Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land

by Sandy Tolan

Overview

“A moving account of the dispossessed children of Palestine, and the transformative power that music has had in giving them meaning and reason for hope.”-Reza Aslan

“Moving … Tolan is a scrupulous craftsman.” - Los Angeles Times

It is an unlikely story. Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, a child from a Palestinian refugee camp, confronts an occupying army, gets an education, masters an instrument, dreams of something much bigger than himself, and then, through his charisma and persistence, inspires others to work with him to make that dream real. The dream: a school to transform the lives of thousands of children--as Ramzi's life was transformed--through music. Musicians from all over the world came to help. A violist left the London Symphony Orchestra, in part to work with Ramzi at his new school. Daniel Barenboim, the eminent Israeli conductor, invited Ramzi to join his West Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he founded with the late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said. Since then the two have played together frequently.

Children of the Stone chronicles Ramzi's journey--from stone thrower to music student to school founder--and shows how through his love of music he created something lasting and beautiful in a land torn by violence and war. This is a story about the power of music, but also about freedom and conflict, determination and vision. It's a vivid portrait of life amid checkpoints and military occupation, a growing movement of nonviolent resistance, the prospects of musical collaboration across the Israeli-Palestinian divide, and the potential of music to help children everywhere see new possibilities for their lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608198177
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	04/07/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	512,563
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Sandy Tolan is the author of Me&Hank and The Lemon Tree. As cofounder of Homelands Productions, Tolan has produced dozens of radio documentaries for NPR and PRI. He has also written for more than forty magazines and newspapers. His work has won numerous awards, and he was a 1993 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and an I. F. Stone Fellow at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He is an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Read an Excerpt

Children of the Stone

The Power of Music in a Hard Land

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By Sandy Tolan

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © 2015 Sandy Tolan
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63286-341-6

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CHAPTER 1

Pushcart

January 1985 Ramallah

A light rain fell as the five-year-old boy looked up from the bottom of his uncle's three-wheeled vegetable cart. From the street, no one could see him. He was hidden, curled in the shape of a U, breathing in the faint smell of cucumber and tomato. In the semidarkness, the shaggy-haired boy gazed down at his hands, then up through the slats of the wooden lid to bands of gray sky. He could hear his uncle's footsteps behind him; he could feel the uneven pavement as the pushcart bumped along. He listened to the whir of the scooters and the sputter of passing trucks as his uncle pushed him through the wet, hissing streets. Neither man nor boy spoke a word.

The boy in the vegetable cart had just left the courtroom, where his mother sat before a judge. His father was in prison, hauled away by the occupation authorities. In a drunken rage, he had beaten the boy's mother and set fire to the home where she slept. The boy remembered waking to the fire, and the sound of his father screaming at his mother in the middle of the night. Two years later, the mother, twenty years old, fearful of her husband's drinking and violence, had come to ask the judge for a divorce.

As a grown man twenty-seven years later, Ramzi Aburedwan did not remember how he had learned about the divorce proceeding that day, nor why he had felt compelled to convince his uncle to take him to the court.

"Do you wish to keep your children?" the little boy had heard the judge ask his mother. She had been married at sixteen; six years later, she was the mother of two boys and two girls. Ramzi was the oldest.

The mother hoped to bring her children to live with her parents. But her father would not allow it.

"No," Ramzi heard his mother say to the judge. "I cannot keep them."

Ramzi's grandfather, the father of Ramzi's father, had pleaded with the mother. "If you stay with them, I will give you half of my salary." The older man lived in a refugee camp and earned his living by sweeping the streets of the municipality. "This way you will have enough to raise up your family. And you will live near us. I will pay for your house."

But for the mother, this seemed impossible. How could she agree to live with her children in such close proximity to her estranged husband? His beatings had sent her to the hospital many times. After a divorce, she feared, he would be more violent.

"God will give me others, ensh'allah," she told the judge. God willing.

The mother was heartbroken, but the son did not know this. He only heard her words.

The pushcart rolled on, bouncing through ruts and puddles. The boy looked up into strips of wet sky. His uncle pushed him forward, toward somewhere.

Where are we going? he wondered. What will happen?

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Children of the Stone by Sandy Tolan. Copyright © 2015 Sandy Tolan. Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Note to Readers xiii

Map xv

Introduction xxi

Prelude: Over the Wall, to Play Beethoven 1

First Movement: Stone

1 Pushcart 7

2 Grandfather 9

3 Uprising 25

4 Father 40

5 Accord 49

6 Viola 55

7 Harmony 61

8 Mozari 73

9 Symbol 83

Interlude I 95

Second Movement: Instrument

10 Conservatoire 99

11 Adaptation 111

12 Brother 126

13 Troubadours 126

14 Edward 146

15 Jenin 152

16 Oday 164

17 Celine 172

Interlude II 187

Third Movement: Practice

18 Beethoven

19 Al Kamandjati 197

20 Andalucía 208

21 Palaces 216

22 Luthier 229

23 Fire 236

24 Birth 246

25 Sebaslia 253

Interlude III 265

Fourth Movement: Resistance

26 Fractures 269

27 Unity 276

28 Rise, Child 283

29 Ode to Joy 293

30 A Musical Intifada 298

Postlude: Over the Wall, to Play Beethoven 315

Acknowledgments 317

Source Notes 321

Selected Bibliography 427

Index 439

Editorial Reviews

01/05/2015
In 1988, a photograph of an eight-year-old Palestinian boy poised to throw a stone became a widely reproduced symbol of the first Palestinian intifada. This eye-opening book from Tolan (The Lemon Tree) follows that boy, Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, through his dramatic young adulthood. As Tolan reports, Aburedwan eventually left the Ramallah refugee camp where he grew up to study the viola, attending a New Hampshire summer camp on scholarship in 1997. Later, he was invited by Daniel Barenboim, an Israeli pianist and conductor, to join the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Barenboim, in partnership with close friend Edward Said, founded the orchestra as a step toward peaceful coexistence, with Israelis and Arabs playing music together. Aburedwan, however, became frustrated with the orchestra’s neutral stance during Israel’s 2006 war with Lebanon and left to pursue his own dreams, opening a music school, Al Kamandjati, in Ramallah. Tolan’s exhaustive research and journalistic attention to detail shine through every page of this sweeping chronicle. While the narrative could have been tightened at some points, there’s no denying that Aburedwan’s story forces readers to be thoughtful. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

An astonishing story related with admirable talent. Tolan offers a skillful mix of reportage with heart bursting inspiration; the kind of mix that informs while awakening compassion and hope . . . In this way, Children of the Stone is a book to be studied as well as enjoyed. It should be savored, shared and argued about. Perfect material for a reading group.” —Huffington Post

“Eye-opening . . . Tolan's exhaustive research and journalistic attention to detail shine through every page of this sweeping chronicle.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Tolan] portrays the multigenerational Israeli-Palestinian conflict by focusing on the life and musical abilities of one youngster, Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, and his family and friends . . . This is an engrossing and powerful story, moving skillfully amid the failure of the never-ending battles and 'peace' talks between Israel and Palestine and the determination of one brave young man to change his world.” —starred review, Booklist

“A resolute, heart-rending story of real change and possibility in the Palestinian-Israeli impasse.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Tolan has made his reputation writing in-depth, reconstructive journalism about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Here he looks at a moderately successful effort by Israeli Danial Barenboim and the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said to create an orchestra comprising Israeli and Palestinian musicians. . . It could stand as a metaphor for the enduring conflict and efforts to resolve it." —Best Books of 2015, St. Louis Dispatch

“A non-fiction account that reflects one individual's belief in the power of music and culture to transform lives. His story is proof of the famous words of Margaret Mead—'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.'” —Yo-Yo Ma

“Somewhere amidst the separation barriers and the countless checkpoints, the refugee camps and the demolished homes, the fruitless negotiations and endless conflict, there is a people yearning for a life of dignity and normalcy. You won't see them on TV or in many newspapers. But you will find them in The Children of Stone, Sandy Tolan's moving account of the dispossessed children of Palestine, and the transformative power that music has had in giving them meaning and reason for hope.” —Reza Aslan, author of NO GOD BUT GOD and #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller ZEALOT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS OF NAZARETH

“Children of the Stone is alive with compassion, hope, and great inspiration. It is not necessary to believe in music's power to defeat evil in order to be enchanted by this wonderful story.” —Tom Segev, Israeli historian and author of ONE PALESTINE, COMPLETE

“Sandy Tolan's narrative artistry fuses the coming of age of a talented, ambitious, and fiercely dedicated musician with the story of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories conquered in 1967. A major contribution to our understanding of who they are and essential to a political resolution of the conflict.” —Joel Benin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Professor of Middle East History, Stanford University

“Sandy Tolan has produced another gem on what is happening under the surface in Palestine. The book contains enthralling biographical trajectories of ordinary people fighting against the odds. Written in the style of investigative journalism, the book is riveting and uplifting, without skirting issues of contestation and controversy.” —Salim Tamari, Professor of Sociology, Bir Zeit University (West Bank) and author of YEAR OF THE LOCUST

“[Children of the Stone is] a symphony of international locations, big ideas and human dramas . . . a deeply moving parable of struggle and mastery—over an instrument, over painful injustice and ultimately over self.” —Newsweek

"Sandy Tolan sympathetically lays bare the stresses behind the monolithic WEDO façade, as musicians whose off-stage lives couldn't be more different—comfortable affluence for the Israelis, poverty and hardship for the Arabs—find themselves in entrenched opposition in their stances over the West Bank occupation." —The Independent

"[A]mbitious . . . Tolan excels as a dogged reporter, and his musical descriptions amplify his core themes." —Truthdig

From the Publisher

★ 04/15/2015
Tolan (journalism, Univ. of Southern California Annenberg Sch. for Communication and Journalism; The Lemon Tree) has masterfully woven the story of the creation of a Palestinian music school, Al Kamandjâti; the struggles of the man, Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, who built the school with the help of multiple international supporters; and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Tolan takes the reader on a journey that follows the life of a young Palestinian boy from the time he was abandoned by his mother, through his years as a shahab (name given to Palestinian youths who throw stones) to his success as a musician and leader of a Palestinian orchestra. The education provided by the school, and the concerts that Ramzi's orchestra would perform, were designed with two primary goals. First, that he could in some way help to heal the pain suffered by the children of Palestine by giving them something in which they could find joy. Secondly, that the orchestra could assist in knocking down the walls dividing cultures by bringing young musicians from around the world to play together, work side by side, and teach one another. Tolan's incredible ability to tell the moving true stories of individuals with the historical backdrop of the Arab-Israeli conflict is again on display here. VERDICT This inspiring tale will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in humanity, Middle Eastern studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the healing power of music. [See "Editors' Spring Picks," LJ 2/15/15, p. 33.]—Brenna Smeall, AtoZdatabases, Omaha, NE

Library Journal

2015-01-04
Musicians who play together break down the barriers separating them.Veteran journalist Tolan (Communication and Journalism/Univ. of Southern California; The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, 2006, etc.) finds in the determined career of a Palestinian musician a chance for enduring harmony between Palestinians and Israelis. The poster boy for the First Intifada (1987-1993)—literally; a 1987 photograph of him as a young boy hurling stones at Israeli soldiers from his refugee camp became an iconic international image—Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan was a "child of the stones" growing up near Ramallah, West Bank, under the thumb of Israeli occupation. His mother abandoned him when he was 5, and Palestinian gangs murdered his father in 1990 due to his suspected collaboration with the Israelis. Raised by his grandfather, Ramzi absorbed the collective hatred and despair harbored by the Palestinians against their Israeli enforcers. After the Oslo Accord of 1993, many long-exiled Palestinians were allowed to return to the West Bank and Gaza, including a violinist trained in musical therapy, Mohammad Fadel, who started the Palestine National Conservatory of Music as part of an effort to infuse new life into Palestinian cultural institutions. Ramzi was chosen to play the viola, and he won a "playing for peace" scholarship to study in America and France. Eventually, he was swept into a grand friendship project between Palestinian-American literary scholar Edward Said and Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim in the form of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, based in Seville, Spain, that would promote peace through an Arab-Jewish musical partnership. Ramzi also started his own association in the West Bank, finding ways to support young Palestinian musicians while also making a political stand against Israeli occupation. A resolute, heart-rending story of real change and possibility in the Palestinian-Israeli impasse.

Kirkus Reviews