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Friday August 15, 2008

Iranian writes music for Israeli president’s song

by greer fay cashman
jpost.com

Only in cyberspace would an Iranian singer set to music lyrics composed by an Israeli president.

But this is no Internet fable.

Among the guitar-strumming musicians and blond-haired vocalists signed up on the site of songweavers.com is none other than 85-year-old President Shimon Peres.

The Web site is a meeting place for musicians and songwriters. A writer posts a song, and composers write music and upload the result in a wide range of styles.

The black-and-white photograph of a stiff-looking Peres that appears on the site seems more appropriate for a governmental archive than a music site, but that did not deter more than 20 musicians from posting versions of his song, “Ray of Hope.”

“Provide my friend and foe a bloodless day, invite boys and girls for peace to pray,” its lyrics entreat.

Among the musicians inspired by Peres’ words was Sadri Ghandehari, 22, whose Web page says he lives in Teheran.

In describing himself on the Web, Ghandehari said, “My passion is music and to meet others whose interest is working for peace and humanitarian causes.”

Others who put Peres’ song to music included a fair number of Israelis, as well as musicians from Turkey, Canada, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States.

Proving that Peres is not the only elderly musician in the group, among the contributors is a British piano teacher who is 98.

The song itself was penned a year ago. It opens with the words, “Birds of all feathers come and sing together.”

These lines express Peres’ vision of a world without borders, and this vision is emphasized in another line in which he writes, “Forget your borders, ignore your cages and fly free.”

Peres’ spokesman Yoram Dori said the president had told him the international attention to his song on the Web site showed that “music crosses borders, and it’s an exceptional tool for good will among people.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

To hear the song, go to www.songweavers.com.

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