美国国家公共电台 NPR Kinan Azmeh Brings The Magic Of Music To Summer Camp For Refugee Children

 

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Summer camp is an American tradition. But it's a completely new experience for kids who come to this country from refugee camps. This is a story about a summer day camp that immerses newcomers in American culture. It also sharpens their English skills. There's also music, a language all kids understand. And it was brought to them by a world famous musician. NPR's Deborah Amos reports from Union, N.J.

KINAN AZMEH: (Playing clarinet).

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE¹: The tall man with a balding head and trim beard tells the youngest refugees that his clarinet is magical. He folds himself down to a 5-year-old's eye level for children from more than a dozen countries, including the Middle East and Africa. And he plays like a whisper, he tells them.

AZMEH: (Playing clarinet).

AMOS: They're too young to know that Kinan Azmeh is really famous. He's a Grammy Award winner, a musician and composer born in Syria. He usually plays for international audiences, not in a crouch² on the floor, where he whispers to the kids.

AZMEH: (Whispering) Are you ready for the loud part? Put your hands in your ears.

AMOS: This audience is delighted.

AZMEH: (Playing clarinet).

It's amazing. I remember when I was a little kid, you know, when somebody's playing an instrument - and you want to be physically³ connected to it. And you want touch the magic, you know?

AMOS: His visit is the high point of a three-week course for more than 70 refugee kids run by the International Rescue Committee in New Jersey⁴. Azmeh volunteered, he says, because he understands the hard journey these kids have been on, uprooted⁵ from home. In January, he was on similar shaky ground. He was on tour in Europe when a presidential executive order canceled visas and banned travel from seven majority-Muslim nations to the U.S., including Syria. For days, he didn't know if he could fly home to New York, where he's lived for 16 years.

AZMEH: Yes. I risked not being able to come back home. It gave me perspective. What does it mean for other people? You know, you can always feel emotionally shaken by something. For me, I immediately think, what can I do?

AMOS: An outspoken⁶ critic of the Syrian regime, he can't go there to help. What he did is record an album, "Songs For Days To Come," donating half of the proceeds to this summer camp. He's part of the program that gets newly arrived refugee kids ready for an American classroom. Many have missed years of school due to war and violence back home. They get to practice their English and learn other basic skills.

MEGAN BERGERT: Just those things that seem so simple, like bringing your backpack every day and learning how to sit and keep your hands to yourself.

AMOS: That's Megan Bergert. She's the youth coordinator⁷ for the IRC. The kids also get yoga classes and drama therapy here to overcome the trauma⁸ of forced migration⁹ and the rising anti-Muslim, anti-refugee sentiment in their new home. Even the youngest kids feel it, she says.

BERGERT: You know, they feel those things in their bodies. They know that there's tension at home. They're not watching it on the news. They don't know what the details are very often. But that's why they come in, and we see it on their faces - because they're feeling it as a physical experience.

AZMEH: OK. Now let's do one, two, three, four.

(SOUNDBITE OF CLAPPING)

AZMEH: Don't rush.

AMOS: Azmeh's music workshop offers a respite¹⁰ for the teenagers here, too, in a separate session for them. The music opens this circle of kids from different countries, different languages, now all refugees who have to adapt to a new country.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

AMOS: His wife, Layale Chaker, a concert violinist, plays as Azmeh leads a dance that teaches a musical language. Abdullah Mahmoud, a 16-year-old from Iraq, is beaming as he pounds out a rhythm with his new friends at summer camp. He arrived nine months ago with his parents from Baghdad and has already learned a lot about his new country.

ABDULLAH MAHMOUD: The most important thing is the freedom of religion. Any person can do his religion.

AMOS: So you didn't worry that being a Muslim was going to be a problem. You already knew that you had a right.

MAHMOUD: Yeah. I don't worry about the Muslim thing because I read that every person in the United States has freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

AZMEH: You can have a louder cheese, guys. This is too soft.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Cheese.

AMOS: Azmeh says music is also about freedom - freedom to express your emotions. The kids swarm¹¹ him for selfies to remember their first American summer camp. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Union, N.J.

(SOUNDBITE OF KINAN AZMEH'S "TULINA'S CARMONA")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 crouch   

v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏

参考例句：

• I crouched on the ground.我蹲在地上。
• He crouched down beside him.他在他的旁边蹲下来。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

5 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

7 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

9 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

10 respite   

n.休息，中止，暂缓

参考例句：

• She was interrogated without respite for twenty-four hours.她被不间断地审问了二十四小时。
• Devaluation would only give the economy a brief respite.贬值只能让经济得到暂时的缓解。

11 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。