Gaza’s Young Musicians Sing And Play In The Ruins Of War

A boy’s lilting song filled the tent in Gaza City, above an instrumental melody and backing singers’ quiet harmonies, soft music that floated into streets these days more attuned to the deadly beat of bombs and bullets.

- Reuters

The young students were taking part in a lesson given on August 4 by teachers from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, who have continued classes from displacement camps and shattered buildings even after Israel’s bombardments forced them to abandon the school’s main building in the city.

“When I play I feel like I’m flying away,” said Rifan Al-Qassas, 15, who started learning the oud, an Arab lute, when she was nine. She hopes to one day play abroad.