'Some serious songwriting'

This was one of the most beautiful trainings we did so far, because we felt, we saw and we heard the power of our approach during this week. Of music coming from deep inside. Of personal stories that were shared. Of a courageous and diverse group of people that became a family.

These young people are potential (musical) changemakers in their society, in Irbid. Although it is the second largest city in Amman, with a population of almost 2 million people, there is almost no space for art and creative projects. Irbid is a very conservative city and it hosts over 140.000 Syrian refugees. We believe that artists can fulfil an important role in the city with creative projects. Projects in which people can explore who they are and how they are in relationship to the world around them. It also supports the understanding that there are always opportunities to create something, to build a future. In addition, making music is an important emotional escape valve. When you live in difficult circumstances and when you have experienced traumatic events, words are often not suitable to express yourself.

To enable this potential, we believe it's important to build a healthy and strong team first, before they can reach out to others. In the following levels of training we will focus more and more on their leadership skills.

During the training we composed music for four days and performed together on the fifth day. This was quite a challenge, because not everybody knew each other and the differences in musical experience among the group were big. Some played music for many years, while others started playing their instrument recently or had no musical experience at all. But we truly believe that everybody can take his or her place in the process of improvising and composing music, if you create a safe space. A space out beyond ‘wrongdoing’ or ‘rightdoing’.

It took us three days to create that space and once it was there, everything started to flow. In one of the assignments we asked the participants to go back to a memory that they will never forget. They wrote it down and shared it with the group. Happy, sad, crazy, funny, scary, touching, romantic memories filled the space. So many emotions came out. It was beautiful to see how the participants took care of each other. Sharing these memories created a deeper connection and it was also the fuel for the rest of our creative process.

The group composed four songs together. Songs with a strong message that came from a deep place. They took the stage and shared their honest, sometimes raw, touching and also hopeful stories with their friends and family.

The audience counted 75 people, it showed how proud these musicians were of their achievement. Important to note is that these kind of performances, including the involvement of the family, are rare in Irbid. The performance took place in Garage, the only underground music and art place in Irbid where people can play and listen to new music. The Garage opened it's doors only a few months ago.

No need to say more. You can listen to some of the songs in our stories section on the website.