On the hugely popular Arabs Got Talent TV show in Beirut last month, five young musicians in chequered black-and-white scarves brought the house down with a traditional Arabic song that left the judges weeping and earned a ticket straight to the finals.
In the Gaza Strip there was much weeping and celebration too, especially at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, where the group, Al Takht Al Sharqi, made up of four boys and a girl aged between 12 and 16, learnt to play their instruments.
For the past three years, Anas an-Najar, a teacher at the conservatory, has dedicated himself to the band, honing their skills on the zither, lute, drum and wooden flute, while the fifth member sings in soaring, lilting melodies.
Because they will perform live on the final episode on February 28, Saudi-owned broadcaster MBC has asked them not to speak to the media. But their success – a YouTube video of their performance has been watched more than 8.7 million times – has drawn the school where they practise into the spotlight.
Occupying a single floor of a nondescript building owned by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Tel al-Hawa, a middle-class neighbourhood of Gaza city, the conservatory would barely pass notice from the outside.
On the inside, the walls are lined with posters of Arab and Western musicians – Tchaikovsky next to Kamal Al Taweel, a renowned Egyptian composer – and the classrooms are a hive of activity as dozens of students are put through their paces.
Original article by Reuters
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Gaza music school shines in Arabs Got Talent spotlight
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