Some 92 minutes for a live broadcast on satellite TV. Such is the amount of time Al-Jazeera and Ramattan, a Palestinian news agency, alloted the "Conquering the Silence" concert in Ramallah on Sunday. During that time, musician Khaled Jubran, who produced and hosted the event, juggled artists performing in recording studios all around the world: Paris, Dubai, Cairo, New York, London and Beirut. An hour and a half after the opening note, organizers breathed a sigh of relief: Everything had gone as planned, except for a few hitches, which did not interfere with the festive atmosphere. Millions watched it all over the world.

Jubran seemed nonplussed by the pressure of such a complex production - one which he worked on with friends for three months - as he stood onstage at the Ramallah Cultural Center, juxtaposed by a couch and an enormous screen. He kicked off the event with a moving virtuoso, solo performance on the Arab buzuk and then proceeded to navigate the event smoothly. He joked with artists who appeared onscreen, but did not conceal his strident opposition to oppression and occupation. Such was the artists' objective for the evening: to break the silence. Satellite technology made it possible to mock the limits to freedom of movement imposed on them by appearing in tandem, despite prohibitions.

In the first performance, Lebanese director and actor Roger Assaf appeared in Beirut, emphasizing the walls and boundaries erected between nations of the Middle East and the ensuing silence. Assaf, who remained in the capital during the shelling in the recent war and who has written his impressions in numerous articles, described a trip to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian audience; his is a trip which can only be taken in the imagination. In the end, he begged the forgiveness of viewers for replacing the traditional moment of silence to mourn the dead with a moment of screaming. Live on screen, he removed his glasses, closed his eyes tightly, clenched his fists, and emitted a shriek which sounded like the groaning of a wounded heart. From then on, each performance seemed to be a continuation of that cry.

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The concert's virtual jaunt around the world revealed many different facets of music, dance, art and reached new summits. One performance featured a piece by celebrated guitarist John Williams. Despite his shy demeanor, he executed the piece with typical perfection.

Musician Kamilia Jubran appeared onstage after Williams; she formerly led the Sabreen group. Jubran offered her own contemporary music style to accompany protest lyrics. Her rendition turns its back on all accepted forms of Arabic singing and oud playing. The Arabic instrument rang with grating dissonance under her hand and the music was an innovative departure from Western tonality and Arabic scales - her voice screamed more than sang. Hers was the only performance that challenged the audience in the auditorium: Some fidgeted in their seats and an audible murmur arose.

Artists ascended and descended the stage and screen: Breyten Breytenbach, the South African poet who fought apartheid and was jailed for seven years read poems which he dedicated to Palestinian prisoners; Khaled Muhammed Ali, an Iraqi oud player exiled in Dubai, played a classic Arabic piece; Cairo poet Amin Haddad read the nationalist poems of his father Fuad Haddad, drawing resounding response from the audience when he called for continued resistance and mentioned the name of Hassan Nasrallah; and Palestinian actor Yusef Abu-Wardeh, who resides in Israel, stunned the crowd with his superb performance.

The cultural face of the Arab world

Finally, the moment that everyone waited for, adored Lebanese composer, singer, and musician Marcel Khalife appeared onscreen, causing pandemonium in the audience. A satellite gaffe which silenced Khalife for many, long minutes created anxiety and disappointment. The audience unanimously sang one of his songs and rhythmically clapped hands to fill the void. But Khalife went back on the air with the song, "Rita and the Gun," by Mahmoud Darwish. The erotic song of love between the poet and the Jewish girl he was forced to leave after 1967 brought the audience to its feet.

"This protest is supposed to take the place of action. It's typical of middle-class residents here, who are capable of applauding Nasrallah despite the fact that he did nothing for them," said one Ramallah resident. But another Palestinian praised the way the concert "opened people's minds," by presenting artistic material in unfamiliar styles and showing the cultural face of the Arab world - one which the West is anxious to suppress.He added that the Palestinian public was hungry for defiance and encouragement from artists after a long, depressing silence. "Any break in the silence is welcome," he remarked.