Gaza music school shines in “Arabs Got Talent” spotlight

Students and teachers from a music school in Gaza will be glued to their TV screens when “Arabs Got Talent” begins airing the finals on February 28. Five young Gazans from the school, the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, are hoping to become the first Palestinians to win the contest. The group, including four boys and a girl aged between 12 and 16, earned a spot in the final by bringing down the house with a traditional Arabic song that left the judges weeping. Wearing chequered black-and-white scarves, the quintet plays the zither, lute, drum and wooden flute, while a fifth member sings.

Music is able to transfer these students from a world full of pressures to another more comfortable world.

Khamis Abu Sha’ban, deputy administrator at Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

Started in 2008 as a project of the AM Qattan Foundation, which runs cultural programmes in the Arab world, the school was taken over by the Edward Said National Conservatory in 2012, becoming its fifth branch in the Palestinian territories. Despite three wars in six years and a blockade imposed by Egypt and Israel, playing music has steadily gained popularity in Gaza, serving as an outlet in times of hardship. More than 250 students now apply to the conservatory each year, with between 30 and 40 gaining places. The staff of 13 gives lectures on music theory, individual lessons and instruction for small ensembles to a near-full orchestra.

Arts Arabs Got Talent