Al Kamandjâti Association presented a gift to the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) in appreciation of the efforts the AMQF has made in support of the Association since 2004.
The gift was a professional level violin. It was created by musical instrument maker Shehada Shalaldeh during a workshop held at Al Kamandjâti Association for making and maintaining string instruments in 2017. The violin’s back, ribs and high quality Italian neck were all made of maple wood. This was taken from 20 year old maple trees on the Alps mountains. The top was made of spruce wood, from 20 year old trees growing in the Fiemme Valley, Italy. The fingerboard was finely made of African ebony wood.
The gift was presented by Ramzi Abu Radwan, Al Kamandjâti Founder and President, to Omar Qattan, Chairman of the AMQF Board of Trustees. It was given in the presence of Ziad Khalaf, AMQF Director General, Fida Touma, AMQF Deputy Director General, Iyad Staiti, Executive Director of Al Kamandjâti, and Shehada Shalaldeh, the violin maker and Director of Musical Instrument Maintenance at Al Kamandjâti.
Qattan thanked Al Kamandjâti Association for this token of appreciation. He also stressed the need for the continued development of the music sector and providing capacity building to the musical instruments industry in Palestine.
Abu Radwan commended the role the AMQF has played in supporting and assisting Al Kamandjâti Association over the past years. He also appreciated the AMQF’s role in supporting the music sector in Palestine, in general.
Shalaldeh also expressed thanks to the AMQF for supporting him over the years to learn how to make and maintain musical instruments. Thanks to support from the AMQF and Al Kamandjâti Association, Shalaldeh said he has reached an outstanding level after he had training and education at the most prominent institutes and workshops of musical instrument making.