WEST BANK: A disabled Palestinian musician plays traditional fiddle using his foot and hand

Record ID: 561770

  • Title: WEST BANK: A disabled Palestinian musician plays traditional fiddle using his foot and hand
  • Date: 28th May 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN DISABLED MAN ADEL AL-WAHSH SAYING: "This is the oldest string instrument, it has been passed down by poets and musicians to our forefathers. It is unique in that it has only one string, unlike other instruments. It is made of wood and leather and the one string. I consider it to be the oldest string instrument. (REPORTER ASKS: Why did you choose this instrument not another?) This is the one I learned to play and am used to playing. It's also the easiest instrument for me to play. I can't play other instruments like the oud (traditional Middle Eastern lute with 11 strings)."
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVADJ0M9IG50YJFJGO21GBEZWMSZ
  • Story Text: For disabled musician Adel al-Wahsh, playing music is not only a form of enjoyment but also a means of making a living as his disability prevents him from taking up many other types of employment.
    Al-Wahsh, 40, lost his right arm while in a minefield outside an Israeli military zone 20 years ago. He searched for different ways to make a living before taking up his favourite hobby.
    "Because of my disability, I have no other choice but to practice my hobby which is to play the shabbaba (a type of traditional Middle Eastern flute) and the rababa (a type of traditional Middle Eastern fiddle),"
    al-Wahsh told Reuters.
    "This has been my hobby since I was a young boy. So I play it for the tourists, what else can I do?," he added.
    Sitting on a pavement near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where many believe Jesus to have been born, al-Wahsh plays his fiddle to the tourists and pilgrims who walk past him every day. Some stop to take photographs and drop a dollar or two into his money box.
    Al-Wahsh, who supports a family of six, found that he could play the rababa by using his left arm and right leg.
    "This is the one (the instrument) I learned to play and am used to playing. It's also the easiest instrument for me to play. I can't play other instruments like the oud (traditional Middle Eastern guitar with 11 strings)," al-Wahsh said.
    Al-Wahsh lives in the village of Za'tara, famous for agriculture and farming, and says life is tough for Palestinians at the moment and one has to find any means to make a living to support their families.
    "Because of the suffering and the hard circumstances (he plays the fiddle for tourists). Living conditions are hard and I have no other choice," he said.
    Bethlehem, like many West Bank cities, is virtually encircled by Israel's barrier and visitors must drive past towering walls and Israeli military watchtowers.
    Israel says the barrier, which surrounds the West Bank and cuts into parts of it, is needed to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out of Israel. But Palestinians say it is a land-grab and imposes further restrictions on already stringent Israeli measures regulating the movement of Palestinian goods and people.
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