FODfest Brings Music to Israel
SHEFFIELD, Mass. — For the last six years, Todd Mack has been on a mission to spread peace through music. In just a few days, Mack along with three other brave friends and musicians, will embark on a journey to Israel to kick off FODfest, the annual music tour honoring the life of Mack’s close friend and fellow musician, slain journalist Daniel Pearl.
And while the mission of FODfest (Friends of Daniel) has always been a neutral one, according to Mack, it will be "impossible on this tour to remain apolitical."
"We may not be political, but the people around us are," Mack said in an interview. "Israel is the most politically charged region of the world."
Pearl, 37, was murdered by terrorists in 2002 in Pakistan while investigating links between shoe-bomber Richard Reid and terror group Al Qaida. He was bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal then but had spent his early years in journalism in Berkshire County. He first worked for the North Adams Transcript and then The Berkshire Eagle.
FODfest is one of several initiatives based on Pearl's life and committed to fostering better understanding between cultures through music, journalism and education, including Daniel Pearl World Music Days this month.
While Mack and his group will be based in Jerusalem during their two-week tour, they will hold three concerts and conduct workshops at schools in the Negev desert, home to the country’s slowly diminishing Bedouin communities.
"Many of these people have retained their nomadic lifestyle. There are never in one place for more than six months at a time," Mack said. "We’ve been told that the kids are pretty shy and that most of them come from a fairly conservative Muslim background. We need to be mindful of that."
In addition to music-centered workshops and free public concerts, FODfest's foray into desert schools will also include a slide show and discussion focusing on Pearl's life and legacy. It is this element of FODfest that drew guitarist Sharon Klein to the stage for this year's tour.
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“I first heard Todd talking about FODfest about three or four years ago. He held a little benefit concert at a friend’s house," Klein said. "I didn’t know he [Danny] was a musician. I really related to him; he felt like a person I would want to be friends with."
The common thread of music is not the only reason Pearl's life continues to resonate so strongly for Klein, who has been playing the guitar for 49 years and the oud for the last three years. She said what connects her to Pearl is a shared heritage of Judaism.
"Israel is my ancestral homeland. I've been there many, many times since my first trip when I was 17," she said. "Danny’s father [Judea Pearl] is Israeli-born. Everybody in Israel knows who Danny Pearl was. Everybody said how much Danny meant to them. He was Jewish, he was targeted by terrorists not only because he was a well-known journalist and an American, but because he was Jewish."
In fact, it was Klein herself who, because of her many connections in Israel and because of Pearl's iconic status there, was able to make most of the arrangements for the upcoming tour. And while Mack continues to stress the festival as a non-political entity, he does not want to discourage the voices that FODfest will ultimately bring forth.
"Our obligation is to ourselves and that when you look at this tour it is well balanced and it goes across all lines, not just religious ones," he said. "We're not preaching anything. We're just using music as the vehicle for people to come together."
As FODfest gears up to carry the message of community across the ocean, Mack said he never loses sight of his friend and fellow musician.
"My job is to make sure that he's remembered and to teach and inform people about who he was as a friend and a person," Mack said. "He'll never not be a part of it. That component, that friendship, is why I go into schools and teach them about Danny."
For more information, visit www.fodfest.org.
