02-06-2009
Music Fund sells guitars from Kinshasa - trade not aid
Here you can see Belgian artists playing the guitars from Kinshasa (Congo) workshops which Music Fund is selling on its website from 5th June on:
Music Fund is selling these guitars in order to allow the guitar ateliers to develop and expecting that their development will interest others in town to want to learn the skills of repairing music instruments, something which Music Fund is giving training programmes for, in collaboration with the Institut National des Arts in Kinshasa.
13-02-2007
video-footages on Middle East projects
Here you can find a teaser on the long documentary which the production company Alizé is about to release on the projects which Ictus and Music Fund are developing with music schools in Israel (Tel Aviv, Nazareth) and Palestine (Gaza, Ramallah, Nablus) since these projects were started in October 2002:
The film will be presented on 3rd May at a special fundraising event at the concert-hall Flagey in Brussels in the presence of Queen Paola of Belgium and other dignitaries and well-known artists supporting us. We will at that occasion also welcome the presence of the Arab-Israeli pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar, who will perform as a soloist, as well as together with François Deppe, cellist of the music ensemble Ictus. For more information on this event, please contact Music Fund (info@musicfund.be).
And here also a short extract of the film:
24-09-2006
Iyad 2 weeks in Antwerp
Els De Winter, the sister of Pol De Winter of Pianomobil and also host to the young Palestinian Iyad from Ramallah who is now for three months in Antwerp at the invitation of Music Fund to follow a training in how to repair and tune pianos. This is what she sends me as impressions after two weeks living with Iyad in Antwerp:
Dag Lukas,
Het is zondagavond en morgen beginnen we al aan de derde week, de tijd vliegt !
Verleden week was ik met Iyad op stap in de buurt v/h centraal station, toen het hem plots opviel dat er veel orthodoxe Joden rondliepen. Nerveus greep hij naar zijn Palestijns vlaggetje dat op zijn hemd gespeld was en ik kon hem er niet van overtuigen dat hij het gerust mocht oplaten, dat er geen vijandigheid is onderling hier in België. Het hielp niet hij stak het weg in zijn zak.. We hadden dan tram 3 genomen naar de Handelstraat, daar is er een meerderheid aan Arabieren (Arabische winkels) had ik begrepen en hij voelde zich daar op zijn gemak, ik daarentegen niet echt. Hij beschikt over een zekere naïviteit, die ik alleen kan toeschrijven aan het feit dat hij uit een dorp komt en nog niet veel v/d wereld heeft gezien en dat de mentaliteit in Palestina totaal verschillend is van de onze. Ik zou het het beste kunnen vergelijken met hoe ik zelf ben opgegroeid in een beschermde omgeving, mij van geen kwaad bewust. Totdat ik eens naar de koekestad ging en totaal andere dingen zag. Hij werd daar aangesproken door een Arabische jongen die hem geld vroeg. Toen ik zei dat hij voorzichtig moest zijn want dat niet iedereen goede bedoelingen met hem heeft, keek hij wel raar op. Hij is ontzettend vriendelijk, nederig en behulpzaam. Hij vindt dat de mensen hier niet echt sociaal zijn, in Palestina kent iedereen iedereen, zegt hij en daar heeft hij veel vrienden, dat is wel moeilijk voor hem hier.
Hij zou graag naar Gert gaan, maar is bang om de trein te nemen, die kent hij enkel van afbeeldingen. We nemen elke morgen de bus en ik dacht de tweede week zal ik met hem de tram nemen, zodoende kent hij de twee vervoermiddelen. De tweede dag zei hij dat hij liever terug met de bus wou gaan want dan ziet hij elke morgen dezelfde mensen!
De ramadan is nu begonnen en dat is even aanpassen... zeker in de wk gaat de tijd dan traag vooruit.
Het zou goed zijn dat hij ergens muzieklessen kan volgen, dat zou hij heel leuk vinden.
Tot de volgende Lukas
groetjes
Els
18-04-2006
presentation: Ictus and Music Fund in Israel and Palestine
I am preparing our next workvisit to the Middle East which will be taking place from 30th April until 8th May.
I invite you to visit the websites of the music ensemble Ictus and the organisation Music Fund to find out more about it all.
The musicians of Ictus have been doing already 12 such workshopperiods since October 2002 and Music Fund came in January this year for the first time with a truck with 303 music instruments for music schools in Gaza, Nazareth, Ramallah and Nablus, and is now sending its experts to start teaching basic repair and tuning techniques of instruments in a workshop in Ramallah in May. Last January we also brought 4 young French teachers (3 musicians and 1 actress/visual artist) who during a period of four months are teaching music and music theatre and performance in schools in Nazareth as well as in Nablus. All these projects are somehow related and form an interesting patchwork and synergy of initiatives which are being developed with a long term perspective of collaborating with people developing music projects in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza.
I will keep you informed via this 'blog' about how this latest workvisit will be developing on a day-to-day basis.
TWO PROGRAMMES GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME:
1. Workshop-programme of soloists of the music ensembles Ictus (http://www.ictus.be) and Het Collectief (http://www.hetcollectief.be):
30.4, 3 pm: arrival all at Tel Aviv airport
30.4, 4.30 to 6.30 pm: rehearsals for concert at Tel Aviv University
30.4, 8 pm: concert-lecture at Music Academy of Tel Aviv University
programme of concert
- Morton Feldman, Durations 2 for cello and piano
- Georges Aperghis, Alter face for 2 pianos
- Morton Feldman, Two pianos
- Wolfgang Rihm, Chiffre IV for bass clarinet, cello and piano
- Morton Feldman, Intermission 6 for one or 2 pianos
Olivier Messiaen
- Amen de la Création for 2 pianos (Visions de l'Amen N°1)
- Abîme des oiseaux for clarinet (Quatuor pour la fin du temps N°3)
- Amen du Désir for 2 pianos (Visions de l'Amen N°4)
- Amen de la Consommation for 2 pianos (Visions de l'Amen N°7)
1.5, morning and early afternoon: Tel Aviv, 2 worksessions with students at Music Academy of Tel Aviv University:
(1) masterclass between 10.15 and 11.45: on works prepared and performed by students of the Academy at the masterclass are György Ligeti's last 2 of the Three Pieces for 2 pianos and Morton Feldman's "Mme. Press died last week at 90" for ensemble
and (2) a conference by pianist-composer Jean-Luc Fafchamps on his own compositions in the afternoon
2.5, morning: travel from Tel Aviv to Nablus (4 musicians + cello)
2.5, 1 to 4 pm: Nablus, workshop for students at Al Najah University (Fine Arts Department, Music School)
2.5, 4.30 pm: Nablus, performance of “Moumkine”, performance with children at Balata
3.5, morning: Nablus, worksession to be determined
3.5, 2.30 to 5.30 pm: Nablus, 2 musicians work with children at Nablus the Culture
3.5, 2.30 to 5.30 pm: Nablus, 2 musicians work with children at Balata on their performance “Moumkine”, which they will perform again on 4.5 in Nablus and on 21st June together with children from Nazareth at Opéra de Lille (F)
4.5, morning: Nablus, worksession to be determined
4.5, afternoon: Nablus, rehearsals for evening concert at Al Najah University
4.5, evening: Nablus, concert at new concert hall of Al Najah University – programme: Brahms, Bruch, Rihm, Feldman
4.5, after the concert: Nablus, party at Centre Culturel Français
5.5, morning: travel from Nablus to Nazareth
5.5, afternoon: Nazareth, worksessions at El Mutran School (Orpheus)
• Ictus pianists with young pianists (individual)
• Benjamin (clarinetist Het Collectief) with flutists
• François with Haydn trio, 2nd mouvement
6.5: Nazareth, worksessions at El Mutran School (Orpheus)
- morning : • François teaching Mozart 4tet
• other musicians: collective workshop
- early afternoon : • Ictus pianists with young pianists (individual)
• Benjamin with flute, cello and piano trio.
• François with members of the orchestra, reading Mozarts Symphony 29 in preparation of Jerusalem July concert
- late afternoon (4pm latest) : rehearsal for concert.
- evening: concert in Nazareth at El Mutran School
programme of the concert:
The concert programme has the clarinet as a central instrument, and the second part is articulated around the Brahms Adagio;
Max Bruch was a pupil of Brahms and one can feel the immediate influence.
The "missing link" is Schönberg who influenced Berg and Webern inside the 2nd Vienese School.
Therefore we have the Stravinsky pieces, the anti-Brahms contemporaneous of Schönberg.
The Tom Johnson "Bed time stories" are a very pleasant moment of British humor (although Johnson is an American living in Paris).
- Igor Stravinsky, 3 pieces for clarinet
- Tom Johnson, Bed time stories for clarinet and speaker
- Alban Berg, 4 pieces for clarinet and piano
- Johannes Brahms, Adagio from the trio op. 114 for clarinet, cello and piano
- Anton Webern, 3 pieces op. 11 for cello and piano
- Max Bruch, 2 pieces op. 83 for clarinet, cello and piano
7.5: workshops for music students at El Mutran School /or/ possibly day of and visit of the old town of Jerusalem
8.5: travel from Nazareth /or/ Jerusalem to Tel Aviv + from Tel Aviv to Brussels (departure 3.40 pm)
soloists involved: François Deppe (cello, Ictus), Jean-Luc Fafchamps (piano, Ictus), Jean-Luc Plouvier (piano, artistic direction of Ictus) and Benjamin Dieltjens (clarinet, Het Collectief)
2. Workshop-programme of expert-instrumentbuilders of Music Fund (http://www.musicfund.be):
from 2 to 7th May: two initiation workshops on repair and tuning of musical instruments given by experts working for Music Fund
organised at the music school Al Kamandjati in Ramallah
for participants coming from Ramallah, Nablus and Gaza
one workshop on repair and tuning of pianos and one on repair of string instruments
experts teaching: Gert Schrijvers (string instruments) and Aurèle Hardy (pianos)
The participation of Aurèle Hardy is made possible thanks to the sponsoring of Pianomobil, Pol De Winter's piano-repair workshop in Antwerp (pianomobil@pandora.be).
2.5, 3.50 am: arrival of Aurèle Hardy and Gert Schrijvers at Tel Aviv airport (pick-up by taxi Al Kamandjati and Lukas and travel together to Ramallah)
2.5, morning: arrival in Ramallah, then long rest and first worksession string instruments from 4 to 7 pm
3 until 7.5: 2 worksessions piano + string instruments per day at Al Kamandjati, Ramallah (10 am to 1 pm and 3 to 6 pm)
8.5: travel from Ramallah to Tel Aviv + from Tel Aviv to Brussels (departure 3.40 pm)
3. Schedule of Lukas Pairon:
30.4, 3 pm: arrival at Tel Aviv airport
30.4: stay in Tel Aviv, assist concert Ictus at Tel Aviv University and overnight in Tel Aviv
1.5: meetings in Tel Aviv
2.5, 3.50 am: pick-up of Aurèle Hardy and Gert Schrijvers at Tel Aviv airport and travel to Ramallah
3.5, afternoon: travel from Ramallah to Nablus
4.5: in Nablus
5.5, morning: with musicians from Nablus to Nazareth
6.5: in Nazareth
7.5: (together with François Deppe) travel from Nazareth to Ramallah to attend last day of Music Fund workshops
8.5: travel from Ramallah to Tel Aviv + from Tel Aviv to Brussels (departure 3.40 pm)
4. During our days in Nablus and Nazareth, the three musicians Sarah Clénet, Françoise Pelherbe, and Cécile Jamme, and actress / visual artist Fabienne Laumonier join the musicians of Ictus and Het Collectief and on 8th May they come back to Europe with us, after having spent four months teaching music and music theatre to children in Nablus and Nazareth, where we brought them at our last visit to the region last January. To find out about their project, you can read their blog on: http://www.holyland.canalblog.com/
They present a performance called ‘Moumkine’ with children from Nablus at the Balata (Nablus) at 4.30 pm on 2nd and on 4th May (artistic direction of this performance: Sarah Clénet, Fabienne Laumonier and Françoise Pelherbe - with the support and advice of composer Georges Aperghis and musicians of Ictus)
