Music speaks all languages, crosses borders and teaches values and lessons to those who, regardless of their origin, delight in the infinite game of possibilities offered by the combination of seven notes. For this reason, Leila Weber and Andreas Knapp founded Hangarmusik in 2016 with the conviction that music would be the perfect vehicle to integrate refugees and migrants. During the 42nd Canary Islands International Music Festival (FIMC), this German NGO has carried out a project in the archipelago with more than thirty participants in which minors of foreign origin have had the opportunity to learn to play instruments from scratch and have even been able to enjoy a day of rehearsals with one of the best orchestras in the world, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, conducted by the baton of the Estonian-American Paavo Järvi. It was, after attending that practice at the Tenerife Auditorium, when a group of members of the German symphonic group performed the First Symphony of Mahler: the consummation of the great challenge of this project.
A decade ago, in the hangars of the old Tempelhof airport in Berlin, the dream began. Since then, this NGO has not stopped. “Inclusive rehearsal sessions promote all the skills necessary for children to learn to play an instrument. It is a way not only to promote cultural education, but also to strengthen social skills and the sense of resilience of minors,” explains Knapp.
During the month of December, Hangarmusik professionals worked with boys and girls from juvenile centers in La Laguna and Tejina (Tenerife). Led by Weber and Knapp, and with the participation of another dozen educators, they were able to teach them the necessary rudiments to, without having any prior knowledge beyond their passion for music, be able to extract notes from different instruments.
It doesn’t matter where you come from, what culture: we can play music together
Leila Weber, co-founder of Hangarmusik
After this great work, the workshop culminated with the young people attending a rehearsal of the Tenerife Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Tenerife Auditorium. An act in which they were not limited to being mere spectators. The minors were able to play for a while with great musicians from the symphony.
“When boys and girls realize that, by working together, they can play, they feel great motivation,” explains Hangarmusik co-founder Weber. Knapp adds: “Music opens up the possibility of creating in a group, of being a group,” and highlights the merit of having performed with the orchestral formation a piece as iconic as the First Symphony Mahler.
Music is the basis of humanity
Andreas Knap
This event held in January has been promoted, like the entire project, by the Government of the Canary Islands, through a common effort between its areas of Presidency, Culture and Social Welfare.
One more piece in the rich puzzle that is the FIMC, a festival that, for yet another edition, remembers everyone and, through music, tries not to leave anyone behind. Because, as the founders of Hangarmusik say, “music is the basis of Humanity.”
