At Qissa, we believe that sharing stories can lead to real change. This is something that is echoed by the Jerusalem Youth Chorus; a group of Israeli and Palestinian youth who meet to co-create music and speak their truths to each other.
Founded in 2012, the Jerusalem Youth Chorus (JYC) has 30 members aged between 14 and 19, split evenly between Arab and Jewish singers. The group meets weekly for rehearsals and dialogue. Being able to open up a conversation between two communities who don’t often have the chance for positive interactions is a really important part of the group’s mission.
"I only knew Israelis; I had never met any Arabs before I came here. I didn't know what I was going to see when I came here. I wasn't sure what I expected, but what I realized was that we're all the same." - Shifra, Israeli singer
Michal Levin, who supervises the dialogue program for the choir, says, “When they come to deal with conflict, they don’t come just spilling out their opinions. Now they have to think and see what the consequences of their opinions are vis-à-vis the people they are sitting in the room with.”
To be as inclusive as possible, the group runs in three languages - English, Arabic and Hebrew - and the management team and board holds a mix of both Israelis and Palestinians. JYC was founded by Micah Hendler who had been working for years in musical community building and Israeli-Palestinian conflict transformation. Micah has been named as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for Music.
Influencing not just the young people taking part, the Chorus also has an effect on the wider community, as the members spread messages against separation and fear to their families and friends. During the summer of 2014, when most other Palestinian-Israeli groups could no longer meet due to bombings and kidnappings, JYC continued to meet three times a week in bomb shelters where they continuously challenged each other's narratives and built a level of trust and understanding with one another. Not a single member left during that summer.
The group sings a range of musical styles, influenced by both the East and the West. However, one thing they don't do is sing about ‘peace’. Seen as a cliche by the members, they instead sing about the foundations of peace: love, understanding, community and connection to home. Examples of their repertoire include “Yihiyeh Beseder”, an Israeli popular song grounded in hip-hop, "Nassam Aleina el Hawa", a traditional treatment of Arabic folklore, and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.
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The Chorus tours most years and have so far traveled to Japan, the United Kingdom (twice), Switzerland (twice), and the United States (four times). You can listen to their incredible compositions on YouTube, Spotify and other music players.
"Everything starts small, so we start small and will grow step by step. This is how it works with us, so if we start peace in small groups, we hope in the future to make peace with bigger groups.” - Suzette, East Jerusalem
We hope the JYC can continue to grow and continue to influence the communities around them!
