Dounia (“world” in Arabic), the first school of oriental music for children and youth, was established in 2016 by musician Gilad Vaknin, at the Keshet School. Its curriculum includes studies in violin, oud, darbuka, canun, nai, keyboards and more. At the end of the last school year, the 20 students of the first class performed with their teachers in a new orchestra, in front of a captivated audience.
The Dounia School challenges the assumption that in order to study music “for real,” one must start with the basics – meaning with classical western music. At Dunia, we learn different classics: Andalusian and Arab music, foundations of the maqam scale, the spirit of the Nuba and matching sounds to the movement of the sun, singing ancient liturgical poetry, and much more.