By Asher Hamias - Netivot Representative Band

I would like to begin by presenting my impression of this day, which in my opinion was too short but amazingly enjoyable and fruitful.

I have been a member of the Netivot Representative Band for about a year. This is a band which only recently began to take shape and build itself a repertoire of unique songs. When we were told about the encounter with the groups from Philadelphia and from Sedot-Negev our first thoughts were what shall we sing, how will we sound to others, what will the encounter especially with the group from Philadelphia be like?

When we arrived the day of the encounter we were told that our group would perform first.

During the performance I glanced at the guests from Philadelphia and I saw the excitement on their faces. One of them even shed a tear during the song "Amen" and then I realized that in regard to the Philadelphians we are the best in the world. We came down off the stage to cheers from all of our friends in the audience.

The Philadelphia group performed after us. Their performance was heavenly. The compositions were amazing and their performance was outstanding. They made me jealous and I wanted to perform just like they did.

While becoming acquainted with one another I found similar things between the different groups. For instance in our group they are always teasing me that almost  half the group are my family members and here I found that the other group members also have many kin in their groups and even more so in the Philadelphia group.

After a joint meal we tried, with the little time left, to sing together, with all the groups intermixed. It was an interesting attempt and it is a shame that we didn't have more time in order to realize our joint capabilities. I am happy to have had the opportunity to become acquainted with interesting people from close by and from afar, Sedot Negev and Philadelphia.

It was a fascinating, enjoyable, charming encounter and I hope that there will be many more like it.
This experience will remain with me for a long long time.