No party like a museum party

Jerusalem's Israel Museum pays tribute to its sister city in a celebration of music and culture.

By ASI GAL
Marsh Dondurama 88 248 (photo credit: )
Marsh Dondurama 88 248
(photo credit: )
At the meeting point between Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan there is a huge sign stating that Ramat Gan congratulates Tel Aviv on its 100th Birthday. It makes perfect sense. When a person has a birthday, his friends celebrate for him. In cohesion, if a city's special day arrives, not to mention a centennial one, then obviously her pals, the other cities, throw her a party. Jerusalem is apparently also a friend of Tel Aviv. This Tuesday and Wednesday, The Israel Museum honors Tel Aviv's 100 years with rock, world music, and everything in between in its Art Garden. The celebrations include performances by HaBanot Nechama on Tuesday; Marsh Dondurma, a community of 15 musicians, combining brass, reed and percussion instruments, on Wednesday; as well as many more performances of Indie Rock, Arabic music, world music and Klezmer on both days. On Tuesday the museum also offers, for no extra charge, a tour of its latest exhibition: Masks from Many Times and Many Places. The exhibit invites the public to view and experience masks from the Museum's diverse collection, including works from places such as Burkina Faso, Greece and Papua New Guinea, as well as an extremely rare locally-found prehistoric stone mask, dating back 9,000 years. The tour is In Hebrew with curator Efrat Natan. Celebrations aside, throughout August children under the age of 17 get free entrance to the museum. So if you have the time, and young ones to entertain, come and enjoy the special youth activities the museum has to offer during this scorching hot month. Among them are: Breakfast in a Prehistoric Cave - preparing a breakfast using Stone Age tools held in the youth area courtyard; Scripts and Scrolls - riddles and workshops using ancient techniques; Mask-making inspired by the Many Faces exhibit, and more. Tel Aviv is Here runs from Tuesday, August 11 through Wednesday, August 12. For more information, visit www.imjnet.org.il or call (02) 670-8811. All the shows are included in the museum admission.