Nouruz Ensemble

NOURUZ ENSEMBLE

MUSEU DE ORIENTE – 15 DE OUTUBRO 2021 (CICLO MÚSICAS ESCONDIDAS)

 

PROGRAMA:

  1. Ahoar (Composição: Bassem Hawar)
    Ahoar é o nome da zona húmida entre o Eufrates e o Tigre no sul do Iraque. A peça recorda a vida do povo neste pântano: as suas casas são construídas muito afastadas sobre a água. As pessoas levam as gôndolas para pescar, para os seus campos de arroz ou para visitar os vizinhos.
  2. Bet Abuha (Melodia tradicional iraquiana; vozes: Rita William, arranjo: Bassem Hawar)
    Uma canção de amor sobre uma jovem mulher que encanta todos os homens com a sua beleza, enquanto ela caminha da sua casa para os vizinhos.
  3. Se Godar (Melodia persa tradicional, arranjo: Kioomars Musayyebi)
    Uma canção de amor sobre a distância entre amantes.
  4. Almemar (Tradicional de Iraque; vozes: Rita William, arranjo: Bassem Hawar)
    Canção de amor. As promessas amadas: mesmo que sejas arrogante na rua, eu amar-te-ei sempre.
  5. Djozz (Composição: Bassem Hawar)
    Djozz é a palavra árabe para noz. Um hino de louvor ao instrumento Djoze.
  6. Dari (Melodia tradicional iraquiana, vozes: Rita William, arranjo: Bassem Hawar)
    Canção sobre o amor da pele escura. Música no Maqam Benjiga.
  7. A última noite (Composição: Kioomars Musayyebi)
    Todas as noites podem ser a última noite; mas depois chega uma nova manhã e a vida continua. Até à última noite.
  8. Al Walad Nam (Melodia tradicional iraquiana, vozes: Rita William, arranjo: Bassem Hawar)
    Uma mãe canta uma canção de embalar para o seu filho adulto que emigrou. Música no Maqam Rast.
  9. Parishani dar khab (Composição: Kioomars Musayyebi)
    Uma peça instrumental sobre o sono agitado do povo durante a guerra entre o Irão e o Iraque em 1980-88.
  10. Gum Darichni (Traditional Iraqi melodie, vocals: Rita William, arrangement: Bassem Hawar)
    Canção de amor pedindo para não ter medo do que as famílias ou pessoas na rua pensam sobre o amor.

ALINHAMENTO:

  • Bassem Hawar: jouza
  • Kioomars Musayyebi: santur
  • Rageed William: nay
  • Rita William: voz
  • Erfan Pejhanfar: tombak, daf

BIOGRAFÍA

The Nouruz Ensemble is made up of five Middle-Eastern virtuosos, who play on ancient oriental instruments. All five musicians studied at the colleges and universities of music in their hometowns, in Bagdad, Aleppo, and Teheran. Today they live in Germany and are active as freelance musicians.

They do not play oriental music exclusively, but have tried out many facets of music in Germany, performed with various groups with diverse music directions and styles. They all also compose their own works in which the experiences of cultural contact are expressed. For the formation of the Nouruz Ensemble, Bassem Hawar searched for a long time for musicians who shared his approach to oriental music.

The maqam, which evolved at the time of the Abbasids, is considered by many Iraqi musicians to be the cultural heritage of Iraq par excellence. As a matter of fact, artists and scholars from throughout the Middle East gathered at the court of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid to work together, learning from one another and mutually inspiring each other. Bagdad’s heyday at the time of the Abbasids was the result of cultural interaction.

The Iraqi maqam is thus by no means purely Iraqi. However, this rather banal assessment harbors a certain explosive nature in the current political situation in the Arab world in which everyone reflects upon his/her presumed cultural and religious roots, and distances him/ herself from others.

In contrast to Western-influenced music with the largely separate developments of “serious” and “popular” music, the classical

Arabic music has hardly developed any further in the past centuries. Instead, the old, “serious” music in the Middle East has been almost entirely supplanted by pop music (Egypt).

Almost all the best virtuosos, who still master and play the ancient instruments, live in exile. The musicians of the Nouruz Ensemble had to leave their native countries. They no longer perceive exile as a burden, but rather as a chance. They have experimented in instrument making in order to expand the original possibilities of their instruments. Their compositions reflect a new view of their own culture as well as impressions and experiences in their new European home. Their life situation is certainly not comparable with that of the artists at the court of the caliph of Bagdad, but again it is the cultural contact that inspires the creativity. It is again the mixture of different influences that makes possible the creation of new things.

Nouruz is an over 3000-year-old Kurdish word for springtime that is common to the countries of the Middle East (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria). Such mutual words are an important indication of the numerous connections between the cultures of these countries, which were otherwise never a region of linguistic unity.

With the establishment of the Nouruz Ensemble, Bassem Hawar hoped for a new beginning, a revival of oriental music. Such a springtime cannot take place in the Arab world, but at the moment only in Europe. Here the old instruments can be saved from extinction. Here a contemporary music can be created that picks up the thread of the classical Arabic tradition, and that does not fear, but rather welcomes the contact with other musical cultures. With first delicate blossoms, the Nouruz Ensemble desires to create a new oriental music.

The core of the Nouruz Ensemble is made up of five oriental musicians who also compose music. In constantly new programs, guests are invited who belong to different cultural circles and represent different musical styles.