Performers
- Waed Bouhassoun oud, voice
Programme
Original compositions based on mystical and secular love poems from the 7th–13th c. and contemporary Arab (Andalusian, Syrian) and Persian authors: Majnun, Ibn Zaydun, Wallada, Rumi, Adonis
Concert description
How to combine inspiration from Syrian music, Lebanese singer Fairuz and French chansonist Édith Piaf, classical vocal training and skills in traditional Arabic singing? These are just some of the sources from which Waed Bouhassoun – ethnomusicologist, composer, singer, instrumentalist, ambassador of Syrian music, as well as other Arab communities – successfully draws. She performs solo, in various ensembles and collaborates with Jordi Savall, for example, as an instructor in the Orpheus XXI – Music for Life and Dignity project, which supports refugees and migrants.
In a solo recital consisting of original compositions, Waed Bouhassoun will sing and accompany herself on the oud, an Arabic lute. She received her first instrument from her father when she was just seven years old. She will reach for mystical and secular poetry from the vast pre-Islamic repertoire, as well as ancient (7th-13th century) and contemporary Arabic and Persian authors. The recital will thus be a return to the country of her childhood by means of the most intimate of the arts: “The sounds I play on my oud – which I never part with – are for me the words that make up the language with which I can express my joy, my love, my pain and that of my country, which is suffering in its split. Music is fundamental to me. It gives rhythm to every moment of my day, my life. I live by it and for it. I cannot imagine existence without it. It connects me to my land, my family, my friends. It is everything to me.”
– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)