Music lessons bring art, hope to refugee camps
A Palestinian music association runs schools offering musical skills and life lessons to refugee children in Lebanon and the West Bank.
BEIRUT — When Daoud Hussein, a young Palestinian music student, is handed a new violin, his face lights up. He one of 70 students at the two Al-Kamandjati music schools operating in Lebanon. Since 2008, these schools in the camps of Shatila and Bourj el-Barajneh have taught students aged 8 to 18 years old. The larger Al-Kamandjati association is based in Ramallah, and at present has 500 children enrolled at its music schools in the West Bank.
The founder of the initiative, Ramzi Aburedwan, is a Palestinian from Ramallah whose life was transformed by the opportunity to study music in France. He explains that his biggest challenge now is the increased responsibility he feels for the schools.
In the heightened tension and violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, the project has taken on even greater importance. As noted by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, whose lyrics are often used in Palestinian songs and featured during Al-Kamandjati performances, “Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful you find coexistence; it breaks walls down.”
Al-Kamandjati means “the violinist” in Arabic, but more than the violin is taught at the schools. Students can also learn how to play oriental instruments as the ney, the oud and the tabla.
