26/09/15 12:52 Video: Iraqi Youth Orchestra | Public Radio International Page 1 of 5 http://www.pri.org/stories/2011-09-29/video-iraqi-youth-orchestra ! SECTIONS FEATURED ABOUT PRI FOLLOW Powered by " 0 shares shares Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Conflict & Justice Video: Iraqi Youth Orchestra September 29, 2011 · 11:00 AM CDT Reporter Shant Shahrigian Host Marco Werman By Shant Shahrigian Conductor Paul MacAlindin stood before a group of musicians ranging in age from 16 to 28. They came from across Iraq; 16 are Arabs (both Sunni and Shiite), 25 are Kurds, and four are Turkmen. "What we have here is quite a remarkable and public and profound symbol of harmony, both in the musical and in the spiritual sense, between groups of people who, although they live in the same political entity, Iraq, know actually very little about each other," MacAlindin said. They're getting to know each other, and they have fellow member, Zuhal Sultan to thank for that. Several years ago, the teenage pianist managed to put out an international call for a conductor and teachers to help train young Iraqi musicians. LISTEN ▶ GIVE ♥ SEARCH # LOG IN $ % % % % (follow) (follow) ! " & Comment Listen to the Story. ! 00:00 00:00 '
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26/09/15 12:52Video: Iraqi Youth Orchestra | Public Radio International
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Conflict & Justice
Video: Iraqi YouthOrchestraSeptember 29, 2011 · 11:00 AM CDT
Reporter Shant Shahrigian
Host Marco Werman
By Shant Shahrigian
Conductor Paul MacAlindin stood before a group ofmusicians ranging in age from 16 to 28. They came fromacross Iraq; 16 are Arabs (both Sunni and Shiite), 25 areKurds, and four are Turkmen.
"What we have here is quite a remarkable and publicand profound symbol of harmony, both in the musicaland in the spiritual sense, between groups of peoplewho, although they live in the same political entity,Iraq, know actually very little about each other,"MacAlindin said.
They're getting to know each other, and they havefellow member, Zuhal Sultan to thank for that. Severalyears ago, the teenage pianist managed to put out aninternational call for a conductor and teachers to helptrain young Iraqi musicians.
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Conductor MacAlindin responded, and went on to helpSultan organize three music training camps in IraqiKurdistan, staffed with professional teachers from theUK and the US. Funding came from government andprivate sources in Iraq and the UK.
Many of the orchestra members haven't had much inthe way of formal training. They said when the warbroke out in 2003, many musicians le" or just stoppedteaching. Sabat Hamid, a 28-year-old cellist from thenorthern town of Arbil, said the young musicians o"enhad to teach themselves.
"It was very hard because we didn't have teachers toshow us how to play," Hamid said. "Mozart andBeethoven are big composers, and pieces by them arehard. There was no one who could help us."
Even with the training camps, barriers remain –including language. As MacAlindin conducts, he said herelies on two translators at his side who repeat hiswords in Kurdish and in Arabic.
18-year-old oboist Dua'a Azawi said in spite ofdifferences of language, culture, and religion, orchestramembers have become close.
"We are all from different backgrounds, but that doesn'taffect who we are," Azawi said. "We have one unitedbackground, which is music. We all play music. Peoplehave been asking me if problems have happenedbetween you and the Kurdish, and I say no, I have veryclose friends, and they are Kurdish."
This weekend, the Iraqi Youth Orchestra is performingits first concert abroad. The members are playing at theBeethovenfest in Bonn. In honor of the trip, two workswere commissioned for the group. One is by an IraqiArab composer and another by an Iraqi Kurd.
The group is on track to play at the Edinburgh Festival
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Culture & Media .Tagged: Arbil Baghdad Iraq Middle East Zuhal Sultan Paul MacAlindin Sabat Hamid race and ethnicity music crime
Fringe next year. MacAlindin said it is still too dangerousfor them to play in Baghdad, but he hopes for a concertin the Iraqi capital within a year or two. He said thegroup's long-term goal is to help restart a stablemusical education system in Iraq.
He said the young musicians are getting world-classteaching, and "that will turn them into the teachers ofthe future for Iraq."
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Since quality western instruments are hard to come by in Iraq, donors in Germany have given the group new ones. The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq rehearses in the main hall of the Beethovenhalle in Bonn. (Photo: ShantShahrigian)
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