‘IF YOU WISH TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, THEN YOU WOULD DO WELL TO PLAY IN AN ORCHESTRA'
For Arnaout. helping others to understand her own culture is a primary, aim of the workshops. ‘It‘s about being open. it's about discovering new things in the music and in the world around us. and finding out about others without prejudice. As an Arab. I want to let the world and those I work with understand where I come frotn. Sadly. the image of the Arab world is distorted in so many minds.‘
Barenboim recalls this very distortion. which he encountered in the first workshops for the orchestra six years ago: ‘What seemed extraordimtry to me was how much ignorance there was about the ‘other‘. The Israeli kids couldn‘t imagine that there are people in Damascus and Amman and (‘airo who can actually play violin and viola.‘ ()nce they‘ve worked out that there are. indeed. people who play the violin everywhere. the young musicians learn not only how to collaborate. but how to sit next to one another and share a music stand. As Barenboim puts it: 'If you wish to learn how to live in a democratic society. then you would do well to play in an orchestra. I‘or when you do so. you know when to lead and when to follow.’
(‘ultural complexities aside. what unites all these young people is just that: their love of playing music. ‘The musical aspect of the project is the most important of all things.‘ says Arnaout. 'I‘ve learned more about music from being part of this orchestra and working with Barenboim than anything else.‘
As an example of the power of music to bring people of different backgrounds together. the West-Iiastern Divan ()rchestra forms a central part of a programming strand that runs through the whole International Festival. This broad thread encompasses opera. theatre. dance and
music with the likes of The Death ()f
Klinghafler. Shan Khan’s Prayer Room and
even Sacha Waltz‘s dance company Impromptus. American playwright John Adam‘s
controversial opera The Death of Klinghafler is based on actual events: the hijacking of a cruise liner in 1985 by Palestinian terrorists and the subsequent murder of one of the passengers - a wheelchair-bound Jewish man — Leon Klinghoffer. Scottish playwright Shan Khan uses theatre to tackle other potentially explosive themes of race. space and belonging when he brings a Christian. a Muslim and a Jew together in a multi-faith prayer room within a British college. Sacha Waltz and her dance group Impromptus may be doing something altogether less confrontatiomil in their dances to the works of Schubert but the group‘s members come from all over the world and their individual identities often form part of their working material.
While they‘re all varied pieces of work. Brian McMaster. International Festival director. defines each of them. in one way or another. as a ‘performance about people of different races living together. playing together. making music together‘.
And if. as Barenboim says. the West-Eastern Divan project involves encountering and understanding the ‘other' through music. then this is our chance to dojust that. If Britain has an ‘other‘ right now it is to be found somewhere in Iraq. a country we are in conflict with but of whose multi-faceted musical culture most of us know very little. In particular. Iraqi and Iranian— Kurdish culture is shrouded in decades of persecution and exile. But. thanks to a masterful stroke of programming. we can hear five whole hours dedicated to Kurdish music at the Usher Hall. This celebration of Kurdish culture is divided into three parts. each one focusing on a different musical style: songs for traditional Kurdish festivities from Iraq. the poetry-led art of hairan. and the trance-like music of the soufi order of Iran. Hearing unfamiliar music performed by people we wouldn‘t otherwise find ourselves in the same room as is one of the best experiences a festival like this can offer.
Usher Hall, 473 2000, 15 Aug, 8pm, £7.50—£35.
The astuter prolific King Creosote has gone hi-fi, kind of. David Pollock plugs in. Founder of Fife’s alternative folk Fence Collective Kenny Anderson — otherwise known as King Creosote — is set to take his label's Calvinist work ethic one stage further with his second album of 2005. also his first on a major label. Following on from the majestic psych-folk odyssey that is April’s Rocket D/Y. the appearance of KC Rules OK in September on 679/Names Records will see him team up with Mancunian country stalwarts the Earlies as a backing band. Although Anderson first met the Earlies at Wales' Green Man Festival. where both were playing in 2004, it wasn't until he spoke to Names boss Billy Campbell later on in the year that the idea of recording some of Anderson's material together was conceived.
‘Billy was surprised that I hadn't recorded a studio album in almost a decade.’ explains the King. ‘80 he put me together with the Earlies. because they're on his label and they liked my work. The last time I recorded in a studio was with my old band the Skhubi Dubh Orchestra, so KC Rules OK kind of follows on from that. It's a huge step up from what I’ve been doing lately. a hi-fi recording with brass section. keyboards ' and so on, whereas Rocket DIY was recorded in my bedroom with me playing everything. If I‘d ! tried to add cello and horns parts at home you i would have heard the difference.‘
Although he's not sure whether the Earlies will be able to join him for this date. he's still ; promising a preview of KC Rules OK backed by the acoustic Fence 'allstars'. Which would be a
nice distillation of their home-brew spirit and world-beating aspirations. ‘We seem to have caught the imagination of other labels. who we a rely on to be able to do certain things. but we still pride ourselves on the fact that we are Fence.‘ Although keen to promote Fence's work, it being a collective and all. the truth is that Anderson is following fellow Fencers James : Yorkston and the Athletes — signed to Domino Records. home of Franz Ferdinand - and ex- Beta Bandmember Lone Pigeon towards national recognition. ‘Rocket D/Y seems to be going well,’ he muses. ‘At least. a friend called me and told me he'd seen a copy in a record store in Sydney. so it’s already travelled further than any other record I've done!‘ I Underbelly, 0870 745 3083, 15 Aug, 9.30pm. £7.
1 1—18 Aug 2005 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 55