THE HOLY SOUNDS FOUNDATION

THE THREE CULTURES CONCERT
Together in Harmony
Auditorio of Seville
28th September 2002 - 22,00h

The Holy Sounds Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2000 when entrepreneurs Timur and Alfiya Kuanyshevs, Muslims from the Republic of Kazakhstan visited Jerusalem on a business trip. They remained impressed by the beauty of the city and by its powerful meaning in the history. Their need to find a way of understanding and tolerance among the cultures that have lived together for more than one millennium in the city of Jerusalem was so strong that they thought about the music as the common language to join people and to make them learn from  their diversity and differences.

 

 

Holy Sounds advocates cooperation and understanding among Muslims, Jewish and Christians using the unique universal language: music. In this sense, this foundation supports people, groups and organizations that take this ancient art to look for a better communication among all people everywhere at a time when people are torn apart by differences, and humankind is affected by problems difficult to solve.

 

Through music, The Holy Sounds Foundation will set the basis in order to promote a future understanding among different cultures. Sharing and learning out of the differences is the formula proposed to get a common understanding. It is also necessary to create a universal language to communicate, to encourage and to get people together but being conscious of the richness given by their own diversity. 

 

In the same way, Holy Sounds manages grants to those people who work for and transmit the original music from their towns. This will make true the dream of taking this music to other societies, beyond boundaries. In other circumstances this ancient music would be lost and unknown for the majority of people. In fact, grants have been already given to musicians from Morocco, South Africa and Afganistan. It is based on a training through music, being this the medium to relate and set in common different societies and cultures.

 

There are many projects related with culture and training to be developed by this entity such as the creation of an archive of sounds with performances and information from all over the world. This will become an important source of information to be consulted by researchers as well as by amateurs and the general public. Holy Sounds will also promote the development of a variety of teaching materials related with its philosophy (web pages, publications,  compositions, documentaries, etc) in order to promote them subsequently.

 

The first of these projects, nowadays on its initial phase, is based on a series of documentaries under the title of “In search of Holy Sounds”. These documentary films are formed by some historic movies that will trace the journeys of the musical roots and traditions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism from their original  common source to their  current global influence. These films will be distributed worldwide via television, as well as trough educational and home video distribution.

 

In the same way, Holy Sounds is working on a series of musical events with participants from the three cultures: Jewish, Muslims and Christians. These festivals will be celebrated in different places all over the world.

 

 The Foundation has accepted the invitation posed by the Andalusian Government and the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation in order to develop the first big concert in the city of Seville (Spain). This event, thought as a festival for the integration and tolerance, was the official presentation of the Foundation to an international level. 

 

From this concert and on, Holy Sounds will carry on a very attractive programme of activities that its international president and founder, Mrs. Alfiya Kuanysheva, considers an international pilgrimage in order to promote the moral principles encouraged by  the Foundation to spread and to let everybody know its objectives. This pilgrimage counts on three international appointments of great importance to be held in Rome by the middle of December 2003, in Marrakesh in March 2004 and in the Carniegy Hall of New York on 6th September 2004.  .

 

International Headquarter in Spain

 

The Holy Sounds Foundation has decided to set up in Spain, in the city of Seville, its international headquarter in a permanent way. The capital of Andalusia, Seville, has been chosen for two reasons: First, thanks to its multicultural background, where the most solid cultures of the Mediterranean Basin lived in harmony for a long period of time and second due to the previous existence of the only Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation that exists in Europe with its characteristics and features. It is the pavilion of Hassan II –the one that held the participation of Morocco in the Universal Exhibition of 1992- where the Holy Sounds Foundation has its headquarter sharing  the building with the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation. 

 

The creation of the Holy Sounds Foundation counts with the support of political and spiritual leaders worldwide, among them the Pope John Paul II, the President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace and the Nobel Prize for Peace Mijail Gorbachov  and Shimon Peres.

 

 Among the Spanish personalities that support the Holy Sounds Foundation, it is possible to mention the Minister for Education, Culture and Sport, Mrs. Pilar del Castillo, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. José Pedro Pérez Llorca, the president for the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation for Spain, Mr. Enrique Barón Crespo and Mr. Federico Mayor Zaragoza, former Director General of Unesco and President of the Spanish Working Team of the Holy Sounds Foundation in Spain.

 

THREE CULTURES CONCERT

TOGETHER IN HARMONY

 

The Auditorio of Seville held on 28th September 2002, the first international concert organized by the Holy Sounds Foundation. This event, called Three Cultures Concert-Together in Harmony- has been developed with the collaboration of the Andalusian Government and the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation.

 

On the same stage there was a representation of tolerance and peace of the three cultures based on the participation of consecrated artists from different cultures and the same message: understanding among Christian, Muslim and Jewish people. It was a tri-cultural concert that had the following artists on stage:

 

NOA (Jewish culture), the Israeli singer that enjoys the biggest international projection. She presented the different songs of her most recent album: Now, which came into market during the month of September, only a couple of days before the concert. This international artist offers alive a sensitive and strong show, among her hits: the main song of the soundtrack “Life is beautiful” that received numerous awards.  

 

KHALED (Arab culture),  born in Algeria, he is without any doubt “The king of Raï Music” and one of the most important responsible of spreading this kind of music with success all over the world. This artist proposes an intelligent mixture of modern sounds and traditional music from Magreb impossible to resist.

 

KETAMA (Christian culture). The concert was a good occasion to meet again with the art of this singular group. They presented their new album: Dame la Mano (Give me your hand). This album is full of passion and it is passionate too. Pop, flamenco, blues and even hip-hop in their new songs, that alive become a festivity. 

 

PROJECTS FOR THE HOLY SOUNDS FOUNDATION IN SPAIN

 

 

The Holy Sounds Foundation is already working on several projects in Spain, related both with education and music festivals. Regarding education, it is possible to speak about  programs and seminars in collaboration with the Universities of Granada, Toledo and Barcelona. Concerning, music festivals, there are  some steps already made for the organization of three concerts:

 

GRANADA.- Initially thought to be developed in June 2003, this concert will count with the collaboration of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. 

TOLEDO.- In September 2003 the capital of Castilla-La Mancha, the city of Toledo, will hold a concert with children from the three cultures as main characters, in collaboration with the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation too.

 

BARCELONA.- This will be the most important concert programmed for Spain. The concert will be celebrated in September 2004 as part of the activities that will compose the International Forum of Cultures to be developed in the capital of Cataluña, Barcelona.

 

The intention of the Holy Sounds Foundation is to hold a concert in Madrid. At this moment there are some meetings to study the most appropriate date as well as the kind of musical event to be offered.

 

THE SPANISH WORKING TEAM OF THE HOLY SOUNDS FOUNDATION

 

 

In July 2002 Spain was chosen as the country to hold the international headquarter of the Holy Sounds Foundation, together with this, the Spanish working team had an encounter with the founder Mrs. Alfiya Kuanysheva where they signed an official document. The members are as it follows:

 

President                        Federico Mayor Zaragoza

Vice-president                Blas Camacho Zancada

Vice-president                José Pedro Pérez-Llorca Rodrigo

General Secretary          Blas Camacho González

Executive Director         Bernardino León Gros

Members                         Samuel Hadas

                                         Gabriel Ferrán Alfar

                                         Antxon Sarasqueta

                                         Jorge Trías Sagnier

                                         José Mª Martín Patino

 

GRANTS ALREADY GIVEN BY HOLY SOUNDS

 

The Holy Sounds Foundation has been designed as a continuing financial resource, the foundation will begin to make grants immediately, reaching out to those individuals, groups and organizations who use music to encourage greater communication and cooperation among the three faiths born of Abraham. As the Foundation matures,  the mission will likely expand to include other cultures and religions. No matter how embracing the global reach becomes, the emphasis of the Foundation’s philanthropy will always be on Music and the Arts –the Foundation’s chosen vehicles to achieve closer understanding between diverse cultures.

 

Grants will be distributed on a global level to universities, music institutions, art venues, public spaces, and deserving individuals.

 

Special grants from the Foundation shall also be awarded to those who teach the music of their tradition. These grants to teachers of the Judaic, Christian or Islamic paths are aimed at children, benefiting those who may otherwise not have an opportunity to experience this vital part of their culture.

 

While supporting those who teach the music of their own tradition, the Holy Sounds Foundation will disburse grants to individuals and organizations that use music to encourage greater communication among the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures.

 

 

à      The first grant was bestowed upon two vocalists from Morocco: Yaácov Malule from Rabat and Nisim Amar from Meknes. For more than four decades these dedicated performers have preserved the sounds of Andalusian Hebrew music, which traces its roots to the Muslim courts of medieval Spain, evolving into two intertwining musical traditions transmitted in Hebrew and Arabic.

 

à      The second grant went to four young people from Capetown, South Africa, who perform together under the name of Unique Attraction. The vibrancy of their music is enhanced by the blending of Christian themes with tribal rhythms, resulting in a highly polished form of traditional African gospel. They have been together for eleven years since early childhood, first singing in church and then in this quartet, which has performed at numerous local gospel festivals. Until now they have been unable to record and share their music with the world.

 

à      The third grant was given for the preservation of music in a country where, for nearly a decade, traditional music was not allowed in public. During the reign of the Taliban, 25 millions Afghans could not listen to folk and popular music –much of which is based on Muslim devotional and sacred poetry –and many of the country’s most gifted talents were forced to flee to neighbouring Pakistan. Now that the veil of oppression has been lifted, ten Afgani singers and their ensembles will be recorded in two languages, Dari and Pashto, with the goal of representing the airwaves of Radio Afganistan.

 

The Foundation was proud to bestow this final award to those organizing this effort: Professor Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, an ethnomusicologist at the University of California (Los Angeles); Alam Payind, director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Ohio State University, and Adam Nayyar, research director of the National Institute of Folk and Traditional culture in Islamabad (Pakistan).