RAMALLAH, March 13, 2017 (WAFA) – Minister of Culture Ihab Bseiso Monday named Ramzi Aburedwan, founder of the Ramallah-based Al-Kamandjati Association, a music conservatory, as Cultural Personality of the Year 2017.

Celebrations were held at the Ramallah Municipal Theater to honor Aburedwan, who was praised by speakers as a person who contributed a great deal to Palestinian art and music through his work at Al-Kamandjati.

Aburedwan, 38, a violist from Amari refugee camp in Ramallah and holder of the gold medal from the Conservatoire of Angers in France, founded Al-Kamandjati in October 2002 with an aim “to support the education and schooling of Palestinian children by making music more accessible to them, especially those living in refugee camps and villages throughout Palestine and Lebanon,” according to the group’s website.

“This project encourages them to make music and thus transcend the daily hardships due to the Israeli military occupation,” it said.

Currently 500 students study music at Al-Kamandjati.

M.K.