This is Gaza too: Bullet songs
Once Ghada Shoman, 20, and her brother Mohammed, 16, began playing music, their songs flew through the sky as if seeking the peace missing from their lives. But lately their music has become so much more.
“Now my voice and my brother’s guitar are our ‘weapons,’” Ghada says, staring out to what lies beyond the horizon. “During the last offensive on Gaza (in the summer of 2014), the resistance was inspired by national songs of bravery and a vision of future freedom. And now, so are we.”
Ghada and Mohammed are teenage freedom fighters who have found their own way to resist by inspiring and waking the minds of their listeners. The repeated assaults and stifling oppression have taught them to live life with one foot in the grave and the other poised to leap to the sky. The brother and sister were raised in Gaza City to a family of five sisters and two brothers, but they are the only ones who have shown and pursued a natural talent for music. Ghada, who is studying pharmacy in university, sings beautifully without training; Mohammed has taken guitar lessons at the Edward Said Institute for Music Education for the past three years. Last year, the high school student won a championship held for guitar players from both Gaza and the West Bank. And while at first they were worried about how the conservative, resource-starved society of Gaza would react to their children’s pursuit of music, their parents now are proud.
Source: mondoweiss.net