Program and Events 2008
U.S. Fulbrighter Promotes Peace Through Music in a Jerusalem Concert with Palestinian-Israeli Band
To cap off his year as a Fulbright-MTV scholar, Aaron Shneyer presided over a special concert at Jerusalem’s International YMCA on September 21, International Peace Day. The concert brought together Israeli and Palestinian musicians who participated in Mr. Shneyer’s “Heartbeat Project,” conducted with support from the U.S. government’s Fulbright program. Under the “Heartbeat Project,” Mr. Shneyer reached out to young Palestinian and Israeli musicians to invite them to joint jam sessions on a weekly basis over the course of many months in order to form a joint Israeli-Palestinian band. Mr. Shneyer described the sessions as an opportunity to “come together each week to experience and explore music's power to bring people together and create meaningful social change.” He said the young musicians “have taught each other makamat and blues scales, they have written songs about love and the conflict and they have learned to listen to one another.”
Together, members of the band also composed original music. Posters for the concert prominently carried the slogan “because the mic is more powerful than the gun,” and Mr. Shneyer explained that the mission of the MTVU/Fulbright fellowships is to promote “the power of music” as a global force for mutual understanding. He believes that the Heartbeat project has generated better understanding and friendship among the Palestinian and Israeli band members, and he thanked the audience for joining in the celebration. The concert was attended by Israelis, Palestinians and members of the international community.
