Mawtini - Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Gaza branch #Let'sSingMyHomeTogether
The choirs of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and the Qattan Center for Children performed “Mawtani” on November 6, 2015, as part of the “Let’s Sing “Mawtani” Together” event.
honoring her life and work...
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| Yaffa- Heba Zagout |
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| Art by Heba Zagout of Palestine |
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| Jerusalem- Heba Zagout |
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We live our lives like the rhythm of music. Sometimes it is loud music and other times it is like quiet music. This is life   Music- Heba Zagout |
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| Jerusalem is my city- Heba Zagout |
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| We are always looking for safety in our lives. We may find it in love or security, but we will keep looking for it- Heba Zagout |
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| Alienation
makes our hearts as thin as an old fabric that easily leaks water.
There is no immunity to our feelings of alienation. Delusion defeats us,
and the homelands mix with the people we meet from our homelands. We
may love the homeland in them and think that we loved them. - ⚘ This
painting is a gift for everyone far from home- Heba Zagout |
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| Jerusalem- Heba Zagout |
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| Looking for happy dreams, clinging to life, love and hope- Heba Zagout |
You performed at the American Task Force on Palestine gala last week. What did you play there?
We played instrumentals and two songs with Moroccan singer Nidal Ibourk, who lives in Chicago. "Iraq," an instrumental I composed four years ago, is based on a short Iraqi folk theme. We also performed a song whose title translates as "The Land Speaks Arabic."
Have you visited Occupy Wall Street yet? How does it compare to the popular revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya?
I can certainly draw similarities from what I've seen on TV and the fact that people are camping there. It's so obvious that the occupiers themselves recognize it. I'd like to go there and participate. Maybe I'll do a performance. I haven't been down there yet because this semester I've been teaching at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston. And with all my travel, projects, and performances, it's a nightmare.
I hope this doesn't sound condescending, but I suspect a lot of Westerners have trouble enjoying Arabic music because of its perceived sameness. They only hear the swelling strings, melodramatic vocals, and "habibi habibi habibi." Not to mention the belly dancers.
I've been in the United States for 30 years, and I've seen a huge growth in appreciation of Arabic music. I think I was part of it. I remember when I first came here and we didn't have any audience. Americans generally viewed Middle Eastern music as cabaret with belly dancers, and those were the venues in which it was mainly heard, unfortunately. But my colleagues and I worked very hard to reach out to performing-arts centers, universities, and even elementary schools; we offered residencies, workshops, and lectures in addition to performances. Nobody can deny that Arabic music contains fabulous poetry, but I started the Near Eastern Music Ensemble in order to concentrate on instrumental music. People here didn't know there even was instrumental Arabic repertoire. Arabic music has made fantastic strides outside the Middle East since the late '70s and early '80s. I can feel it during my performances.
What Arab music speaks most strongly to the current situation in Palestine?
We are including a song Fairuz sang for Palestine at the beginning of the '60s. In Palestine we have a strong folkloric repertoire; indeed, folklore is the repertoire. Much of it doesn't need a political statement to reflect what's going on. Palestine's poetry is very powerful and speaks of the land, olive trees, hills, the nature of the people, and intricate details of village or rural life. Dances like the dabke are important, too, of course. Folklore, music, dance, embroidery, and theater all speak for Palestine.
Simon Shaheen performs at Roulette on Saturday night as part of "Songs for the People: Voices of the Arab Renaissance."
(World Village)
This is the first international release that does full justice to three of the most original musicians in the Arab world: Samir, Wissam and Adnan Joubran are brothers and oud players from Palestine who have developed a compelling, intuitive style that allows the Arabic lute to be heard in a new way, not just in backing work or solos but as a trio instrument in complex, emotional and remarkably varied compositions.
Protesters break into song in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on Feb. 6.The Middle East has been riveted by the success of the grass-roots revolution that ended Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year reign.
9 June 2010
Amman
Poems of Palestine echoed in the packed auditorium at Al-Hussein Cultural Centre in Amman at the end of May, as Palestine musician Marwan Abado opened a series of concerts being held in support of UNRWA’s education programme.
"I wish for a day without victories. Without murders, without injuries, just a normal boring day. And this normal, boring day will be a feast for a land called Palestine," sings Abado on his new album Nard.
Abado grew up as a refugee in Beirut and immigrated in the late 1980s to Austria, where he studied musical and social sciences at Vienna University. He studied the oud under Iraqi maestro Assim Chalabi and shaped his own style, as he invigorated Arab music by integrating Western influences.
As a student in an UNRWA school in Lebanon, Abado's parents always instilled in him that education was their "major weapon as Palestinians." Education is, in his words: “the way for us to overcome our self-victimisation. As harsh as fate has been to us, we need to overcome it.”
The series of concerts in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon was a collaboration between UNRWA and the Society for Austro-Arab Relations. The concerts will help fund scholarships for refugee students in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
"Our ability to provide both life-saving and life-enhancing services is contingent upon the support we receive from the international community, host countries, such as Jordan, and the support from the general public," said Deputy Commissioner-General Margot Ellis.
The series, Palestine Remains My Melody, reflects the "strong sense of belonging to a homeland" that Abado grew up with and still holds, after living in Vienna for over two decades.
The funds raised in the series, Abado said, will “be ammunition for a weapon called science, this weapon that hits its target and gives us hope of a better future."
By Fabiano Jácome
