The Shouting Fence

Musical manifesto

The Shouting Fence is a major musical manifesto against the wall in Palestine, and by extension against all walls  literal and figurative  constructed in the name of nationalism and other extremist ideologies.

British composers Orlando Gough and Richard Chew wrote The Shouting Fence in response to a newspaper photo showing a Palestinian woman with a megaphone in the Syrian village of Majdal Shams. In 1973, this village in the Golan Heights was split in two by a no-go zone. Each Friday evening the villagers assemble at both sides of the border and communicate with friends and relatives by screaming news and messages to each other.

Most song texts are by two major poets in contemporary Arabic literature, the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish and the Syrian-Lebanese Ahmed Saïd Esber, better known by his pseudonym Adonis. The music mixes Eastern and ethnic tinted pieces with elements from the world of the musical, protest songs and theatre.

In this concert, 300 singers from 10 choirs from Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia will sing to each other and the audience will be drawn into the ‘confrontation’. The singers sing and speak. As has often been the case in popular art, oppressive passages are countered with gags, jokes and composed pieces with vocal and instrumental improvisation.

The Shouting Fence is an intensive musical experience that until now was only presented in London and Amsterdam.

Dr. Nawal El Sadaawi has accepted the role of patron to this production.

19:00 - Introduction to The Shouting Fence on Saturday 10/10 (note: not on Friday 9/10!)
As an introduction to The Shouting Fence, Alain Platel, choreographer with les ballets C de la B, the composer Orlando Gough and the director Vital Schraenen will talk about Palestine and about the performance. Organisation: Louis Paul Boonkring & Kaaitheater.