TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Strumming the strings of the violin with her bow at the Music and Dance Academy on Sunrise and Swan, Angelina Iskandar, hit each note perfectly as she played Bach and different music from around the world.
She’s been playing the violin since she was five and the piano since she was seven, so playing with passion is engrained in her.
“Ever since I was little, my dad bought me a plastic violin and I would always try playing it even though I didn’t know how to play it,” Iskandar said with a smile.
Now at 15 years old, music is a part of her and she plays songs from Armenia, Russia, and also plays Gypsy in A minor, songs she’ll be playing at the Tucson Meet Yourself festival.
“Even though I didn’t visit those countries before, but I know how beautiful those cultures are from their music,” she said.
A professor at the University of Arizona did a study and it says just listening to music by people from different backgrounds lowered the amount of negative feelings towards those people. It also says that people who tend to have pro-diversity views will appreciate the culture from where that music came from even more.
“When I learn things in different languages, it helps me see a different viewpoint that other languages have and it helps me learn how they talk,” Iskandar said.
Her dad Fadi Iskandar taught her how to play the violin and is now her teacher. He lived in Syria for about 40 years, where he learned to play instruments.
“I like to teach her everything about the life there, but also around the world too,” he said.
Angelina also lived in Syria for a few years, so she understands the culture.
On Wednesday, both of them played a duet together, both of them bouncing off each other’s notes, carefully strumming to the same tune. They are each playing at the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival this weekend. Fadi is playing by himself, while Angelina will be playing songs with her mom.
“I see myself when I see my daughter playing and I feel I am teaching myself again when I was child,” Fadi Iskandar said.
It’s his experiences Angelina will be passing down to people watching her at the festival.
“It’s like more fun when you see people and you get to perform for them and they enjoy it. They’re clapping,” she said.
