On 19 January I received an email from PalMusic UK, a charity that supports the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine. The conservatory provides music education to 2,000 students in Bethlehem, Gaza, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah. The email informed me that:
“We are deeply saddened to report that the ESNCM is Gaza has been severely damaged. The branch’s door has been bombed open and a large proportion of the building has been burned and heavily damaged, and instruments and equipment destroyed.”
However, the email also recorded that:
“The Yamaha piano, however, has miraculously survived the destruction. It was donated to Gaza by Japan in 1998 and has survived years of bombing. Restored by the Music Fund, it was given to the ESNCM in 2018. It is a poignant symbol of the resilience of the Palestinian people.”
The Yamaha is the only piano concert grand piano in Gaza. Some years after its arrival from Japan, it was bought by a Palestinian businessman who spent $800,000 restoring the Nawras Theatre and cultural centre, only to have the building destroyed by an Israeli rocket. But although the piano was not damaged by the explosion, the damage wrought by time and lack of care had left it unplayable. Daniel Barenboim paid for a French piano restorer, Claire Bertrand, to restore the Yamaha to concert standards. Claire and two Palestinian assistants worked for ten days. A concert celebrated the piano’s restoration to health in 2015.
Since Hamas’ bloody and unconscionable October attacks, the conservatory has continued to pay its teachers and has raised funds for humanitarian aid for artists displaced to the Rafah area on the border between Gaza and Egypt. There are also plans “to provide uplifting musical activities to children.”
Teaching continues in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Ramallah, although the closure of main roads makes it difficult for teachers and students to reach the classes.
In Gaza, music education has been threatened not only by Israeli attacks, but also by the ideological hostility of the Hamas regime. With extraordinary resilience, teachers and students have continued to learn and perform. I sincerely hope that the conservatory will rise again from the ashes of destruction and bigotry.
The piano has survived indiscriminate bombing, but, alas, Lubna Ayalam, a young violinist has not: she died in Gaza on 21 November 2023.
For an account of the piano’s 2015 restoration see: https://vimeo.com/226484221?mc_cid=32c61cb70d&mc_eid=3223227e40
For a Christmas performance by the children’s choir in Bethlehem see: https://www.facebook.com/esncm/videos/1451856695394158/
I defy you to watch the children in Bethlehem and not to weep as I did. To donate to PalMusic go to: https://www.palmusic.org.uk/donate-to-palmusic-uk/
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