BUILDING BRIDGES

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The events in the Middle East have once again filled me with dismay. Yet again, Israelis and Palestinians have engaged in hostilities and as each bomb explodes, as each shell reaches its target, as each suicide bomber detonates his fatal load, more death and destruction, more innocent lives pay the price of a war that is being fought without honour on both sides.

I pity the children who have to grow up in such an environment. The children whose lives are at risk each and every minute of every day. Children whose backyards are demolished buildings, whose playgrounds are cemeteries, whose playthings are guns and bombs.

The song this Saturday is by Ofra Haza (1957-2000), a Yemenite-Jewish singer who grew up in a poor neighbourhood of Tel Aviv. Inspired by a love of her Yemenite-Jewish culture, the appeal of her musical art quickly spread to a wider Middle Eastern audience, somehow bridging the divide between Israel and the Arab countries. As her career progressed, the multi-lingual Haza was able to switch between traditional and more commercial singing styles without jeopardising her credibility. The music, too, fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. Success was to follow in Europe and the US; during her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold albums.

This song is about building bridges. Bridges across cultures, across races, across enemy sides.