NO MAN’S Land in Nicosia was yesterday filled with music, as school kids and musicians on both sides of the divide took it in turns to sing songs, beat on drums and play their trumpets.
The brainchild of Dutch composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven, the unusual event brought hundreds of people to the end of Ledra Street next to a military outpost, the buffer zone lying just beyond.
The “concert” marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN as an instrument of peace and human rights, and was specially composed for all Cypriots. Musicians, students and children from both sides of Nicosia performed Cypriot songs, in their own languages from rooftops, balconies and streets along either side of the Green Line. The composition was based on folk melodies familiar to both Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots.
Twaalfhoven told the Mail earlier this was a bi-communal event, but with a difference. It wasn’t looking for a solution to the problem, neither is it trying to pre-empt one: it was simply looking, and acknowledging.
With dusk nearing, children positioned on rooftops and balconies began banging barrels rhythmically, waiting for the response to come from the other side. Seconds later, thuds were heard from across the divide. The same scenario was repeated with lively choir kids singing tunes.
The whole exercise was aptly called Long Distance Call.
Clutching onto a mobile phone and nervously eyeing his stopwatch, Twaalfhoven was trying to co-ordinate the proceedings on his side; the idea was that a flurry of sounds from the north should be immediately accompanied by a comeback from the south.
Once a song was finished, kids would loudly hiss “shhhhh” so that the response from the other side could be heard.
And though the timing between the two sides was not always spot-on, bystanders seemed amused and interested enough to stick around for almost an hour, hoping for that perfect synchronization.
Musical artist Haji Mike also gave a brief performance, with some local-flavoured rapping. Without the aid of sound technology, and due to the approximately 200metre distance across the Green Line, the reply from north Nicosia was inaudible, but to some this may have underscored the gap between the two communities on the island.
