How an Iraqi orchestra found a home online — Medium
26/09/15 12:44
How an Iraqi orchestra found a home online
the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq was born — and continues to thrive — on the web
https://medium.com/@re_maley/how-an-iraqi-orchestra-found-a-home-online-1346ee8692f5
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How an Iraqi orchestra found a home online — Medium
26/09/15 12:44
When we decided to do a crowd-funding campaign for the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq’s upcoming U.S. tour, we thought of Kickstarter first. The platform had just received its billionth dollar in pledges, and everyone knew that crowd-funding was not just a fad or a niche. But was it right for us? An orchestra seems out of place in the digital landscape, but for this group, it was a natural choice. The group was born online, and that’s how it continues to thrive. Back in 2008, when founder Zuhal Sultan first conceived of the NYOI, she spread the word of her idea on Facebook. She found and interviewed a conductor via Skype. A tweet got her into the office of the Ministry of Culture, and the orchestra had its first sponsor. Despite terrible internet connection, Zuhal managed to gather enough musicians from throughout the country to upload audition videos to YouTube.
ividual instruction is rd to come by in Iraq: e of many reasons the tra travels abroad to study and perform.
YouTube had played a major role in the orchestra even before the group existed. Because of the exodus of artists and teachers in 2003, young Iraqi musicians turned to the web for instruction. They watched performances and masterclasses online, and even managed to take lessons on Skype from time to time. In a country where learning Western classical music was widely reproached, the internet was a free, safe place for the musicians to study. So even with connection that required up to 10 hours to upload 5 minutes of video, students submitted their auditions online — the method still used https://medium.com/@re_maley/how-an-iraqi-orchestra-found-a-home-online-1346ee8692f5
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How an Iraqi orchestra found a home online — Medium
26/09/15 12:44
by the orchestra today. With members from all throughout Iraq and collaborators around the world, why not turn to the internet? It’s the same place where a small group of supporters first gathered together and shared the news of the project. NYOI performs at eethovenhalle (2011)
Kickstarter was a perfect match for so many reasons. It’s become a household name in a country where NYOI was virtually unknown. It’s focused on arts and innovation, which is what this orchestra is all about — uniting disparate peoples and genres, performing classics alongside world premieres. And NYOI shares so many of the values already prominent among Kickstarter’s creators and backers: creativity, community, selfexpression, and, of course, boot-strapping. To launch an all-or-nothing campaign is an incredible leap of faith. We took that leap because we know firsthand the transformative power of music and the value of our project. (And we have five years of international success to back us up on that.) Now we’re thrilled to come to the U.S. in one of our biggest and most important leaps yet. Join us on Kickstarter.
https://medium.com/@re_maley/how-an-iraqi-orchestra-found-a-home-online-1346ee8692f5
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How an Iraqi orchestra found a home online — Medium
https://medium.com/@re_maley/how-an-iraqi-orchestra-found-a-home-online-1346ee8692f5
26/09/15 12:44
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