Ears Wide Open

- intercultural dialogue through creative musical processes

EARS WIDE OPEN took place in Egypt and in Denmark and was financed by means from the Danish Foreign Ministry (DEDI). The project ran over a period of 3 months, and tested the possibility, by using abstract communication – like sound, song and movement – to create another type of dialogue between the Arab/Egyptian and the Western/Danish world. The very conscious avoidance of words and idioms in these types of communication were extremely fruitful to further a more direct and present/attentive communication.

The initiator, music ethnologist Dr. Eva Fock, has allied herself very much with the singer Malene Bichel, and with composer Mogens Christensen, who do both have vast experience with different angles to instant composition, as well as composer and director Dr. Nahla Mattar from Cairo.

The tests made in Egypt took place in both  well-norished environments for children/ youths, and in a Danish supported library in a poor city part, and in several places frequented by children and youth from absolutely burdened environments. For the grown-ups participating, the project came to be a kind of master class for professional musicians (see one of the results with Awtar Quartet here), as well as music students at the Helwan University, and in the form of concerts.

See more on the project’s
homepage
Facebook profile
CKU/The arab initiative