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arrival in Ramallah

In the afternoon we arrived at Ben Gourion Airport (Tel Aviv, Israel) and were picked up by Jousef, the taxi-driver who drives for the music school Al Kamandjati, our partnerschool in Ramallah. We got to Ramallah very quickly. It took us only about half...

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23 décembre 2007

a piano-technician for the Westbank

We are initiating a special new project for the Westbank. The music schools in the Palestinian territories have since 2005 received pianos from Music Fund, but miss the know-how to repair and tune them. In the whole of the Westbank there is only one piano-tuner...

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16 novembre 2007

music projects in Soweto

Together with Tom Pauwels - guitarist and staff-member of the Ictus ensemble - I visited a number of music schools in townships near Cape Town and in Soweto. Instead of imagining projects involving the musicians of Ictus, I would like to start partnerships...

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10 novembre 2007

short visit to Maputo

Just before spending one week for Ictus in South Africa (Cape Town and Johannesburg/Soweto), I took two days off to visit our friends in Maputo and prepare some of the projects we are developing further the coming years. I have met with the two teachers...

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26 juillet 2007

travelday back home

Olivier and I hope to go back home today, if at least the announced strike at the Ben Gurion airport is cancelled. I will be back in December, but then not with Music Fund, but with members of the music ensemble Ictus, who will teach Palestinian adolescents...

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25 juillet 2007

one day in Jenin

Olivier and I joined our friends of Al Kamandjati for one day to Jenin. The road to Jenin is beautiful. We drove through mountains and the closer you get to Jenin, the greener it gets. The area around Jenin is rich in agriculture. Al Kamandjati has a...

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24 juillet 2007

one day in Jerusalem

I have spent the whole day in Jerusalem meeting people, not seeing much of the city really, being inside buildings most of the time, except for a few short walks in between meetings in East and West Jerusalem. With Philippe Potjes of the Belgian Consulat...

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23 juillet 2007

Ramallah - day 2

Today Monday, has been another workshop-day for Olivier Marie and his students. Their second one. More students came to today's workshop. I had one interview with the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds to explain about our projects and future ambitions. ©...

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22 juillet 2007

first day in Ramallah

Today Sunday 22nd July, we have started our piano repair and tuning workshop at the music school Al Kamandjati in Ramallah. This morning I could visit the repair workshop which the school itself installed, thanks to the help of a number of private donations...

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21 juillet 2007

from Nablus to Ramallah

Today Saturday was our fifth and last day in Nablus. Our piano expert Olivier Marie succeeded the unexpected: to refurbish the upright piano which was brought into the school when we arrived. The piano is not 100% in order, but can now be used as a study-instrument...

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20 juillet 2007

shooting versus pianos

Today was supposed to be a very quiet day, since Friday is the day of rest for muslims. It was not at all. Already during the night we were woken up by the shooting of heavy artillery, and during the day shooting of guns and machine-guns continued to...

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19 juillet 2007

3rd day piano-repair in Nablus

We are now into our third day in Nablus. Piano-expert Olivier Marie is advancing well with his repair-workshop. He has checked the pianos of the music school of Nablus the Culture and started repairing an upright piano which was brought in from outside...

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18 juillet 2007

piano repair workshop in Nablus

From 16th until 26th July we are back in the Middle East for a project of Music Fund. This time I am in Nablus and Ramallah, together with Olivier Marie, a piano expert working for the Lille based company Nord Piano. On Monday 16th, we first went to stay...

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11 juillet 2007

Music Fund in Kinshasa, Congo

This month, the Brussels based organisation Music Fund has started an important new project in the Democratic Republic of Congo by sending piano-expert Pol De Winter (from Pianomobil, Antwerp) to Kinshasa for an initiation course into repairing and tuning...

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13 février 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)...

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6 janvier 2007

delivery Mizra and concert Nazareth

You can find a documentary in pictures of 6th January 2007 on this webpage (click here). We are at the end of a mission of two weeks and can now finally call it accomplished. All 311 instruments of Music Fund have been succesfully delivered to the different...

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5 janvier 2007

deliveries in Nablus, Ramallah, Nazareth

You can find a documentary in 50 pictures of this crasy but rewarding day of 5th January 2007 on this webpage (click here). What we originally planned to do in 4 days, we finally had to do in 24 hours: delivering all music instruments to Nablus, Ramallah...

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4 janvier 2007

from Ashdod with the instruments to Nablus

You can find a documentary in 53 pictures of our 4th January in Israel and the Westbank by going to this webpage (click). Today Thursday was another long and demanding day at the harbour of Ashdod, where we were kept waiting for more paperwork and checks...

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3 janvier 2007

a day in between

Today was a day in between, a day of waiting and negociating. What counts is what comes out of it: tomorrow morning, Music Fund will finally get its music instruments released from the harbour of Ashdod. We are now on to a 3rd scenario of delivery, since...

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3 janvier 2007

concert programme Ictus in Nablus tomorrow

© this morning's t-shirt I just received the programme which the musicians are going to perform at the Mazri Cultural Centre in Nablus tomorrow evening, Thursday 4th January at 7 pm. Here it is: Georg Philipp Telemann: Sonate in E minor for flute and...

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