Young Palestinian musicians from Jerusalem perform “Flower of the Cities—Jerusalem in Our Hearts” (Zahrat al-Mada’in—al-Quds f’il Qulubna) on the qanun across Jerusalem landscapes.
In a new performance produced by the Jerusalemite Youth Cultural Forum (JYCF), the young students of the Naqsh Ensemble express their love for Jerusalem through the strings of the qanun. The students live the city’s story and channel it through their fingertips.
The Naqsh Ensemble is one of the musical groups in the School of Arts at the Jerusalemite Youth Cultural Forum. More than 20 male and female students are enrolled in the qanun training program at the Forum.
The piece was filmed across different parts of Jerusalem and its environs, including Lifta, a Palestinian village on the western edge of Jerusalem that was ethnically cleansed in 1948 but never demolished. Israel expelled Palestinian residents from Lifta in early 1948.1