The Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, a four-day celebration of cultures and faiths from around the world, will open Saturday with what organizers hope will be the largest singing circle in the Middle East. "With no division between stage and audience and no walls or borders, you are welcome to join the large circle and sing with us under the night sky, both new and old songs, from a diverse range of cultures in many different languages," the organizers wrote on the festival's website. "The singing circle, most likely the largest in the Middle East, is our way of extending an open and heartfelt invitation to everyone to unite and celebrate diversity." According to the festival's artistic director, Itay Mautner, the circle is designed to "continue an age-old tradition of people gathering together just so they could sing; it is part of our effort to promote inclusiveness and break barriers." According to Mautner,"What makes this event particularly beautiful is the absence of stage and audience, and therefore the musicians will be part of the crowd in the circles under the open sky; they will have the same exact experience as everyone else. "Music connects people in the most natural way, the way our dreams and aspirations do."
Mautner added that the singing circle's intimate setting will complement much larger events in the festival that include performers from abroad. The event is open to the general public and free of charge.
Jerusalem festival to assemble Mideast's largest singing circle
Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, which opens Saturday, hopes to blur lines between performers and audience and to celebrate diversity with a night of communal cross-cultural singing • "Music connects people in the most natural way," says director.
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