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www.roger-waters.com
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At Roger Waters’ request, his concert has been moved from Yarkon Park
to Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam. Over 35,000 tickets have already been sold.
Roger Waters, founder of the legendary Pink Floyd:
“I moved the concert to Neve Shalom as a gesture of solidarity with the voices of reason -
- Israelis and Palestinians seeking a nonviolent path to a just peace between the peoples.”
From the Waters press release issued for the global media:
“Roger Waters, star of Pink Floyd, is changing the venue for his appearance in Israel
to the Village of Peace. The new venue, Neve Shalom [“Oasis of Peace”],
is home to a community that has dedicated itself to a dialogue enabling
people of different religions and nations to live in peace.”
Scheduled to appear at Yarkon Park, Waters changed the location after
discussion with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, writers,
and artists who urged him to take a stand for peace and coexistence
between the two peoples.
Waters:
“The suffering caused by 40 years of occupation is incomprehensible
to the Western world and I support the struggle for freedom.
I moved the concert to Neve Shalom as a gesture of solidarity with the voices of reason -
- Israelis and Palestinians seeking a nonviolent path to a just peace between the peoples.
“A few weeks ago, I watched for the second time Martin Scorsese’s
film documenting the final concert by The Band, and I was inspired
to write a few words that seemed fitting to me:
I just want that thing
When voices join in harmony
And in that fleeting moment,
Meaning coalesces on the ear,
All dark, dissolving, clouds the alleyways no more
And fresh bread scent of home pervades the air
No sandal soles
In dust of broken homes
Nor callused toes peep bloody from the garment hem,
And all the big parades
And shock and awe
And swagger on the carrier decks and medals
Jangle helpless in the face of what is fair
I just want that thing
When friends draw in, some living some begone,
Some brittle, none forgotten
All beloved everyone.
Then dash the glass into the fire
Then well up unashamed my heart
Beyond the reach of fear
Of faith, blind, bigoted and drear
And then across the great divide
Rise men and women unafraid
To dash in loss their bracelets at the wall,
And hearing them
Hope holds me in its thrall.
I just want that thing
When empathy prevails
When man evolves beyond the crass
And reason comes of age
When dogma, cant, and witchcraft
All are banished to the past
When voices join in harmony at last.
The concert’s producer, Shuki Weiss, was highly sympathetic to Waters’ request
and instructed his staff to prepare the area adjacent to Neve Shalom for the concert.
“The village of Neve Shalom, near Jerusalem, is an emblem of peace and brotherhood.
The residents have chosen to live together and establish a dialogue that
lets them share their lives, despite their differences, and with respect for difference.
I believe there’s great importance in supporting what the Neve Shalom community stands for,
demonstrating in practice that the right way to deal with the Jewish-Palestinian conflict
is through peace and dialogue. I am proud to take part in sending a message
of dialogue and I hope that Waters’ appearance at Neve Shalom will
open a window for some serious thought for everyone involved.”
The event’s designer, Mark Fisher, who designed all of Pink Floyd’s concerts
and recently the opening and closing ceremonies at the Turin Winter Olympics in Italy,
will arrive with Group F, the team that produced the pyrotechnics at the Olympics,
to mount the event. Six giant cranes at the site will handle the special effects.
In the picturesque valley below the Latroun Monastery, a small city will be set
up on an area of more than 100 acres, with the stage, audience area, parking,
food and beverage areas, etc. Most of the stage, about 1,500 square meters of it,
will arrive by air freight with the band.
To reach the site from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem will take about 20 minutes,
and from Ben-Gurion Airport, about 7 minutes. Transportation will be made available
via bus and train.
[more]
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© 2006 Bob Close, Inc.
All rights reserved.
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