Freedom, non-violence, peace and gratitude for life are the keywords to a musical initiative that bore its first fruit in Gaza at the end of 2013 and is now putting down roots across the region.
“Gaza Singing for Peace” performed the words of famous liberators from across the world, combining sections of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech with a poem by Mahmoud Darwish, and backing them with jazz. The concert was the outcome of collaboration between the Gothenburg-based Music Against Violence (MAV) and Save Youth Future Society (SYF) in Gaza. Hakan Lewin, MAV’s founder and the project’s artistic leader, says “the aim of our concert is to take a stand against all forms of violence and oppression [and] to establish peaceful coexistence through music for the benefit of a less violent world.”
Sponsored by the Folke Bernadotte Academy, MAV’s Lewin-Landgren-Björänge trio took to the stage under Gaza skies on November 20 and 21 together with instrumentalists and singers from Bir Zeit University’s Gaza Music School, part of the Edward Said Institute for Music. MAV is now working through obstacles to its performing two concerts in Jerusalem and Ramallah, and has plans for concerts in Egypt through SYF.
For more info – MAV’s website
