With all of the strife currently happening, I wanted to let you know that there is still light in this part of the world.
“Music is the universal language,” as the saying goes, and Nazareth violinist Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar began putting this into practice in Israel 10 years ago when he co-founded Polyphony, a community of musicians, educators, parents, and students devoted to bringing classical music to underserved students. They also introduce Arabic and Jewish music to students of both cultures, and offer a variety of programs for elementary school students and up.
The Israeli school system is mostly segregated between Arab and Jewish students but Polyphony wants to change that:
OUR MISSION: Polyphony aims to bridge the divide between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music and to serve as a worldwide model for cooperation based on cultural exchange, dialogue and partnership.
They are an inclusive, supportive musical community:
Polyphony uses music to build a new kind of community. A classical music ensemble involves more than [...] listening to music. [Polyphony’s] success depends upon the combination of each individual’s discipline and unified teamwork. In this way, each member is committed to the success of the entire ensemble.
This environment distinguishes Polyphony among programs using classical music as a diplomatic tool: Parents, students, teachers, and the community come together to achieve a shared goal of musical communication that transcends political affiliations.
This structure inspires mutual friendships and hope for the future:
“When we Arab and Jewish musicians play together on one stage and read the same music, it makes me feel that maybe we still have hope…it’s possible for things to get better.”
— Feras, 17-year-old Arab boy
It is similar to El Sistema, a worldwide network of classical music educational organizations founded in 1975 in Venezuela by Jose Antonio Abreu, whose motto is “Music for Social Change.”
El Sistema-inspired programs provide what the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies describes as "free classical music education that promotes human opportunity and development for impoverished children.”
A news report from 2013 covered Polyphony’s tour in Los Angeles:
They are currently expanding their performances to concert venues all over the world — Europe, the U.S., and, hopefully, larger venues in Israel.
Mr. Abboud-Ashkar and Polyphony are determined to continue — through the Covid pandemic and now during the current hostilities — because Israel, the Middle East, and the world need groups like theirs more than ever. They are part of a progressive vanguard of human beings globally in all walks of life who are fed up with extremism and violence everywhere. We just want to live, work, and play music together.
