Music For Gaza in Heerlen!

Welcome to the international weblog of Music For Gaza, a project of composer-musician Merlijn Twaalfhoven. We're very busy preparing the 4th edition of the Music For Gaza project, a CD-exchange event and benefit concert. This time in the south of the Netherlands, the city of Heerlen.

Cultural Cafe De Nor will be hosting our project. In collaboration with the Center for Diversity and the Peace Agency Heerlen we'll give it our best shot to turn May 3 into a memorable day. We have 2 months to organize the event, so exciting times lie ahead!

What's our intention?

We need sponsors!
We're looking for minimal ten sponsors who will each donate 85 euro to help pay for the cost of the concert hall De Nieuwe Nor. We placed an ad on the website of SPL (Foundation Popmusic Limburg), made other inquiries and already have a number of bands, DJ's and volunteers who would like to participate in this event: Wild Bill & The Alabama Speed Steamers, Offroad, Black Mantis, Soundmaze, Crimson Aces, DJ Noisebag, Sagol 59 & the Corner Prophets (Israel), MC Big A (Lebanon/ Detroit USA) & Hanouneh (Sweden), Afrock & Da Sole (Tunesia), Funkmonster, Coral Egan (Montreal, Canada), Freestroke and the swinging soul/pop/funk formation X-Libris. "Rock, Funk & Hip Hop 4 Gaza" will definitely not clash with the rest of our multicultural program for the day, but we need sponsors first before these bands and artists can rock for a better world. In the cafe we'll be programming acoustic music.

Urban & Street Dance demonstration
Mariam Er-Rabhi, director of the new Future Vibes Dance school will not only perform on Sunday afternoon, she'll also be giving a FREE lesson for an hour, which is very nice for the young ones!

Share your story
We've had an interesting first meeting with the Center for Diversity. Cecile Weijs and Hanan Maazouzi offered some workable ideas. That's why this Music For Gaza event will also support global awareness, in a playful educational way. We'll be hosting a dialogue in which invited guests will participate and share their vision with others, listening to others. No debate, no discussion, but instead the art of a good old fashioned conversation!

Infostand and articles
Music For Gaza will also try to educate. Via an infostand, visitors can learn about various humanitarian and cultural projects, initiatives and organizations. This will range from combined Palestinian-Israeli peace movements to bio-dynamic farming and travelling exhibitions. With flyers, brochures and articles we'll bring the Palestinian-Arab, but also the Israeli-Jewish culture within reach.

Music of the Future
Although this project is specifically designed for the children in Gaza, we're not ruling out future collaboration with the Israeli town of Sderot where the residents have been enduring rocket attacks for the past eight years. Some good contacts have been established, based on awareness that the children in both Gaza and Sderot are victims of circumstance and will all benefit from an engaging, entertaining and therapeutic music project. Sderot is willing to reach out and even though it may not be possible right now, the Palestinian children are absolutely welcome in Sderot for a future music project!

Donate articles and items for the Music For Gaza Lottery!
We offer various entry fees to accommodate our visitors. Not everyone can donate at least 10 CD's, DVD's or LP's. That's why we came up with the following: FREE entry with at least 10CD's or 2 euro and 5 CD's or 4 euro without CD's. Every visitor will receive a ticket for our lottery and has a chance to win some nice prizes! And of course you can buy CD's, DVD's and LP's for at least 1 euro each.

Rowwen Heze has donated some of their CD's and singles and is the first regional band who supports this southern Music For Gaza event. If you are or know a Dutch artist, celebrity, musician, entrepreneur or generous southerner who would like to donate a nice item for our lottery, please don't hesitate to contact us at: musicforgaza@email.com

Food and Beverage
Culture and music also require food and beverage. The Center for Diversity has a very talented Multicultural Team de Cuisine. They will take care of preparing a variety in snacks and perhaps even a luscious dinner. Of course typical Palestinian ingredients and recipes won't be left out of this tasteful experience.

Music Schools in Limburg and Glaspaleis
An event on behalf of the music school in Gaza City wouldn't be complete without the participation of the music schools in the region of Heerlen, Parkstad and the province of Limburg. That's why we hope the school boards, teachers and students can participate in a Sunday concert, hosted in the hall of the beautiful Glaspaleis. Merlijn Twaalfhoven, creator of Music For Gaza, could also show some films there and tell us about his projects in Bethlehem and Jordan.

We need volunteers!
There's quite an ambitious plan for Heerlen, as you can see. But to make this day 100% complete and succesful, we're looking for volunteers who are willing to lend a helping hand. Can you agree with our goals and are you available on Sunday May 3, then send us an email explaining what it is you can do for us: musicforgaza@gmail.com

That's it for now, thank you for your time and stay tuned!

For more information, visit our website: http://www.musicforgaza.net