Miri Ben-Ari interview
(Video: Yaron Brener)
Ben-Ari recalled hearing Berger’s violin playing while she was still in captivity. “I heard her playing ‘Hallelujah’ and I said that once she’s out, I’ll invite her to come to New York and play violin with me.
“I also spoke to this terrific organization, the Israeli American Council, that has organized so many protests and demonstrations all over America for the hostages and they would facilitate this performance. This is official. I’m putting it out. And I’m so looking forward to meeting her,” she said.
Ben-Ari added she believed the power of music and playing the violin could help Berger face her trauma in a way akin to therapy. “I think the violin could become extremely therapeutic. It’s something she knows. You don’t forget how to play the violin. And it’s like an extension of your soul,” she said.
“You get to express yourself to sometimes say things beyond words. The violin comes from your soul. I recommend everyone who is going through a healing journey and especially Agam, who is a violinist, to pick up her violin again and try and create some music. Hopefully with me.”
“I think that music is the very universal language. It is the best vehicle to show unity, to show how harmony should look like, to be proud, to have a voice, not to be afraid,” she added. “Music and violin could become anything that you want.”
“In my journey, it was hip hop music, which has been my career. I’ve been the hip hop violinist from the Apollo stage to the White House to my many collaborations. And I hope that with music, we’ll be able to make a whole different statement that is going to have a really good and positive impact.”
“One of the things that I chose to do to combat hate and antisemitism is through my project, Symphony of Brotherhood,” she added. “It’s a partnership with the Israeli Commission here and the government in New Jersey and the Department of Education.”
“We are opening Black History Month in a couple of days: 18 high schools here in Newark, 2,000 high school students, the lieutenant governor and a lot of politicians and influentials will attend.”
“I am taking my electric violin along with a Holocaust survivor violin that was given to me by Violins of Hope. It was, Amnon Weinstein who facilitated all of these instruments. And I’m going to switch violins in the middle of my show in order to tell the story of that violin that survived the Holocaust,” she explained.
“Now I get to tell the story by playing this instrument. I get to talk about the Holocaust and my family, who are third generation to Holocaust survivors through this violin. This is so unique and I’m so honored. I’ve gotten to play those violins of hope before and I usually don’t make myself cry while I’m on stage, but these violins made me cry,” she concluded.
