only powerful if people are listening. Finally, the third goal is also for you. Violence comes from despair, which can only be overcome with hope. If this project can instill even a tiny bit of hope in these students and in you readers, then it will be a tremendous success.

This blog will be a place for you to follow the project as it unfolds. I’ll share video and audio clips of the group making music, interviews with the musicians, photo and video of Holy Land happenings and sights and of course, the students will be able to post their original music. I’ll do my best to relay the entire process we go through, right here on this page.

Please stay tuned…the adventure is just about to begin.

Thanks for reading.

-Aaron

Click here to email Aaron with your questions or comments

The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.