This week in our online music class we travel to the southernmost part of the Arabian peninsula. Colonial powers have sought to control Yemen for centuries because it sits at the intersection of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, an essential thoroughfare for international shipping. Yemen has a fascinating multi-tribal culture that one would also think would attract international travelers, but Yemen has never had great financial resources to develop a tourist infrastructure, and it also has an unfortunate tradition of tribal, religious and political in-fighting that occasionally devolves into internal struggle. At this writing Yemen is in peril — at war, facing famine, a pawn in a conflict between much more powerful countries. We honor this reality, and we also honor Yemen’s thousands of years of gifts to the world in hopeful, peaceful music and dance.
