He is the man with four passports, Argentinian, Israeli, Spanish, and even Palestinian. Daniel Barenboim, 79, both an immense pianist and conductor, announced on Tuesday October 4 that, at almost 80 years old, he had decided to step back from the stage, and renounced all his commitments for the months to come. come to fight against a neurological disease. “It is in a mixture of pride and sadness that I announce to you to take a step aside, he writes on social networks, my health has deteriorated in recent months and I have been diagnosed with a severe neurological disease. I now have to focus on my physical well-being as much as possible.”.
He was born in 1942 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into a Jewish family that fled European anti-Semitism at the turn of the century, an event linked to the violence of history that would mark his life. After the end of the war, in 1952, his parents decided to leave to settle in Israel, and it was there that he made his scales, then his first concerts, before embarking on a career that would will go around the world several times. At first, he just makes music. But very quickly, shocked by the six-day war and that of Yom Kippur, he decided to express himself, to get involved. He says he can’t help it. “Art for art’s sake does not existhe told the World, no one in life is neutral, certainly not artists.“
Daniel Barenboim thinks that emancipation goes through culture and education. So he always tried to build bridges. He went to play in Germany in 1963 when his Holocaust-stricken family thought it was wrong. In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, he played for the East Germans. And in 1999, he created a fraternal orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan orchestra, welcoming Israeli, Palestinian, West Bank, Iranian, Lebanese and Egyptian musicians. Orchestra that has been able to play everywhere except at home in Israel. In 2005, he and his musicians had to use Spanish diplomatic passports to cross the border and perform clandestinely in Ramallah.
Daniel Barenboim says that it is not music, but justice that will bring peace. But he thinks that politics should be inspired by orchestras, where no musician wishes his neighbor a false note but listens, seeks agreement and harmony, the only way to build together. He’s that man who steps back from the scene, but doesn’t want anyone to worry about him,”whether I look behind me or in front, I’m not just satisfied, I’m fulfilled.”