I seem to have been incredibly busy since I left Damascus last Thursday evening. I’ve also been on an emotional roller-coaster, torn between the mounting excitement around Barack Obama’s inauguration tomorrow–Washington DC is abuzz with visitors, activities, parties, and high hopes– and my continuing deep sadness and concern over the horrors in Gaza.
Plus, there have been significant developments in the Gaza story, which I’ve tried to blog here.
But I just want to write something quick now, before the experience becomes too faded, about the amazing evening we spent in Damascus last Tuesday…
The small delegation of which I was part was invited to an event at the Zeitoun Church, near the Eastern Gate of the Old City of Damascus, in which a joint Christian-Muslim choir sang hymns sacred to their two religions and some patriotic songs, accompanied by traditional Arabic instruments and, at one point, by two “whirling dervishes.”
This was the Alfarah Chorale, organized by Father Elias Zahlawi. Also present was the (Sunni Muslim) Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmed Bader Hasoun, who told us a little about the meaning of some of the dervishes’ sacred gestures.
If I shut my eyes I can almost see the rhythm of the dervishes’ vastly swirling white skirts. I can see the great enthusiasm in the faces of the “Christian” portion of the chorale, which stood in three lines across the back of the stage in the same kind of quasi-ecclesiastical garb a choir in a US church might wear. I can see the broad smiles of the half dozen yellow-clad, hijab-wearing women in the “Muslim” portion of the chorale. I can hear the plaintive tones of the flute, the lute, and the zither. I can feel the insistence of the hand-drums; admire the deep tones of the Muslim men singers over on the left.
The music was tremendous! Extremely accomplished and moving. The choristers seemed to be singing in six or seven parts, and they all reveled in the sound they made together. Sometimes the Christians sang alone; sometimes the Muslims. But mainly they sang together, whether it was sacred songs or more secular patriotic ballads.
Both the Mufti and Father Zahlawi spoke about the great value of the coexistence among faiths and communities that Syria has hosted for many centuries now, and how this can be a model for other nations everywhere. They spoke about how they valued their memories of the Jewish community that used to enrich their lives in Syria– nearly all its members left for the west some years ago… And about how they would love to welcome its members back to Syria.
Mufti Hasoun smiled broadly as he gave a special shout-out to “Barack Hussein Obama” on the occasion of his imminent inauguration as president of the US, and expressed the hope that Washington’s ties with Syria could rapidly be improved.
But it’s the rich and soaring tones of the singers, the wide skirts of the sacred dancers, and the low voice of the hand-drums that stay with me now.
We have a ceasefire in Gaza, however fragile. And tomorrow we’ll have a new president here in the US. Many things that seemed hard to imagine last Tuesday now seem much more possible.
… Just 18 hours of George Bush’s presidency still to go…