Israeli Jews, Christians, Moslems go drumming up peace

Israeli Jews, Christians, Moslems go drumming up peace

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norman lebrecht

January 31, 2020

Message received:

Philadelphia, PA (January 30, 2020) – If you ask Philadelphia musician Harvey Price what’s the best way to resolve conflict, he’ll say, “Make music together.” And, that’s exactly what he has done for seven years. With the goal of bringing together children who are Jewish, Christian and Muslim in the Galilee region of Israel, Price has encouraged peacemaking and social impact through the Peace Drums Steel Band. And, now, the band is returning to the United States, with a new set of band members, to demonstrate their camaraderie in performances in Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE in April 2020.

In 2013, Price had the dream to form a steel band of Jewish and Arab students in Israel to encourage them to connect with the shared goal of playing steel drums in a band. With the support of clergy from Delaware Churches for Mid-East Peace, that dream became a reality. It was Price and Israeli Michael Chacour who negotiated alliances among Israeli, Arab and Jewish partner schools. The initial 20 students that started in the band in 2013 has grown to 150 students currently participating in Peace Drums.

Now, four years after their initial US tour, an ensemble of 25 middle school musicians from the Peace Drums cohort is coming to the United States to demonstrate their new passion for Caribbean steel drum music as well as their commitment to each other for a shared society.

The mission of the Peace Drums Steel Band has gotten tremendous support in the past few years. In addition to the United States State Department that provided a USAID grant administered by the U.S. Embassy in Israel, The Peace Drums tour is also supported by Peace Drums US and Peace Drums Israel.

The Peace Drums performances will take place April 17 through April 22, 2020 in Philadelphia and Wilmington.

Comments

  • Bone says:

    This will fix everything!

  • Carlos says:

    According to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies,”Moslem and Muslim are basically two different spellings for the same word.” But the seemingly arbitrary choice of spellings is a sensitive subject for many followers of Islam. Whereas for most English speakers, the two words are synonymous in meaning, the Arabic roots of the two words are very different. A Muslim in Arabic means”one who gives himself to God,” and is by definition, someone who adheres to Islam. By contrast, a Moslem in Arabic means”one who is evil and unjust” when the word is pronounced, as it is in English, Mozlem with a z.

  • V.Lind says:

    Wasn’t SD rather sneering at a movie on this theme the other day?

  • Nick says:

    Great idea!! Somehow Barenboim did this for years – did not help much!! There is still no peace. And rockets fly from PA and Hamas!!

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    Don’t be fooled. It’s just ‘hype’.

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