Wissam Murad in Concert

Wissam Murad, leading composer and performer of the West Bank, performed at the International Center of Bethlehem's Addar Auditorium on June 26, 2007. Originally from East Jerusalem, Wissam studied music at the Rubin Academy of Music (West Jerusalem, Israel) and now works for the premier music recording and education venue of Palestine, Sabreen Association for Artistic Development. www.sabreen.org

Upon accreditation of the music program at Dar Al-Kalima College, Wissam will join the faculty to oversee all Arabic music components of the program in addition to his teaching schedule of music arranging, oud, percussion and voice performance.

Mitri Raheb on Culture

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, pastor of the Lutheran Christmas Church and President of Diyar, has spent most of his adult life founding and nurturing cultural and educational outreach ministries of the church. Here is what he has to say about the necessity of culture in Bethlehem:

"Often I meet people and donors who think that culture in this context is a luxury we Palestinians cannot and should not afford. For these donors, [humanitarian] relief is what the Palestinians need under occupation. They need bread to eat, to fill their stomach so that they can think. This is usually the logic used.

"Our tragedy as Palestinians has been that our struggle and since the Balfour Declaration has been often portrayed as a humanitarian crisis rather than one that has to do with identity and self-determination. But people 'shall not live by bread alone'.

"Culture is one of the most important elements for people’s survival. Under immense constrains and in the most immoral situations, culture is the art to learn how to breathe normally. In contexts of conflicts, people are concentrating mainly on those who 'kill the body' but often they forget about those who 'kill the soul', i.e. the dignity, creativity and vision of a people.

"Culture is the art for the soul not only to survive but to thrive. Culture is the art to refuse being just on the receiving end, to resist being perceived only as a mere victim. Culture is the art of becoming an actor rather than a spectator. It is the art of celebrating life in a context still dominated by forces of death and domination, an art of resisting creatively and non-violently."

The outreach ministries of the Christmas Church are based on the words of Jesus as recorded in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Greek Influence: Music

Christian missionary and musicologist of the Near East, W.H. Temple Gairdner (1873-1928) contemplated the source of Arabic and Orthodox church music as he heard it during the early 20th century and transcribed in his unprecedented publication, Oriental Hymn Tunes. He had this to say:

"There is reason for believing that the ultimate fons et origo of the music of the whole near east is Greece. The original language of the Book of Daniel proves that Greek music was imposing its nomenclature on Semitic countries some centuries before Christ. The wonderful musical system which, as we know from Plato, had been still earlier fully worked out in Greece, was evidently carried by the conquests of Alexander and his successors all through the Orient, and must have formed part of the culture which was absorbed by the east at that time. It was thus Greek music, which early Christianity found regnant, and the later triumph of Greek influence in Eastern Christendom would confirm the hold of Greek music on all the land under Byzantine influence, including Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. The entrance of the Arabs (the "Saracens") in the seventh century, and later of the Turks, would not alter this. Both Arabs and Turks borrowed everything that had to do with culture, except their languages, from others. The Arabs absorbed that of their Greco-Christian provinces. And so, though no doubt the long centuries with their ebb and flow of conquest wrought great modifications, it seems reasonable to believe that the musical system of all these lands remained Greek in fundamental character.

"This historical reconstruction is admittedly a priori and hypothetical; for, as a matter of fact, the history and fate of Greek music after the classical age lies shrouded in almost complete obscurity. In the absence of facts, however, the above reasoning appears to be resonable."1

1 W.H.T. Gairdner, Oriental Hymn Tunes: Egyptian and Syrian, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1930, p. 15.

Soprano Concert

Originally from the Ukraine, soprano Valentina Mustafa performed music of love and romance from the extraordinary Russian composers Tschaikowsky, Rachmaninoff, and more, at the International Center of Bethlehem's (ICB) Addar Auditorium on Tuesday, June 19. Valentina, a graduate of the Kiev Conservatory of Music, left Ukraine for Jordan shortly after marrying Dr. Walid Mustafa, now the Dean of Arts at Bethlehem University. The mother of two sons and one daughter, she has lived in Bethlehem for nearly 20 years and has performed throughout the West Bank and Jordan. She was accompanied by Matthew Middleton, Music Coordinator for the ICB.

On Arts Education

Education in the arts creates the opportunity to explore the world through culture. The arts can offer exploration and knowledge from a holistic, spherical, three-dimensional perspective rather than a linear construction of ideas. Even with this unique perspective on life and humanity, the arts at times are relegated to secondary status in the educational policies of the federal and state governments, driven by economic and political agendas. Additionally, arts courses in universities are sometimes given nominal attention in extra-curricular or elective courses, devoid of systematic and in-depth inquiry in classes designed to impart superficial appreciation for the arts or music in general. MIT professor Ellen T. Harris points out that science and mathematics courses would not be demoted to such status: “It would be difficult to imagine a course called ‘Science Appreciation.’”[1] Due partly to an emphasis on science and math at the university level, K-12 programs are offering students inadequate preparation for advanced studies in the arts; in some cases arts curriculum has been eliminated altogether.

Multiculturalism manifests itself in arts education, preparing students to study culture as it reveals itself through art in a particular time, place, and under varying political, religious, and civic issues. Cultures are identified by the arts they produce through music, painting, media, theater, and so on. For example, the International Center of Bethlehem is seeking to re-shape the common international perception of Palestinians through culture and education in its multi-faceted programs covering all of the above elements. The arts may also challenge the culture it comes from, often with repercussions against the artist as in the case of Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz being stabbed in the neck after the publication of Children of the Alley that described an alternative perspective on religion and sexuality in Egypt. Other negative responses may be censorship of musical works such as happened in the Soviet Union, or books as in Iran after the publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Censorship occurs in the United States largely at the local level, with the banning of books from public and school libraries deemed evil or inappropriate by religious and parent pressure groups.

Bethlehem Star Music and Dar Al-Kalima College are working to engage students young and old to view their world liberally and objectively, using fine arts and music as a means to appreciating the beauty of the world we live in today.

[1] Harris, Ellen T. 1997. The Arts. In Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum, ed. Gaff, Jerry G., and James L. Ratcliff, 320-340. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc, 321.

The future of music education in Palestine

Dar Al-Kalima College is the first Christian college in the Middle East to offer advanced training in music, art, media, theatre and dance. The College provides a vital accredited resource for higher education in non-traditional disciplines and enables the next generation to realize their potential through educational excellence.

For just $28, you can invest in the future of Bethlehem. Buying a key means that students will have access to pianos. Having access to pianos means that students will be able to compose, perform, accompany, and make music unique to the little town of Bethlehem.

Our goal is nothing short of beauty and excellence. We demand the best for our students, which is why we are applying to become the first All-Steinway School in the Middle East.

Visit www.brightstarsbethlehem.org and buy a key today!