Jewish, Arab musicians play together

Surrounded by artwork depicting the despair of the Arab-Israeli conflict, a group of musicians performed in the Fisher Fine Arts Library's Arthur Ross Gallery Wednesday night to help bridge the cultural gap between Arabs and Jews. The group was composed of seven Arab and Jewish musicians. The Jewish musicians were part of a group called Atzilut, while the Arab contingent consisted of members of Firkat al-Amal accompanied by the master Arab musician, Simone Saheen. The concert, which drew a crowd of more than 80 students, faculty and community members, was arranged by the Middle Eastern Awareness Program, a small group of students from Hillel and the Penn Arab Student Society. College sophomore Sarah Weiss, a member of both Hillel and MEAP, introduced the musicians at the beginning of the show. She said their appearance was part of the Ivrim festival for cultural diversity currently being held in Philadelphia. Before each song, the musicians took turns describing the upcoming piece -- including its history and musical background. David Kessler, the vocalist for Atzilut, explained how the different musicians were able to play together by referring to the shared history of the Jewish and Arab people. "There is a great deal of commonality to traditional Jewish and traditional Arab music," he said. The last song of the night combined Shaheen's talents on the violin with a vocal performance by Kessler, who sang in Arabic. "Ivrim is about getting different cultural groups to work together," he said before the song. "Learning to sing in Arabic was my little contribution." The instruments used by the performers ranged from familiar pieces like violins and basses to the more exotic 'ud, an instrument in the guitar family with a short, bent neck. The Arthur Ross Gallery currently has a display of Palestinian and Israeli art entitled "Building Bridges." Both the exhibit and concert are "ways to increase dialogue between the two groups and alleviate any tension between them," said College junior Gisele Rahael, a member of both PASS and MEAP.

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