The Amazing Azazme
NEGEV DESERT--I have a very vivid imagination. That or I watched too many National Geographic films in my formative years. Spending an afternoon with the Azazme Bedouins conjured up images of tents and camels, dancing with the women of the tribe and having a cultural exchange that would be forever etched in my memory. Well I got the tent and camel parts right.
Azazme Bedouin tents at the site of our day of music and feasting
My favorite camels of the Azazme
I know that plural means more than one. But it shattered my naive expectations to discover that the "Bedouins" we were spending the day with consisted of two male musicians, a son of one of the musicians and a very humble and generous soul who ceaselessly served us. Yep, you guessed it - also a man.
I should have realized something in reality didn't match my fantasy when we were given only a few words about how to dress and no information as to what customs to follow. Clue one.
When I asked Yair Dalal what type of dance would be appropriate (or not appropriate) he said because our group is not of the tribe we could dance as we wanted. Clue two.
But it still didn't sink in. Clueless.
And to think I have a cultural anthropology degree....
Ah - but the setting was beautiful and the Azazme (pron. AzAHzme) were consummate hosts. They played music for us, served us course after course of delicious food they must have easily spent all morning preparing and even showed us how they prepare their bread. If you come to my house I'll give you a place to sleep, some clean sheets, a towel and complete access to the fridge. But cook!?!? How about some hummus from the Farmer's Curb Market. It's really good!
Chicken and meat shown here but the Azazme also prepared 100% vegetarian, animal-free fare for us
If we were to dine with a traditional family, much more cultural preparation would have had to take place. And we're a big group. Usually 20 or so but on this day we numbered 30. I don't know about you but I can't recall last time I had 30 strangers over. At least not since I was 16. And I can't talk about that because mom might be reading....Or worse, dad.
Our group enjoying a magnificant lunch
Okay. So it wasn't much like I expected but it was a highlight nonetheless.
In addition to the food, a live musical collaboration of Azazme Bedouins and Yair Dalal was another guest pleasure of the day. Yair spent a year in the Sinai and Negev deserts living life on a camel. He knows the Bedouins well. And camels, too. But sadly his died of a snake bite.
Yair Dalal with a gurun on far left and an oud next to it - both are musical
instruments
Azazme musician Heleil Al Aweiwi with a more traditional version of King David's harp on far left and a garun (coffee grinder) next to it
Yair is often called a "peace activist," I think of him more as a "peace teacher." He is of Iraqi-Jewish descent, speaks Arabic (well Hebrew too, of course) and has music a school in Galilee. There he and others teach Klezmer and Middle Eastern music to 17-45 year-olds whether Arabs, non-Arabs, Jews or non-Jews.
As Yair shared the story of his school, Yuval added, "Imagine if growing up Arab and Jewish children learned and played music together. It would be much harder to go to war with one another."
Exactly. To which Yair responded with his motto: "Turn all weapons into [musical] instruments. If you attack someone, it breaks."
Makes sense to me. And better yet, instead of breaking them, why not play them? Less messy and a lot more fun.
I've been listening to Yair Dalal and the music of the Azazme for over five years. Even teaching some folkloric style moves to it in belly dance class. Of course the moves are not authentic to the Azazme but they are authentic to the spirit of the music and the connection I feel to the earth and the Source when I dance to it. My students love it too.
I still don't know what it's like to be a Bedouin but perhaps I'm one step closer. It's been my experience that music always moves us closer.
More on Yair Dalal and his mission of peace through music in upcoming blogs.
Note to readers: Tomorrow (Nov. 19th) is a travel day for me to the Nof Ginosar Kibbutz in Galilee. I've been told they have internet access so please check back for a new blog after my travel day.
Comments (2)
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Wow, the food looks amazing! I'll do just about anything for good food. The camels aren't really my thing, though. I think it's the spitting. I can't deal with that.
The statement about Arab and Jewish children having a hard time going to war if they learned music together is powerful. I really wish there was a way to make that happen...Little ideas like that could make a world of difference for future generations if people started trying to change things now.
Posted on November 19, 2007 11:46 AM
The food was exactly that, "amazing." The camels, I'm happy to say, did not spit at me, not even when I pointed a foreign object (camera) at them .
And what you say Ashley is right on target, change needs to start now for future generations to benefit. Sometimes the "reality" of what we see now can be discouraging.
But when we look back over time we can see that the biggest changes grew from relatively small groups of people committed to visions of peace and justice for all.
Posted on November 23, 2007 2:55 AM