Music and samples available at http://www.asinglethread.com A
little song dedicated to the hard work of the Ukulele's for Peace
Project, played on a Tuvan Igil. This isn't my project, I'm just
helping spread the word about it though my song, and hope you'll do the
same. Here's is some info about the project from the
UkulelesForPeace.com website:
For a long time, we have been
watching and living the miserable situation between Israel and the
Palestinian Arabs in the area. We asked ourselves, how can we
contribute to a change of atmosphere? How can we break the distrust
between the societies, and how can we--as simple citizens--create more
opportunities for Jews and Arabs to meet and be involved with one
another in our daily lives?
As Paul regularly performs to both
Arab and Jewish kids, it gave him an idea: to combine his love for the
ukulele (a small and easy to learn 4 string instrument) and his
experience with children to create Ukuleles For Peace.
The goal
of Ukuleles for Peace is to bring Jewish and Arab children together to
play in an orchestra with ukuleles, kazoos and other fun instruments.
Paul works with the students once a week in their own schools, and then
brings them together for performances. The children sing in Hebrew,
Arabic and English. The hope is that playing together will create
further opportunities for communal activities, and that parents and
members of the communities will get involved in the program.
Ukuleles
for Peace has grown since its inception to involve classes at the
open/democratic elementary school in Hod Hasharon and El Najach
elementary school in Tira.
Up until now, Paul's work has been
completely voluntary. There is an urgent need to find sponsors and to
attract funding and public donations to keep the program alive and
growing.
Paul's dream is to create orchestras in several
communities and towns, enlarging the circle of real co-existence;
enabling kids and parents to befriend one another; and with our modest
abilities, helping to create a happier, better, peaceful society. There
is a lot to be done in this area between the Arab and Jewish population
in Israel. If the situation with the Palestinian Authority is safer,
Paul would like to form a group there too. That will depend on a
relaxing of travel restrictions and on parents feeling that things are
safe enough for their children.
Furthermore, we want to make
sure that a child who wants to play the ukulele will not be prevented
from doing so because he cannot afford one. It is a relatively cheap
instrument ($25), but even that is a lot for some families. Besides
instruments, there is an ongoing need for strings, instructional books
and videos, pitch pipes, etc.
Paul would eventually like to take
Ukuleles For Peace around the world playing at events to show that real
co operation between war-torn communities is possible.