To millions around the world, Jerusalem holds special significance.
Tourists visit the city for its holy sites, but these are quite
detached from the human dimension and, on the ground, there is a
different reality. Not too long ago, East Jerusalem was a bustling
center for all Palestinians. Since the closure imposed on the West
Bank and Gaza (1993), cutting East Jerusalem from its Palestinian
hinterland, the city has started to gradually lose its status as an
economic, educational and cultural center for Palestinians. By
night, its streets are deserted and its cultural life has all but
vanished. Jerusalem's Palestinian inhabitants are either seeking
better opportunities elsewhere or looking for entertainment and
cultural activities in other towns in Palestine or on the booming
Israeli western side. It is dawning on us more and more that if we,
Palestinian Jerusalemites, don't act immediately, it could be too
late to reverse this trend.
Current Activities and Achievements
With this in mind and to fill this cultural vacuum, Yabous
Productions was established in 1995. The name Yabous refers to the
Yebusites, or Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe that built the first
city on the present location of Jerusalem around 5,000 years ago.
The concept of yearly Jerusalem Palestinian festivals in music and
art is a testimony to the strength of community action on behalf of
Palestinian and Arab culture in Jerusalem. Yabous Productions, with
its focus on musical productions, should be seen as one aspect
within the context of a drive for cultural revival in East
Jerusalem. Several other organizations in Jerusalem are working in
the areas of theater and the visual arts. (These are beyond the
scope of this article, but we hope to cover their activities at
some point in the future - Ed.) They, naturally, share common
objectives that also guide Yabous's work:
• The promotion of artistic and cultural activities in
Palestine as a whole and, in particular, the attempt to create a
specific Palestinian cultural ambiance in Jerusalem;
• The organization of cultural activities where none exists,
in order to meet the local needs and interests and, simultaneously,
to attract and develop new audiences;
• The encouragement of professionalism and innovation in
artistic productions;
• Cross-cultural exchanges through the presentation of a
variety of international productions to Palestinian Jerusalem
audiences, and the promotion of Palestinian productions locally and
abroad.
Festivals Organized during the Past Three Years
Since 1996, Yabous has been organizing festivals on a yearly basis.
Behind the scenes, the company faces special impediments, like
difficulties in obtaining visas and permits from the Israeli
authorities for visiting performers and artists. A major problem is
the closure, which denies access to the city to a major part of
Palestinians residing in the Palestinian areas. Other problems are
of financial and technical natures, especially as East Jerusalem
lacks well-equipped auditoriums or concert halls.
• The Jerusalem Festival for Arabic Music, 1996
The object behind this program was clear: to help restore Jerusalem
to its former status as the center of cultural life. This festival,
which ran for four days, was held at the Palestinian National
Theater and hosted talented professional Palestinian groups from
Tarshiha and Nazareth (in the Galilee): the Tarshiha Oriental Music
Troupe, Al-Sheikh Imam Program by the Nazareth Municipality
Cultural Center, the Al-Farabi Troupe and Simon Shahine, a
Palestinian from Tarshiha who now lives and performs in the
USA.
• The Jerusalem Festival for Sufi Music, 1997
The following year, Yabous organized a music festival of a
different type, that of Sufi music. It was held at Al-Quds
University, Hind Al-Husseini College in Jerusalem, as well as at
the Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah, on the occasion of the
Holy Month of Ramadan, with the participation of groups from
Palestine, Morocco and Turkey. Sufism is a mystical sect in Islam
and Sufi performers are best known as the whirling dervishes who,
dressed in special costumes, chant and dance to a sort of spiritual
music. One performance was, unfortunately, canceled as the troupe
from Pakistan - the Sabri Brothers - were denied entry permits by
the Israeli military authorities for "unspecified security
reasons." During the Sufi Music Week, artists and musicians toured
and sang in the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem in their
"Caravan of Joy."
• The Jerusalem Jazz Festival, 1997
This is the first of the jazz festivals to be organized by Yabous.
It was held at Al-Quds University and at Al-Siraj Theater in
Ramallah, with the participation of groups from Germany, Austria,
Italy and Kurdistan. This event exposed Palestinians to a different
type of music, opening them up to foreign art forms and building
bridges with other cultures.
• The Arab Theater Festival, 1997
This festival was organized in cooperation with the Ashtar Theater
Group in Ramallah. During the six days of the festival, a network
of Arab theater was created and encounters between theater
directors from different corners of the Arab world took place. In a
round-table, they came together to discuss such issues as women in
the Arabic theater, and the merits of international or local
dialects. The festival brought together actors from Palestine,
Jordan and Morocco. The plays performed included: Accidental Death
of an Anarchist; Martyrs Are Coming Back and The Child of Light
from Palestine; Medea and The Garbage Man from Jordan; and finally,
Save the Soul from Morocco.
• The Jerusalem Festival of Arabic Music, 1997
All performances were held at the Tombs of the Kings, a great
historical site, under French jurisdiction, with a seating capacity
of 800. In contrast to the first festival of Arabic music, this was
not confined to artists from Palestine. They came from Tunisia -
Lutfi Bushnaq; Morocco - Jil Jalalah; Algeria - Houria Aichih; and
also from Palestine - Reem Al-Banna. Co-sponsored by a number of
Palestinian bodies, this festival succeeded in developing
burgeoning cultural links between Palestine and the rest of the
Arab world.
• The Jerusalem Festival of Arabic Music, 1998
In addition to Palestine (The Oriental Music Ensemble and the
Farabi Musical Group), the participants came from Jordan - Iman
Taisir; Tunisia - Trio Anour Braham, and the artists Musataf Dahlah
and Lutfi Bushnaq; Morocco - Aisha Radwan and Adwar Group; and from
the U.S.A. - Simon Shahine and his Group of International
Musicians.
• The Jerusalem Jazz Festival, 1999
Encouraged by its first experiment with jazz, Yabous held a second
jazz festival this year. It too was attended by a large audience as
jazz is slowly attracting Palestinian audiences. The festival ran
for six consecutive nights, March 18-23. The main events took place
at the YMCA in East Jerusalem. Additional concerts were held in
Ramallah and Bethlehem. When they were not performing, the artists
held workshops during the day, in collaboration with the
Palestinian National Conservatory of Music (located in Ramallah and
Bethlehem).
The Jerusalem Festival of Arabic Music, 1999
On July 6-15 of this year, Yabous organized the annual Jerusalem
Festival of Arabic Music. This year the venues were chosen with a
view to promoting Jerusalem's historical and architectural
attributes. The main location was the large open-air stage at the
Tombs of the Kings. Another was the cloister of the Lutheran Church
- Dabagha - in the Old City of Jerusalem, with a 100-seating
capacity. The artists and musicians came from the Arab world, like
Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and, of course, from Palestine - but also
from the United States and Turkey. The diverse program of Arabic
music ranged from solo singing to choirs, from orchestral music to
Oriental ensembles and muwashahat (poetry and songs composed by
Arabs during the period of their rule over Spain). Alongside the
concerts, the artists held workshops, in collaboration with local
musicians, as well as the teachers and students of the National
Conservatory of Music.
This year, the Religious Music Festival - Amen (December 16,
1999-January 6, 2000) is sure to be the highlight of the
millennium, since Yabous has created a special program of concerts,
workshops and prayers, to be held in Palestine, the place which is
celebrating Bethlehem 2000 and Ramadan in the same month. Choral
groups will perform at a variety of venues in mosques and churches
in different locations in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus
and Hebron. Groups from Morocco, Egypt, Norway, Turkey, Austria,
Greece and the United Kingdom will participate in this
festival.
The Long-Term Objective
A festival, by definition, is a short-lived event and these types
of cultural events are ephemeral. But the festival holds open the
possibility of emergent cultural creation and interaction. Although
cultural activities, including annual festivals, proliferate in the
Palestinian Authority areas, a long-term objective is to make the
Jerusalem Palestinian Festival one of the most popular festivals in
the region. East Jerusalem remains isolated culturally as well as
politically, and the Jerusalem Festival serves to anchor us in our
Palestinian identity.