Performers
- Waed Bouhassoun voice, oud
- Neşet Kutas percussion
Programme
Traditional mystical (Maronite, Sufi) and secular songs and poems from Aleppo (Syria) set to music by: Waed Bouhassoun, Aleppine composer Omer el-Batsh and Ottoman composer Tanburi Cemil Bey
Concert description
Syria has an opulent musical heritage, dating back to the Aramaeans and Chaldeans, related to the traditions of other Middle Eastern countries and peoples. Similarities include, for example, instruments, the use of microtones (i.e., distances between notes of less than a semitone, foreign to Western practice until the 20th century) or the system of melodic formulas known as maqams, which – in a nutshell – can be considered the equivalent of Western scales. At the beginning of the 20th century, after the end of the Ottoman occupation, the country’s culture flourished, and it began to be inspired by European trends, but also to appreciate its own heritage more, which, with interruptions caused by successive historical turmoil, continues to this day. Waed Bouhassoun, although she began playing the oud as early as seven years old, did not study exclusively Syrian music. She studied at a conservatory in Damascus, where traditional singing was not taught. She began performing in France and studying ethnomusicology, then came to Aleppo to train with local masters. Together with Neşet Kutas, a Turkish percussionist active in France, they have dedicated their concert to this very city, and they announce it as follows: “Aleppo, with a history marked by wars and conflicts, is one of the world’s oldest cities. The influences of different cultures intersect in it, East and West meet in it. Waed Bouhassoun takes us on a journey to her homeland, through music discovering the threads that connect family and friends, identity and hope for a better future.”
– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)