Old Grey Goose International : Israel Journal

Monday, July 7, 2008 - Day Seven

Tania and Katie met us at the hotel and we headed to our first performance of the day at King’s Academy in Madaba, about 30 kilometers south of Amman. This is a brand new boarding school envisioned by King Abdulla II, (one of the late King Hussein’s sons) and modeled after Deering Academy in Massachusetts, where the King attended prep school.

The audience of extremely well behaved, English-speaking Jordanians was by far the most enthusiastic we have seen this trip. Toward the end of our performance we had a question and answer session, and they were anxious to know more about us, our music and our lives.

The campus was new and beautiful. While it is run as an exclusive boarding school during the academic year, less privileged children attend during the summer. At the end of the show the children held an impromptu sing-along for us and it was hard to leave.

From there we drove to the biblical location of Mount Nebo for a brief sightseeing tour. Mount Nebo is where Moses was buried and is the most revered holy site in Jordan. From the top of the mountain one can see, as did Moses, the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho and Jerusalem. It was a bit hazy, but we nevertheless had a great view.

We headed back to the city of Madaba for lunch at a local restaurant named Harat Jdoudna. We had another unbelievable meal that included stuffed mushrooms covered with cheese, hummus with and without meat, Lebanese tabouli (almost all parsley as opposed to North African tabouli which is largely bulgur), peppers, eggplant, salads, a mixed grill of lamb, chicken and kifka and real lemonade with mint.

We then drove to a meeting and workshop with local musicians with whom we will perform tomorrow. They are called the Amman Greater Municipality Oriental Band and are about ten in number. They play all kinds of instruments including two ouds, a fiddle, drums and a keyboard, and began the session with a song and dance in our honor. It was fascinating to see someone in full Bedouin garb playing bagpipes!

We had a wonderful time their exchanging music and learning some of their dance steps. We found one or two songs we think we can learn together in time for our performance.

Much coffee and tea was shared, and a woman from the local radio station began an interview with us. Unfortunately, she had technical difficulties and we arranged to meet tomorrow, instead.

We just had time to return to the hotel to change for the evening concert. It was in the town of Zarqua where a brand new performance hall called the King Abdullah Cultural Center had been built.

The audience was polite, but we felt we were having trouble engaging them. Then, at the end of the concert, most of them came to the stage to thank and speak with us. It was very heartening. Tania and Katie attributed the initial reaction to our music as lack of concert experience in the town, but I think they just found our music unusual. In the end, it was a great evening and we had our pictures taken with many people.

Back to the hotel for a short night….

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