by Aaron Shneyer

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.

Posted By: aaron @ 4:56 pm
Filed under: Aaron, Thoughts, Videos

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by Aaron Shneyer

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!

Read more…

Posted By: aaron @ 2:30 pm
Filed under: Aaron, Current events, Thoughts, Videos

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by Aaron Shneyer

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.

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Posted By: aaron @ 2:28 pm
Filed under: Aaron, Current events, Photos, Thoughts

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by Aaron Shneyer

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

Read more…

Posted By: aaron @ 10:41 am
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by Aaron Shneyer

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.

Posted By: aaron @ 11:53 am
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by Aaron Shneyer

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.

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Posted By: aaron @ 2:54 pm
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by Aaron Shneyer

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.

Posted By: aaron @ 5:50 pm
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by Aaron Shneyer

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.

Posted By: aaron @ 3:30 pm
Filed under: Aaron, Thoughts

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