(0:02) Now, the word crazy or insane is regularly used when describing triathletes and I for one marvel at the sheer effort involved in terms of the constant training, the early starts. (0:16) But why put your body through that, Sharon?

(0:35) And when I lived in Tehran, Tehran is situated right at the bottom of the mountains. (0:41) I was kind of 13 at the time. (0:44) I’d go hiking all alone at 4, 5 a.m. before school and then go with my hiking gear at school. (0:52) And I just realized how fresh I felt. (0:55) I mean, on one hand, you’re exerting energy, but on the other hand, you’re gaining so much more energy. (1:00) That was kind of my only glimpse into a rather active life, as active as it gets.

(1:07) And I only got into triathlons at university when I kind of looked at my very unathletic self. (1:13) And I wondered if little feeble me could ever do something as, you know, as you described a hardcore and crazy as a triathlon. (1:20) It seemed so beyond me.

(1:23) And I realized, well, I wouldn’t ever know until I gave it a go. (1:27) And I just saw how triathlon affected me. (1:31) The stronger my body got, the stronger I felt as a person.

(1:36) And the attitudes that I developed through sports, I felt that it translated towards all the other aspects of life. (1:44) That’s why I put myself through it.

(1:47) This must feel like a new identity that’s growing for you.

(1:53) It definitely is. (1:54) The way you said a new identity. (1:57) I was thinking about this earlier on today, actually, of my race in Edmonton recently.

(2:02) In Canada.

(2:03) In Canada. (2:04) And I very, very, very nearly didn’t get permission to race.

(2:09) We should just explain in terms of permission. (2:11) This was the permission from the Iranian authorities.

(2:15) Yes, there were still some issues concerning my clothes. (2:19) By abiding to the rules and conditions of Iran, I need to race all covered. (2:24) And on one hand, I had spent a year training.

(2:29) I’d spent a year kind of trying to overcome logistics, trying to design clothes, trying to train where possible to get to the race. (2:37) And then here we are in Edmonton, I’ve flown all the way over. (2:41) And there’s a chance that I’m not going to get to race.

(2:45) As you said, I may not have had the chance to race, but something that, regardless of whether I raced or not that day, would have been what I experienced, what sport taught me the way I developed, I grew as a person within this year.

(0:04) Famika, hello and welcome. (0:05) Hello, hello. (0:07) I’d like to hear from you what is considered to be the power of music, the power of being in a choir.

(0:12) I think that the connection that is created by singing together, I always say that you know the basic rule of singing in a choir is that you have to listen to the person standing on your right and to the person standing on your left and to be synchronized both melody, rhythm, harmony and everything. (0:28) So it’s like you have to listen, which is a very good starting point. (0:33) It brings people together, it creates very deep bonds.

(0:38) It’s also a very, very good tool to really express verbally or non-verbally things they can’t express in their normal everyday life.

(0:48) You fell into conducting. (0:50) How did you get into it?

(0:51) Well, I started actually not as a musician, I started in theatre and in dance. (0:56) I was a dancer and an actress and music was always in the background, you know, like every good girl. (1:02) I learned the piano and I started singing and I always loved singing and I took singing lessons.

(1:08) And gradually I switched from theatre being my main thing to music and went to study composition. (1:18) And it all came out of this, I mean I’m not a professional conductor actually. (1:23) I use all my knowledge from music, theatre and dance in conducting.

(1:30) So tell us about how you came to form the Rana Choir.

(1:34) So I moved to Jaffa, which is a part of Tel Aviv but it’s a mixed city. (1:39) And I felt that I could use music as a tool to do something meaningful and that’s where the idea came from. (1:46) And I thought that women would be the best thing to do because I really, first of all, believe in the power of women to make change.

(1:55) And also I think it’s easier for women to create intimacy. (2:01) So that’s how I decided to create this mixed women’s choir.

(2:06) Well talk me through the logistics. (2:08) Did you put out an advert asking for people to join the choir through word of mouth?

(2:13) At the beginning I was trying to find a place, like a home for it. (2:17) And I found there is an Arab Jewish community center here in Jaffa and I went there and proposed the idea and they accepted it. (2:23) And then we started putting ads and auditioning.

(2:27) When I say auditioning, the demands were really very basic like somebody who has a reasonable voice and doesn’t sing off key. (2:36) And actually women started coming and bringing friends and family. (2:41) And that’s how it started.

(2:43) And Mika, what is the makeup of the choir? (2:46) I mean how many Jewish women are there and how many Arab women are there?

(2:49) It’s half-half Arab Jewish and among the Arabs we have Christians and Muslims.

(2:55) Do you choose the music?

(2:57) Yes, I choose the music. (2:59) I get suggestions from the women of the choir but I choose it. (3:03) But what I try to do is first of all, I mean the thing I have to see is that the text is something that everybody can identify with because there are many issues here as you can imagine.