A Palestinian and an Israeli took to the stage at Italy’s most-loved music festival this week with a duet in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Italian.
Mira Awad and Noa’s cover version of John Lennon’s Imagine was a highlight of the opening night of the Sanremo festival.
For the first time in the event’s 75-year history there was a video message from the Pope. “Music is beauty. Music is an instrument of peace,” Pope Francis said before their performance. “It’s a language the whole world speaks. Music can help people to live together.”
The singers gave a joint interview with the Italian press after their appearance at the Ariston Theatre. “Every road starts with a small step,” said Awad, an Arab-Israeli known to British audiences for her political activism. “We need to start dreaming of a different reality because otherwise we will be stuck in the cycle of blood. And we think that we should not be.
“We are not alone with this message. There are many people in Palestine and also in Israel who want peace. They are sick of the war, of the conflict, and we need to hear these voices more.”
The Jewish Israeli singer and activist Noa added: “We’re proud to be their voice. There must be another way to live and it’s our role to ‘imagine’ an alternative to the horrible reality we’re living now.”
The singers have a friendship that goes back more than 20 years. Together they represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest with There Must Be Another Way in 2009.
Awad’s appearance this week led to some controversy online, with social media users objecting to descriptions of her as Palestinian because she is also an Israeli citizen.
Political discussion around entries in Sanremo has become a feature of the contest in recent years.
In 2019, critics argued that the victory of Mahmood, who is of Italian-Egyptian origin, with his song about the difficult relationship between father and son, and which features a line in Arabic, was a political choice. Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini, who is known for his anti-immigration stance, tweeted his surprise at Sanremo’s win, saying he would have also favoured the runner-up.
During the performance by Awad and Noa on Monday night the audience held up lights and swayed to the ballad. They erupted in applause at the line: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
