The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and the politics of western art music in 21st-century Israel-Palestine

研究往往是在被认为与以色列-巴勒斯坦长期联系/或很久以前联系/的传统上进行的，但较新进口的欧洲曲目在当地发挥的作用却较少被探索。今天，西方艺术音乐被一些阿拉伯巴勒斯坦人理解为他们自我定义的工具，我的目的是分析随后的音乐倡议的形成(一些是教学的，一些是表演的，一些是作曲的)，以及它们与阿拉伯音乐实践和政治运动的接口。研究这些可能会为西方艺术音乐的可译性提供新的视角，也可能为中东的文化政治提供新的见解。试点研究将考察西方-东方Divan交响乐团(WEDO)。自1998年由钢琴家兼指挥家丹尼尔·巴伦博伊姆和文学历史学家爱德华·W·赛义德创立以来，WEDO一直在欧洲和美国被庆祝为希望有一天以色列和巴勒斯坦可能达成和平共处的象征。乐团由以色列、阿拉伯和安达卢西亚的年轻音乐家组成，每年都会举行研讨会和短暂的巡回音乐会，使以色列人和阿拉伯人能够一起演奏音乐，在与他们所有人相关的政治制度所在的地方表演，并试图超越通常将他们分开的政治障碍。我的研究旨在从以下三个主要的批评角度分析WEDO的今天的意义。(I)西方艺术音乐在今天的重要性的下降。分析将试图理解WEDO如何重新吸引人们对一种似乎与(甚至)大多数西方精英无关的艺术形式的关注。交响乐团的哪些方面吸引了西方听众和作家？一个相关的目标是考察乐团的新闻宣传活动及其西班牙赞助商在塑造其在西方的积极接受方面的积极方式。前者发表了许多声明，宣称西方艺术音乐在搭建社会桥梁方面具有表面上的普遍力量；后者在安达卢西亚900-1200年推动了穆斯林和犹太人共存的理想化愿景。(Ii)中东的文化政治。另一个目的是考察乐团在表面上接触到的非西方背景下(大马士革、耶路撒冷、拉巴特和拉马拉)对演出的反应。到目前为止，尽管耶路撒冷的许多学者和记者似乎对此持积极态度，但巴勒斯坦的阿拉伯网络博客作者对此不屑一顾，认为这是一种政治噱头。其他负面反应在巴勒斯坦民族主义者(对他们来说，以色列人和阿拉伯人之间的公开合作相当于暗示这两个群体在该地区是平等的合作伙伴)和右翼以色列人(对他们来说，巴伦博伊姆利用管弦乐队推动以色列从被占领土撤军使他的作品成为反犹作品)之间出现了两极分化。(Iii)日常音乐创作(管弦乐队内的生活)。最终目的将是从参与者与音乐和政治的互动方面考察管弦乐队内部的生活。这些年轻的音乐家(他们中的一些人被教导将彼此视为交战的种族和/或宗教其他人)在研讨会期间如何在音乐和政治上进行交流？业余时间还有其他传统音乐的空间吗？音乐在合作企业的政治动态中扮演着什么角色？这次经历在哪些方面改变了音乐家？这项研究将为乐团提供比大多数西方读者和听众目前所感知的更广泛的背景。它还将揭示一个特定的排练和巡演情况，并向音乐学介绍，从而为音乐制作提供一个新的视角。

Research has often been undertaken in traditions understood to be long connected / or long-ago connected / with Israel-Palestine, but the local role of more recently-imported European repertories has been less explored. Today western art music is grasped by some Arab Palestinians as a vehicle for their own self-definition, and my aim is to analyse the formations of the consequent musical initiatives (some pedagogical, some performing and some compositional), and their interfaces both with Arabic musical practices and political movements. Studying these may offer novel perspectives on western art music's translatability and also new insights into cultural politics in the Middle East. The pilot study will examine the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WEDO). Since its foundation in 1998 by pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim and literary historian Edward W. Said, WEDO has been celebrated in Europe and the USA as a symbol of hope that Israel-Palestine may one day reach peaceful coexistence. Made up of young Israeli, Arab and Andalusian musicians, the orchestra meets annually for a workshop and short concert tour, enabling Israelis and Arabs to play music together, to perform in places with political regimes of relevance to them all, and to attempt to transcend the political barriers that normally divide them. My study aims to analyse WEDO's significance today from three main critical perspectives as follows. (i) The decline in the significance of western art music today. The analysis will attempt to understand the ways in which WEDO attracts renewed attention to an art form that has seemed to become irrelevant to (even) the majority of western elites. What aspects of the orchestra have entranced western listeners and writers? A related objective is to examine the way the orchestra's press campaign and its Spanish sponsors have been active in shaping its positive reception in the west. The former has issued numerous statements that assert western art music's ostensibly universal power to build social bridges; and the latter has promoted an idealised vision of Muslim-Jewish coexistence in Andalusia 900-1200.(ii) Cultural politics in the Middle East. A further aim is to examine responses to the orchestra's performances in precisely the non-Western contexts with which it ostensibly engages (Damascus, Jerusalem, Rabat and Ramallah). So far, whereas many academics and journalists in Jerusalem seem to regard it positively, Arabic Palestinian web bloggers have dismissed it as a political gimmick. Other negative responses are polarised between Palestinian nationalists (for whom public collaboration between Israelis and Arabs is tantamount to suggesting that the two groups are equal partners in the region) and rightist Israelis (for whom Barenboim's use of the orchestra to promote Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories renders his work anti-Semitic). (iii) Music-making in the everyday (life within the orchestra). The final aim will be to examine life within the orchestra in terms of participants' interaction with music and politics. How do these young musicians (some of whom have been taught to conceive each other as warring ethnic and/or religious others) communicate musically and politically during the workshop? Is there space for music of other traditions in spare time? What role does music play within the political dynamic of the collaborative enterprise? In what ways are the musicians changed by the experience? The research will provide the orchestra with a larger context than most western readers and listeners currently perceive. It will also expose a particular rehearsal and touring situation and introduce to musicology, thereby, a new view on musical production.