She will be joined in Leipzig on June 14 by member of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and her regular accompanist, Lambert Orkis.
The project is titled Integration through Culture.
In Cologne, last week
The Chinese-Australian pair of comedy fiddlers have called…
From the last Lebrecht Album of the Week…
From a Russian glamour magazine: Vasily Sokolov told…
In tonight’s Lebrecht Interview on BBCÂ Radio 3,…
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You realize the so-called “refugees” hate our music, our culture and us as human beings? What about a concert celebrating the children of the genocide of Christians in the Middle East?
Didn’t think so. Bring on the Leftist flames.
Very stupid comment. Probably a Pegidaist.
Your actual refutation being….?
There exist a type of utterances which don’t deserve serious opposition.
I agree. The muslim religion prohibits music. The Germans don’t get it. The Austrians certainly do. And who said anything about ‘integration’? Isn’t it all about celebrating the beautiful, golden diversity of a multicultural, pluralist society?
Indeed. Perhaps a funeral march of some sort should be be played – for the West !
What nonsense. There are a lot of Muslim musicians, even a few classical musicians of note (Fazil Say?). There are orchestras and even opera houses in a number of Muslim cities, including Cairo, Doha, Tashkent, Astana, Almaty, and Teheran. And Mr. Lebrecht’s favorite: Kuala Lumpur. Syria had a national orchestra, and an Iraqi orchestra was in the news a couple years ago, and even made a much-ballyhooed visit to the Kennedy Center, if memory serves.
I’m not going to suggest that classical music produces better people (certainly not based on the comments posted here so far), but a lot of Syrian refugees are middle/professional class, well educated, and it’s not like their children can’t learn about music.
+ 1
Then please explain why the muslim religion specifically prohibits music. Or is that some other form of muslim religion not practice by the “middle class” (which we all know exists, most of whom speak the English language). Are these, in fact, the same demographic marching into Europe – or are they the less well educated muslims. I suspect the latter is more likely. The educated ones left long ago.
Because, as you actually seem to be aware, there is no such thing as “the muslim religion”. There are many interpretations of islam, many practices of it, which vary to a great extent depending on the country, the culture, the social conditions, etc. The Mauritanian islam is not the same as the Indonesian one. Only the most extreme and radical interpretations of islam ban music, the same way only the most radical versions of orthodox Judaism prohibit men from shaking hands with women.
Also, you should stop referring to those people, generically, as “Muslims”, as if their religion was the sole component of their identity, thereby forbidding them to even understand, let alone assimilate, “European culture”, whatever that is. Really, you should really stop making generalizations, unless, of course, you regard being deeply prejudiced as a satisfactory state of mind.
Re the middle class: “I suspect” won’t do, unless you have statistical evidence.
There is certainly scope for banning some music, it depends on how much commonsense is applied to the various guidelines which are available. In its 2007 report “Meeting the Needs of Muslim pupils in State Schools”, the Muslim Council of Britain says:
“Music is part of the national curriculum and is required to be taught at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. There is a great diversity of opinion regarding music amongst Muslims. These are often influenced by local cultures and varying religious interpretations. Traditionally, music is limited to the human voice and non-tuneable percussion instruments such as drums. Within these constraints, Muslim artists have been very creative. Relying on the beauty and harmony of their voices, Muslims use music to remember God, nature, justice, morality and history.
Traditionally these types of musical renderings are called ‘Nasheeds’ and Muslims have been singing these for centuries, especially during wedding celebrations and festivals. Nasheeds have been significantly developed by Muslim artists as an alternative to potentially harmful forms of music, and have since grown in popularity amongst Muslims living in Britain.
All forms of music that may include the use of obscene and blasphemous language, encourage or promote immoral behaviour, arouse lustful feelings, encourage the consumption of intoxicants and drugs or contain unethical and un-Islamic lyrics would be considered objectionable. For this reason some Muslim parents may express concerns in the way music is taught in school and the extent to which their children may participate in it. Some Muslims may hold a very conservative attitude towards music and may seek to avoid it altogether, not wishing their children to participate in school music lessons. In such cases the school can show great understanding by providing alternative musical learning opportunities.
….Muslim pupils should not be expected to participate in drama or musical presentations associated with celebrating aspects of other religions, such as nativity plays or Diwali, as some of these are likely to involve playing roles which are considered to be inconsistent with Islamic beliefs and teachings.”
Lastly, perhaps you should write to the organisation, pointing out the flaw in their title.
Yes, I should stop referring to these people as “muslims” as it makes an inconvenient point of argument for the apologist brigade. Perhaps you’d prefer “Islamic”. Your instructions – part of PC censorship – will not be heeded because these muslims self-describe anyway. And, while I’m at it, let’s look at some other PC comments made by a friend recently on a magazine site – and which I think devastatingly relevant:
ISIS is only an enemy of Western regimes only because it uses physical force to achieve its aims, not for its ideas and its aims. The West is engaged in exactly the same process of deculturation and intellectual hooliganism as the Islamic barbarians. A war against meaning, order and knowledge. The vandalism in academia. The war on families and tradition. The recruitment of banks and big business in the dismantling of civil society (Zuckerberg is looking more and more like Goebbels). All in all, a comprehensive attempt to eliminate any sign of spontaneous humanity and replace it with a fanatical vision of perfection. ISIS uses violence and the West uses the mental cruelty of PC, otherwise there is no major conceptual differenc
That Islam prohibits the playing of music or of singing is a myth. There is a very brief reference in the Koran but only to music which leads to sinful acts. If it were banned in totality, how is it that the Almighty permitted David, regarded as a Prophet in Islam, to be a musician?
‘Music which leads to sinful acts’ has been spotted in another entry on SD some days ago, about the guitarist acquiring the focus and organisational skills to rob banks. Also one thinks of certain types of western pop music where the prohibition would be appropriate, but alas, not legally appliccable.
People, settle down. It’s a benefit concert. Perhaps the money will be used to fly the kids back to be reunited with their families.
An initiative which should be followed elsewhere…. nothing is so heartbreaking as the news items of refugee children, with these looks of terror in the eyes. If classical music is supposed to convey anything, it is the reminder of our better human qualities.
“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.”
–Khalil Gibran
Perhaps they learnt gratitude from the ungrateful.