New music conservatory planned for Palestine

New music conservatory planned for Palestine

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norman lebrecht

January 08, 2014

We’ve been asked to circulate this appeal for a new college of music in East Jerusalem. Al-Quds University is an apolitical campus, founded by Mohammed Nuseibeh and enjoying close partnerships with Brandeis and Bard in the US.

 

al-quds

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Together with Al Quds University we are developing a new College of Music for Palestine. In the past two years we have been grateful for a lot of support and for many wonderful artistic contributions of artists from around the world.

Our project aims for excellence in musical education, allowing young talentedmusicians to have access to a level of learning and professional advancement hitherto unavailable in the country. It operates within a network of Palestinian and international academic music institutions and offers talented students from all backgrounds the chance to develop their knowledge, musical skills, understanding and artistic expression which will help them to contribute to musical life in Palestine and abroad.

What is still very much needed is an academic infrastructure including spezialized literature, scores and recordings. Thanks to the Czech Representative Office in Ramallah we were able to found the first Palestinian Music Library, open to students as well as professional musicians in Palestine. The purchase of a broad range of books and CDs was a first step to develop this very much needed infrastructure.

In case you would have any spare or old books on music, CDs, DVDs or scores that are not needed anymore, we would be deeply grateful for any donations which would help to offer our students the chance to study and discover the world music.

If you would be willing to contribute to the first Palestinian Music Library please send the items you wish to donate to:

Petra R. Klose

K und K Wien

Marc Aurel Strasse 2a/6/8

1010 Wien

Austria

We will make sure that all donations will safely reach the new Al Quds College of Music in Jerusalem.

I am at your disposal for any further information.

With many thanks and kind regards

Petra

Comments

  • Eleanor says:

    What an excellent plan! Congratulations to all those involved!

  • An “apolitical” campus, which just by pure “coincidence” has a name that commemorates the most notorious Muslim fundamentalist terrorist organization. We are simply not supposed to notice the similarity between “Al Quds” and “Al Qaeda.” The founders of that school are counting on us living in their denial. They know we believe in free speech, so they are using it against us, just as they used our belief in freely regulated airports against us.

    • David H. says:

      ‘Al Quds’ is the Arabic word for Jerusalem. You are welcome.

      “They know we believe in free speech” WE do? Or do we first of all believe in free access to petroleum for US? So we mess up their countries for many decades now completely?

      • You are confusing appearance with explanation. All that means is that there is a different spin to “Al Qaeda” than most of us knew before. In the ancient methods of naming, Al Qaeda chose a name that would be “their” Jerusalem. A perfect tactic for someone who wants to rid the world of the “other” Jerusalem. Quite understandable.

        Your words about oil etc. are not indicated by the context. Certainly you are making a mistake to think I necessarily approve the things you mention which you appear to disapprove.

        I do not long engage persons who do not use their real names online.

        • David H. says:

          “Al Qaeda” means “the list” in Arabic. You are welcome, Doctor.

          The name comes from the enrollment lists of their voluntary mercenaries the US-backed Islamists were maintaining in Afghanistan in the joint US-Islamist djihad against the evil Russkies. That was back in the days when Ronald Reagan was secretly making deals with the Islamists in Iran, to defeat Carter.

          I do not use my real name, because anything one leaves online today is stored by the Orwellian US secret service machine and is out of control, my anonymity is a desperate grasp at straws of privacy in face of the totalitarian internet dictatorship the US represents today. You are welcome to drop me your address and I will write you real letters, which I hope the geeks in the NSA do not know how to open anymore. 🙂

          • Michael Schaffer says:

            David H. says:

            January 10, 2014 at 8:55 am

            I do not use my real name, because anything one leaves online today is stored by the Orwellian US secret service machine and is out of control, my anonymity is a desperate grasp at straws of privacy in face of the totalitarian internet dictatorship the US represents today.

            _____________________________________________________________________

            So you don’t think they log the IP address you are posting from?

          • Michael Schaffer says:

            Christopher Fulkerson, Ph.D. says:

            January 8, 2014 at 11:51 pm

            An “apolitical” campus, which just by pure “coincidence” has a name that commemorates the most notorious Muslim fundamentalist terrorist organization. We are simply not supposed to notice the similarity between “Al Quds” and “Al Qaeda.”

            David H. says:

            January 9, 2014 at 9:51 am

            ‘Al Quds’ is the Arabic word for Jerusalem. You are welcome.

            Christopher Fulkerson, Ph.D. says:

            January 10, 2014 at 5:08 am

            You are confusing appearance with explanation. All that means is that there is a different spin to “Al Qaeda” than most of us knew before. In the ancient methods of naming, Al Qaeda chose a name that would be “their” Jerusalem.

            David H. says:

            January 10, 2014 at 8:55 am

            “Al Qaeda” means “the list” in Arabic. You are welcome, Doctor.

            ________________________________________________________________

            Thank you *both*! That was one of the funniest exchanges I have read in a while! And – I have learned something new. Although when I looked it up, it actually said that “al qaeda” meant “base, foundation”. But maybe those two meanings can be reconciled. I know nothing about Arabic and its complexities.

            Still, that doesn’t change anything about Mr PhD’s confusedness here. It often amazes and amuses me on what shallow information and “insights” many conspiracy theorists base their views – which *they* think are the results of them being able to see connections and “decode” information *nobody else* can process…

    • The original comment appears to have been written by Al Bundy (no relation to Ali Bongo, by the way).

  • m2n2k says:

    Is the “partnership” really on again after what happened just two months ago? Please read http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2013/November/al-quds-response.html , complete with the link to the decidedly unapologetic non-apology from Al Quds.

  • Apparently Al Qaeda chose that name to sound like the Arabic for Jerusalem. The tactic is ancient, to replace, in the event of victory, a conquered territory’s name with one’s own. It’s the kind of thing that makes sense if the campaign is effective, less sense, if it is not. Try to imagine how another person might think when they imagine being successful over you.

    Asking someone whether they are crazy just because you don’t understand what they said is very low. You are another one I will not long engage since you do not use your real name.

    • David H. says:

      The linguistic relation between Al Quds and Al Qaeda is like the relation between Coca-Cola and Colon cancer. None.

    • Mathieu says:

      Christopher : The fact that you think that two foreign words sound aprox. the same does not make them etymologically or linguistically related, even remotely. And even if (arguendo) “Al Qaeda had chosen that name to sound like the Arabic for Jerusalem” (which is not the case), it would not make the use of the latter (i.e. Al Quds) a reference to Al Qaeda ! If a terrorist group names itself “the New Yokes”, would you accuse the NY mayor to be a terrorist accomplice ?

      So, please, stop this nonsense. And start learning arabic. And stop being paranoid.

  • Simon says:

    Dear Doctor Fulkerson,

    You might want to consider that the Arabic “al” is more or less equivalent to the English word “the” and reconsider your argument. Or do you assume The Beatles chose the name to sound like The Bahamas?

    Yours faithfully

    Dr. rer. pol. Simon Schubert

  • cabbagejuice says:

    “Al Quds” name for Jerusalem means the “Holy” similar to “kadosh” in Hebrew. No one with a background in Semitic languages would confuse or link up “Al Qaeda” that has a markedly different root.

    Al Quds University has had a music program, to my knowledge having to do with music education. I don’t know what they are planning now. However there a plenty of conservatories and music academies to choose from now in a city with a relatively small population.

    The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music has been in existence since 1998, now with branches in East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and an outreach in Jericho and Gaza. There are more than 1000 pupils with strong departments in Western and Oriental music. They have several touring orchestras and ensembles as well as masterclasses and seminars given by local and foreign teachers.

    It’s been great to witness its growth over these years.

    Janet Inoue, teacher of voice and piano, ESNCM

    • Don’t give me the “No one with a background in Semitic languages” routine.

      No one with a background in hearing more than one language being spoken at a time misunderstands what I am talking about. This is just one more way a Modernist is trained to read and hear, only a logical step from basic literacy in word selection.

      Try browbeating somebody else.

      • cabbagejuice says:

        Oh, I get it, the plural of “qaeda” is supposed to be “Quds”, that is if you’re only an English speaker. However “quds” القدس does not have an “ain” as “qaeda ” القاعدة does, although both begin with glottal stops, not the other “k” sound represented by a different letter. So the proper way to say “quds” is really “‘uds”.

        • Another person who thinks that speaking nonsense to the air is a method of discrediting someone.

          Grow up, ridicule is not a reply. I noticed, it’s a pun. Whoo-hoo. Hey, so you can’t wrap your head around a pun. How dare I notice someone is working with puns, and if I don’t speak Arabic, it can’t be a pun??? And golly, I even suggest that there was an intentional use of a pun. That is presumption on my part about someone’s minds? I don’t apologize for crediting Arabic-speakers with the ability to work with a pun, on purpose, for political reasons. “Qaed” sounds like “Quds” which is not unlike the “Cads” you and others are being. A simply sonic similarity that has worked for millennia. You just want to be in denial about it.

          Ridiculing me for a humble observation, you are giving yourself away. It’s very, very interesting to me that the apparently Arabic-speaking readership here is the first to try to defy simple sonic sense and discredit my observation, which is no more sophisticated that the boy’s observation about the Emperor’s New Clothes. If I were correct, it would be such people who would take offense. I promise not to conclude that all Arabic speakers are as crude as you are.

          We are used to this sort of ploy in the US, where advertisers use one set of associations, often unstated, to promote products. For example, there was never, so far as I know, any stated association between the James Bond character and the soft drink 7 Up. But the 7 Up logo was for years a 7 styled to look like a gun. Implied association: 7 Up, Double Oh 7 “license to kill.” Subliminal advertising. All around us, all the time, and working overtime, too. I belong to the Phylum of Humanitarians, Class of Artists, Order of Culture Vultures. I notice such things, and for you to pretend it can’t be pertinent says more about your defensiveness than it does about whether a pun is being used.

          Sometimes the association is accidental. Maybe we can allow that is what happened with Qaeda/Quds. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t an association.

          When somebody notices a bad pun, query its creator, not its observer. It’s a regrettable pun, there is a sense of this in the universe, it has even been noticed before at this blog:

          http://www.classicfm.com/discover/music/bad-stock-photos-musicians/

          • cabbagejuice says:

            Professor, the “ain” ع in Arabic ( عـ in the middle of a word) is a viable letter as in other Semitic languages. In Hebrew, this voiced pharyngeal fricative is also called “ayin” ע. In any case, when appearing as part of a root of a word, it is non reducible.

            Just being informative, that’s all.

      • Michael Schaffer says:

        Christopher Fulkerson, Ph.D. says:

        January 12, 2014 at 4:38 am

        “No one with a background in hearing more than one language being spoken at a time misunderstands what I am talking about.”

        No, it’s exactly the other way around, Mr Fulkerson, Ph.D . – only people who have no background in any foreign languages at all – like you – jump to conclusions about words that – to them – look or sound somehow similar in a foreign language. Anybody who has learned any foreign language reasonably well knows that one can easily misunderstand that. Like you did here, in a rather hilarious way.

        “This is just one more way a Modernist is trained to read and hear, only a logical step from basic literacy in word selection.”

        That may be true, I don’t really know since I don’t have a Ph.D., but that’s probably still better than building wild conspiracy theories on not knowing what certain words actually mean.

  • m2n2k says:

    This discussion of names may be fascinating for some, but I believe that behavior and attitude exhibited in events of last November described in the article to which I provided the link in my previous comment above here is much more important.

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