Alone in the middle of the street, he plays, she sings
Roy Ginat, a young man with severe mental and physical disabilities, a music student at Akim’s “Musicality” program, spontaneously went out yesterday to play and sing with his neighbor outside the home. The event soon became an alternative memorial service. Memorial Day in the shadow of Corona.
Written by Slomit Savit Brazilay
(https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5721994,00.html#autoplay)
Roy Ginat (23), had a head cancer at the age of one and three months and as a result of the tumor was left blind, with cerebral palsy and autism. He plays from the age of two. Mostly on keyboards.
Cami Barak is a neighbor of Roy’s age. They live in adjoining homes in Netanya, and their mothers are friends. Roy and his mother knew that Cami liked to sing, but the two never played and sang together, until yesterday.
Roy very much wanted to perform the song “Million Stars” on Memorial Day. This song was written and composed by Yiftach Krzner in 2006, in memory of his friend, pilot Capt. Tam Prakash, who was killed in a helicopter crash in the Second Lebanon War.
Irit, Roy’s mother, proposed to Kami to join Roy. Cami immediately agreed, and the two did a brief rehearsal in the yard. After that, they went out on the street informing no one.
Last year, Roy joined the “Musicality” program for music education for people with intellectual disabilities at Bar Ilan University. The program works in collaboration with Akim Israel, the Department of Music at Bar-Ilan University, and the Ministry of Welfare. “The Corona won’t stop us from singing in memory of the fallen,” Roy said. “We felt we had to do something despite the situation,” Irit Ginat said. “On this special day, we can’t sit in houses. The connection between Cami and Roy was amazing, and we just went for it. We didn’t think it would turn into a whole neighborhood ceremony.”
