lying for a living

Here’s a good story. Beauty has been allowed to outshine, if only briefly, fear and oppression.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - It’s probably as revolutionary and groundbreaking as Mozart gets these days. A German-based quartet staged Saudi Arabia’s first-ever performance of European classical music in a public venue before a mixed gender audience.

The concert, held at a government-run cultural center, broke many taboos in a country where public music is banned and the sexes are segregated even in lines at fast food outlets.

Any government that distrusts Mozart rates low in my estimation. Still, I wish the editors at Yahoo News had written a less provocative headline for the story: A first for Saudis: Mozart performed publicly and women come.