Musicians play Arab tunes in Jewish style for Church Gaza appeal

A Welsh band entertained shoppers in a small mid-Wales town last weekend with Arab tunes in a Jewish style to raise funds for a Christian appeal.

The Klezmonauts, a 9-piece klezmer band, brought the celebratory sounds of traditional Jewish music to the market hall in Llanidloes on Saturday to raise money for the Church in Wales appeal for humanitarian aid in Gaza. The Church funds a mobile dental clinic in Gaza which is run by the Near East Council of Churches, but it is also raising money for medical aid for the NECC’s family health centres.

Band member Matt Watson said, “We're as concerned as everybody else about the situation in Gaza, and we felt that we ought to try and highlight the good work that people are doing out there at this frightening time, and do something practical to help.”

Klezmer is not devotional music, but is drawn from as many different sources as there are places where Jews are found, or have lived at some time. It is interdenominational and international.

Mr Watson said, “We have been able to find tunes such as 'Araber Tants' (Arabic Dance), 'Beym Rebn in Palestina' (At the Rabbi's House in Palestine), and 'Mayim Mayim' (from Abel-Mayim in Gaza), tunes which have been passed down a long line of Jewish musicians over many years, but which sprung originally from Arab traditions.

"This means that at some time Arab and Jewish musicians must have been playing together and listening to each others' music rather than fighting each other, and it's this cooperative spirit which we hope to evoke at this event.

"In a nutshell, we're a Welsh band playing Arab tunes in a Jewish style to raise funds for a Christian charity working in Palestine.”