Category: Community Music Programme
Music & Resilience Sicily Tour 2023
Marco, Chiara and Alberto have just returned from a mini-tour of Sicily to deliver three presentations of Music & Resilience at some local venues: 20 October at the Associazione Finestre sul Mondo (Marsala). Salvatore Inguì of Finestre sul Mondo and the Libera Orchestra Popolare organised the meeting. 21 October at the Conservatorio 'A. Scarlatti' in Palermo, we gave a presentation open to students and citizens, with some more technical details on the musical and psychosocial nature of the work we do with our Palestinian friends. Prof. Rosa Alba Gambino, lecturer in music pedagogy, introduced the topic of Community Music, while [...]
M&R activities summer 2023
The final concert is starting! The M&R team has just completed its activities for Summer 2023, which took place from 7 to 19 August. This year the team (consisting of a total of 17 people) worked separately in the first week, and then came together in Baalbek for Summer Camp in the second week, which culminated in the final concert on Saturday 19. During the first week, Community Music work was carried out in the camps of Beddawi (Tripoli) and Mar Elias (Beirut); in the latter, we began a collaboration with Al Kamandjati, a long-standing Palestinian association that has always [...]
Almost ready for M&R August 2023!
At Prima Materia this Saturday we hosted a large part of the Italian team to organise the imminent departure for Lebanon. The Community Music team met to work on the repertoire that will be studied with the Palestinian students and performed at the final concert on 19 August, and we had some fun playing, rehearsing and discussing together. This year the Italian team amounts to 17 people! This is a very large number, which testifies to the interest in this project. We are grateful to all those who support M&R directly or indirectly… only through synergy on many levels is [...]
Preparations for M&R activities 2023
Marco and Alberto have just returned from a field visit to Lebanon to define the activities for this August. Through a series of meetings it was decided to involve the students in a Summer Camp with a final concert, similar to last year, and also to continue with the psychosocial activity in Wavel camp (in Baalbek). M&R has a new local coordinator, Ahmad, with whom the whole team is looking forward to working together! On the last day of their stay, Marco and Alberto joined Ahmad in a music day at the Beddawi centre (in Tarablus), which involved students from [...]
Summer Camp 2022
The 2022 Summer Camp was a great success, with 2 full weeks of music making and fun for around 80 children and adolescents from the camp communities of Beddawi, Ein Elhilweh and Baalbek, together with PM's team of 10 volunteers, between professional musicians, music therapists, journalists and student trainees. Special thanks to the project's main sponsor Taawon, and to the many private supporters who responded to our crowdfunding appeal. More photos here!
HELP US TO TAKE OFF IN AUGUST!
To donate, in support of our 2022 M&R Summer Camp in lebanon - thank you! PM has just held the Orientation week-end for the Italian team who will support the 2022 M&R Summer Camp, which will take place during the first 2 weeks in August, involving over 100 children and students from the Palestinian camp communities. The final concert will be in Baalbek on Saturday 13th August. rehearsing repertoire for the Summer Camp We need help with the airfares for our team of 10 teachers and students. Any donations would be greatly appreciated - every little helps! Please send this [...]
Preparations for the Summer Camp 2022
Prima Materia is ready to go with the new Summer Program after two years of COVID-induced prohibitions. Two members of our team (Deborah & Alberto) are completing the field visit to all the centers involved in Music & Resilience for planning details and also training where possible. We were never let alone by our dear friend and colleague Mohammad Orabi who is now General Project Coordinator for Assumoud (our boss! thank you Mohammad for doing a great job). We also had important strategic meetings with the Assumoud management and our trusted sponsor Taawon, whom we thank as always for its [...]
Community Music workshops, December 2021
2 members of the team, Chiara Trapanese and Marco Lolli, were back in Lebanon for a week last December, running workshops with the Community Music groups in the Assumoud centres of Eni Elhilweh (Saida) and Beddawi (Tripoli). The workshops consolidated the developments of our new online support project for the CM students and their local teachers. The visit also served to transport a digital piano donated in Italy to the Ein Elhilweh centre – our heartfelt thanks to the donor – this will make a world of difference to the students! [...]
Rock ‘n roll in Saida!
Piano, guitars and cello Our crazy percussionists! Yesterday, 13th August, Alberto and Chiara completed the first part of their work this year with the Palestinian community in diaspora in Lebanon, with three days of music in the Saida refugee camp, Ein el Hilweh. The workshops involved a large group of children (about 30) engaged in musical and psychosocial activities, and a group of young musicians with Community Music instrumental activities (see photos above and those in the previous post). We also worked with the more experienced students, who play the role of peer educators by teaching the younger children. There [...]
Lebanon, August 2021
singing games Community Music rehearsals vocal awareness excercise rhythmic games with frisbees Despite extremely hard life conditions here in Lebanon, within the context of a constantly worsening economic situation, THE MUSIC MUST GO ON! Prima Materia is leading a 3-week program of follow-up for music therapy, community music and psychosocial music support, together with Assumoud, in the centres located in Beirut, Saida and Baalbek. The photos show workshops in the Eine Elhilweh Assumoud centre with 50 students, some of whom are now working as peer-to-peer teachers for the younger children. The socio-economic context - the entire country is without electricity [...]
