Daniel Barenboim: Importance of Music

This experience during the Gulf War in Israel and another, in certain ways very different one, which took place in Berlin in Nov 1989 with the dismantling of the Wall, have made me reflet on the falseness of the argument that culture is something that one can devote oneself to or afford only when 'real problems' have been solved. It is an argument very often used by politicians who, when there is a need to save money, look first at culture. These two different experiences have made it very clear to me that music can and should mean something other than what this argument presumes the attitude of the public to be.

In Israel in Feb 1991, when the sirens sounded because of the missile attacks coming from Iraq, people had to get up twice a night, put on their gas masks, go into sealed rooms and wait for 5 mins to see whether they were to survive. This put tremendous psychological pressure on the population of Israel. And yet, as soon as it was safe to do so, the Israel Philharmonic started playing two concerts a day, at 12 oclock midday and at 3 oclock in the afternoon, because it was not safe enough in the evening. Only 500 people at a time were allowed in the auditorium, and they had to bring their gas masks. There was a real need for music to be played, for the musicians to be able to play and for the audience to listen. For some, it was a way of forgetting the tension of the night before, for others it was a moment to hope, of not thinking of the next night with the inevitable alarms sounding. In every case, it was anything but a superficial form of entertainment