Barenboim to show solidarity with "Palestinian civilians"
Photo: AP
Barenboim concert set for Ramallah
Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim to stage solidarity concert with Palestinians in West Bank city
MADRID - Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and his orchestra, which includes young Arab and Israeli musicians, will give another concert in the West Bank town of Ramallah on August 21, he said on Friday.
Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra's 103 young musicians include Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs as well as Spaniards. Through it, the composer and his late partner, Palestinian writer Edward Said, hoped to use music to heal Jewish-Arab tensions.
The orchestra is based near the southern Spanish city of Seville and the Spanish government has issued diplomatic passports to all its members so that they can travel freely to the Palestinian territories and other Middle Eastern countries, the conductor said.
The August concert follows a performance in Ramallah in September 2002 which drew criticism from some Israelis.
The Ramallah concert will be a difficult event for many people, Barenboim told a news conference, before a free concert in Madrid's historic center on Friday night.
"Difficult ... for Jews because they will be in the place from where suicide bombers set out for Israel, for Palestinians because they will see Jews playing music when they are used to seeing them every day riding tanks," he said.
"It's not a political concert, it's a concert of solidarity with Palestinian civilians," he said.
