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WhiteFlag: Palestinian-Israeli street fusion band.
A VERY SIMPLE VISION, IN A VERY COMPLICATED REGION.

The story:
... "We met at a fundraiser for "windows - channels for
communication", a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization. the
idea was to produce a one-time only kind of concert, whereby
palestinian musicians from gaza jammed along side israeli
musicians from the Tel-aviv area (1998). we all had an
incredible time on stage. it wasn't planned or scripted. it was
all about a genuine burst of energy and emotions through
musical dialogue. in fact, we so enjoyed it, we decided to
produce another concert for "windows" just to be able to
experience it once again. the venue was packed. the vibe was
electrifying... something stronger than all of us was born".

the initial white-flag line up (mark, shadi, zaher, katja, gani,
yasin) formed itself upon realizing that all members shared the
same sense of priority: "let's play music first and see what
follows next". the only way to go on meeting and keep the fire
burning was to form a band.

"at first, "windows" supported us with all the production related
details, such as making sure our palestinian friends can make it
to rehearsals... ". (mark)

"however, we soon realized that our great friends at "windows"
had an agenda of their own, understandably, and we wanted to
be independent. that is, totally free to do what we wanted to do.
music!!! no politics, no agendas, no forced upon ties and
connections, no hidden messages. a bunch of musicians playing
together..." (shadi).

a very simple vision, indeed, but in a very complicated region,
no doubt.

two years and twenty gigs or so later, the second 'intifada' broke
out. in fact, white flag was to appear on stage one day after the
initial wave of violence took place. the debate back stage was
whether to have the concert take place as originally planned or
cancel it following the current events. as always, white flag
ended up sticking to their initial set of priorities. they went on
stage to perform opposite a packed venue.

four years of active conflict put the white flag project on hold.
band members could not possibly get together under one roof
to continue playing. the situation in the middle east was at its
worst. "it took a lot of effort from all of us to keep in touch
across borders, and keep up to date on everybody's evolving life
stories. shadi left gaza for Switzerland, zaher is in New York,
yasin got married and had a baby... and yet somehow, the initial
vision of us as a band stayed in all of our hearts. we really are
still running after that same initial goal... forget peace, forget
war, forget politics, forget everything....just let us play music
together " (gani).

then, a real breakthrough and lots of assistance came from
an unexpected source: "ANTV is a production company from the
Netherlands", says mark smulian..
"they featured white flag on one of their documentaries shot in
israel way back during 2000. one day, and all these years later,
the phone rings, and i am surprised to here ANTV on the other
end of the line, asking about white flag. they expressed their
will to try and support us in reuniting the band and making a
documentary about this whole story. guess what we
said?" (mark)

yup, as always, the answer was emphasizing wanting to play
music first, and seeing what will follow next. the ball was now
rolling, through ANTV many more good people and
organizations slowly started to come on board,

During the summer of 2005, WhiteFlag reunited in Lucerne
Switzerland as guests of the Mayor. WF rehearsed, recorded their
first C.D ( released in the Swiss market by Phonag records) and
performed a number of concerts, of which two where at the
Montreux Jazz festival and a major concert, broadcast live on
Swiss national T.V from the KKL (cultural centre Lucerne). In
august 2005 the members of the band returned to their
respective homes and maintain contact, in the belief that we will
be able to continue our creative process in the future.

WF hope releasing their album 'EXILE' in the local; this is in
itself an endeavor as WF believes they must offer the album to
both the Arab Israeli market as well as the Jewish Israeli market
which are fundamentally two separate markets and basically
ignore one and other!

Problems:
WhiteFlag's major problem is their inability to meet and
rehearse on a regular basis. As a result the creative process that
is the natural way of music bands is consistently blocked. In
order to meet we have to be outside the middle east tho' we are
working on trying to have the band meet in Israel, if the powers
that be allow it to happen, and perform intimate concerts in
small venues around Israel. Of course our inability to meet and
perform on a regular basis also limits our ability to generate any
kind of income, that would allow us to move forward and try to
'make a living' of off our music...but...we believe in what we are
doing and believe in our music, and are sure that in the end we
will overcome these obstacles and do what we have the right to
do...make music to be continued.....

The music: "we are putting all of our individual stories and
backgrounds into the mix. of course the middle-east, its
flavors, colors, sounds languages and cultures is the anchor for
it all. we will use Arabic and Hebrew in our stuff, as well as all
instruments we were ever exposed to. we want to be able to
create a very unique sound-scape, and share our message with
whoever wants to hear it.

For more info on WhiteFlag please contact:
Shachi Cutbush - Manager for WhiteFlag at:
Telephones:
Australia: +61 (0) 2 66801182 Mobile: +61 (0) 431 337326
Israel: +972 (0) 77-500-5550 Mobile: +972 (0) 546 443248
Emails:
Shachi@whiteflagmusic.com or Shachi@optusnet.com.au

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