(MENAFN- Jordan Times) AMMAN — The childhood of Nai Barghouthi, a Palestinian singer, was filled with scenes of clashes and the abject conditions the children in Jenin suffered following the massacre there.
Barghouthi said this provoked her a lot at the time as she was looking for a suitable way of resistance against the Israeli occupation to express her solidarity with the children of Jenin.
'When I was a child watching these scenes and seeing that children my age were being injured, I wanted to find a specific way to express my feelings towards these children. I was too young to go out and demonstrate, so, music was the best way to do it,' she told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.
The Jerusalem-born singer said she made up her mind to study music and attended classes at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music for seven years, studying classical music.She later went to the US to continue her studies and afterwards moved to the Netherlands.
'At the age of seven, I started playing the flute at the conservatory. The main reason motivating me to go on was my family, because the atmosphere was encouraging at my house,' the 20-year-old artist recounted.
Barghouthi, who now lives in Ramallah, said although there were many obstacles ahead, she was determined to keep going and not to let these hurdles hinder her.
'It was definitely difficult to go from my residence to Jerusalem due to the clashes, and I used to show up late to class,' she explained, adding 'I saw soldiers and suffered from tear gas at an early age. These facts encouraged me to learn music as part of my resistance against the Israeli occupation.'
She noted that her family used to panic when she went to class under these challenging conditions.
'But us Palestinians learned to take advantage of panic as an encouraging element to keep going forward,' Barghouthi added.
Barghouthi's mother, who used to sing as well, was her first musical instructor.
'She made me love classical Arabic songs including the works of Um Kulthom,' she said.
The artist said Palestine is abundant with talents but the current situation hinders them to be exposed to the public audience.
'There are many talented people, but the opportunities are limited and they are forced to go abroad. But a limited number of people can afford to travel so many people abandon their dreams of being a musician due to lack of opportunities,' she said, adding that her dream is to open a musical centre where people can learn and improve their talent.
Barghouthi said her message to the world is that music is an important tool of resistance.
'Everyone has his own resistance form and mine is music!,' she concluded.
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