Hello Dear Friends Along The Line! July 28, 2011
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to bring everyone up to date on what’s been happening in the world of J.E.. The big news is that I just returned from an amazing, informative, whirlwind tour of Israel and the West Bank. I’ve been calling it the “Peace and Understanding Tour”, and here’s what happened:
From July 15th through July 21st, we were invited by the U.S. State Department to bring what we do with our music to the very heart of the very intense and fragile Middle-East. (you think it’s hot here…?) I was very honored to be accompanied by my long-time friends and collaborators, Taylor Armerding on mandolin and vocals and Charlie Rose on bass, banjo and vocals. Our “mission”, as I saw it, was to try and teach by example and learn by experience the commonalities that we share—to try and bring our mutual love of music to the wonderful young people of this war-torn region of the world. We were graciously accommodated in this task by the hard-working and dedicated people of the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem who carefully and expertly assembled over a dozen personal appearances, concerts and jam-sessions for us during our entire stay.
We started with a security briefing informing us of some of the issues we needed to be aware of as we traveled through Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Birzeit, Ramallah, Nablus and all the checkpoints in-between. The most valuable, meaningful and touching moments for me were the ones where we got to share our music with both professional and aspiring musicians and singers, both Palestinian and Israeli, of all ages and musical backgrounds. And, of course, they were all invited up on stage to play with us. For instance, on our very first night in country we were fortunate enough to be joined by the well known Israeli folk rock star, David Broza as well as Sheibat and others right there in East Jerusalem. We did some Bob Marley, John Lennon’s “Imagine”, The Youngblood’s “Get Together”, a ROCKIN’ little version of “Proud Mary”, a heartfelt rendition of Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’Changin’”, a few songs from my new CD, “My Love Will Keep” and, naturally, “Sunshine”, “Shanty” and anything we could think of to bring a little light to the whole experience and maybe help diminish any barriers that may exist. We did appearances at radio stations and taped segments for TV shows, whatever we could do to represent the cultural similarities between our two very different parts of the planet. We were invited to participate in the 4th Birzeit Heritage Week to promote tourism in the Palestinian Territories and we got to spend some quality time coaching some incredibly talented and soulful singers who were on their way to compete in the finals of an “American Idol” style show called, “Ahla Sout-Ghaneeha”.
We also had the privilege of visiting and playing concerts in several schools and universities including, “Camp Discovery” in Ramallah, and the beautiful new campus of An-Najah University in Nablus and the gorgeous “Thafer Al-Masri” Theater on the Old Campus. I think this show for 450 students, faculty and the general public was among the most well received concerts that we did. The wide open, receptive, supportive, appreciative nature of those beautiful students that afternoon left us all in a state of awe and humility and with a palpable sense of our connectedness and an acute awareness of our common thirst for understanding and communication---and we did it all through the magical dialog of rhythm, music and melody. I truly believe that at many times we were able to transcend the language barriers and just enjoy the spirit of creativity and song and the give and take that such an understanding brings. Ah, but I wax philosophic…
We also had the opportunity to do a show at the YMCA Summer Camp in East Jerusalem where the children stormed the stage in their enthusiasm for contact and autographs immediately following our last note! Our appearance that same day at the Shufa’t Refugee Camp, Summer Camp Program on the West Bank was a powerful reminder to us of the challenges remaining for the children and families living in these distressed areas. We shared our final public concert stage at the Arab Orthodox Club in Bethlehem with the amazing and authentic folk music and dance group, “Lagi”, and I would like to add that I’m glad we went on first because they would certainly have been one “hard act to follow”. An informal show back at headquarters rounded out our all too brief introductory tour of Israel and the West Bank. But we did get to enjoy the sunset and some great hummus and a Goldstar (or two) on the beach in Tel Aviv before our midnight flight back to the States.
I want to thank Taylor for making this trip with us and bringing his unique style of mandolin playing to our audiences. And also thanks to Charlie for learning and performing some wild middle-eastern style banjo pieces which were kind of emblematic of the spontaneity that our whole tour enjoyed. And thanks to them both for standing shoulder to shoulder with me as we fearlessly approached the unknown. Huge thanks to my intrepid agent, Ed Camolli for putting all this together and to my friend and manager, Mike Robertson for making sure we were well taken care of. Thanks, too, to all our drivers, handlers, and security details and all the wonderfully supportive and caring folks at the U.S. Consulate General including Amir, Suzan, Cindy, Frank Finver, and, of course, Vin Traverso, all of whom made our visit seamless, comfortable and meaningful. Thank you all so much for affording us the opportunity to try and make a difference through the combined gifts of friendship and music. We hope to return as soon as we can to continue the positive in-roads I feel we have made on this journey toward “Peace and Understanding”.
Jonathan
