On a quiet day amid the few serene days in Gaza, I met that calm girl with eyes full of determination and passion. Lubna Alyaan was preparing for an audition for a music scholarship at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, where I worked as a guitar teacher and academic supervisor. I will never forget the enthusiasm and passion that filled Lubna’s eyes. She told me with strong will that she wanted to study the violin, even though the violin class was full. My question to her was: Why the violin? She answered, “I love the violin passionately, and I want to become one of the world’s top violinists. That’s my dream.”
When I saw her determination to learn the instrument and her profound love for it and music, I was moved to make an exception and accept her into the class despite the limited opportunities. Lubna performed brilliantly in the aptitude test and became a valuable addition to the class.
For all of us at the Conservatory, it was gratifying to witness Lubna’s steady progress. We all loved Lubna’s diligence, enthusiasm, and joyful spirit. We assisted her in achieving her big dream by arranging violin lessons with teachers and musicians from outside Palestine, such as Tom Suárez, and also through PalMusic in London.
As a teacher of music theory and classical music history, I will not forget Lubna’s passion during her lessons. As a composer, I always encouraged her to use what she learned in improvisation and to try composing some musical phrases. She showed a keen interest in musical composition, demonstrating meticulous attention to every detail in a musical piece.
February 7, 2022, was my last day in Gaza due to the war in May of the previous year. In a difficult farewell moment with Lubna, I encouraged her to continue learning and pursuing her dream.
Lubna was martyred on the morning of November 21, 2023, after the bombing of Lubna’s aunt’s house in the city of Al-Nuseirat, south of Gaza City. This is despite the Israeli army declaring Al-Nusairat as a safe zone. Lubna and her family had sought refuge in the south of Gaza for safety, but their home was bombed that morning, leading to the martyrdom of nearly 50 members of Lubna’s family. Her entire family has been wiped from the civil registry, like so many Palestinian families in Gaza.
I will preserve Lubna’s memory in the best way I know how — by writing music in her memory, in memory of her dream, in memory of her passion, in memory of the future stolen from her. I promise you, Lubna, to keep true to your dreams and to help share your story with the world.
What a tragedy! I wonder what will happen now to the East-West Divan Orchestra that Edward Said founded with Daniel Barenboim. Said is gone; Barenboim is ailing. A noble enterprise trashed by mankind’s folly.
So many promising young people wiped out in an instance. Thanks for this moving tribute to Lubna Alyaan, who loved the violin and aspired to become an excellent violinist. We will never know what would have become of her, what would have become of so many other young people – ambitious or not – whose life was cut short so cruelly.
As with the European Judeocide, we’ll never know how much we’ve lost in so many fields of human activity, the arts, sciences, the worlds of industry, everything. Tragically we can’t hear Lubna now but seeing that picture of her with her precious instrument, and her sensitive musician’s face, we may imagine. I’m reminded of the young woman Manon Gropius, who’d wanted to be an actress but died tragically young. Alban Berg wrote his violin concerto, dedicating it to Manon, “To the memory of an angel”. We’ll never hear Lubna play it but we may cherish the memory of this angel, and we shall.
What I want to do is to encourage more of us to think about new ways to think and act on this issue.
There must be a permanent ceasefire, not with Palestinians suffering under oppressive conditions, but as a place where all live with peace and equality. It is time for Pope Francis to do more than talk. He must go to Gaza and make a stand for peace and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
This is one small thing we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.