Interview with Composer Kareem Roustom

Melding his Arab heritage with his training in western classical music, Kareem Roustom has composed contemporary music that draws on the traditional and contemporary to create a thoroughly unique sound. His work varies from an Emmy-nominated film score to a narrated chamber orchestra piece set to an Arab folk tale. This Saturday, as part of the Arab Music Concert Series, Al-Bustan will present the works of Roustom. He will introduce the program with excerpts from his film scores, followed by performances of his compositions by a chamber orchestra comprised of talented artists from Philadelphia and New York.

Though you may not be familiar with Kareem Roustom’s name, you have probably heard some of his compositions. He has written the scores for many acclaimed films including Budrus, Amreeka, and Encounter Point among others. The music in these three films is strikingly beautiful, enriching the story without upstaging it. “It is the job of the score to compliment the film in an unobtrusive way…the music has to be subtle and stay out of the way at times and it has to take charge of the emotional flow at other times,” Roustom explained via email. Roustom’s Emmy nomination for the score of The Mosque in Morgantown is a testament to his mastery of this balance. His prowess with elegantly weaving together narrative and music is equally evident in his chamber orchestra pieces.

His work Abu Jmeel’s Daughter is one such piece. Based on an Arab folktale of the same name the story is about Rida, who having been transformed from an ugly woman into a beauty by the djinn (genies), captivates Prince Alwan. They marry but the union is rocky because in exchange for her beauty, the djinn forbid Rida from speaking to her husband. Yet, the story ends happily when the djinn take pity on the couple and tell Alwan the phrase to release Rida from her oath of silence. Roustom was drawn to both the structure of the story and the darkness he found throughout. “The fact that there are djinns and magic also inspired my decision to use this tale, as I imagined it would allow for a type of musical language that I don't often get to use when I compose music for film.” In addition to the musical cues that Roustom provides in his composition, a narrator guides the audience through the tale of Rida and Alwan. His connection to Arab culture is deeper than the narratives for which he composes music.

During the music writing process, Roustom engages many influences including his Syrian roots. “I think being aware of one's roots is very important whether you are performing Mozart, playing the blues or performing North Indian Raga. This blending of styles and backgrounds is a natural extension of what I've been doing all my musical life.” His embracive approach to composition does not mean his work is incongruous with his understanding of the Arab classical music tradition. “Musical language has to evolve in order to survive. That doesn't mean that everything gets thrown out every time there is a new wave of change, it just means that value and perspectives change.” It is this combination of an appreciation for the traditional while being open to new developments that makes Roustom’s music so intriguing.

Given that "Al-Bustan means "The Garden" in Arabic, Roustom's botanical analogy for his own work seems apropos. “I try to think of my work very much like a tree. There are roots that keep the tree grounded and trunk that supports the branches that reach for heights in search of sunlight and nourishment.”

Melding Musical Traditions: A.J. Racy in Philadelphia

Scholar, composer, and musician A.J. Racy proffered so much knowledge and artistry during his visit to Philadelphia in November 2011 but it is the sound of him playing the mijwiz that sticks with me months later. The mijwiz is a wind instrument made of two reeds, each with five or six holes and fitted with smaller tubes that vibrate to produce sound. Playing the mijwiz requires a difficult process called circular breathing wherein the performer produces music continuously while not appearing to be breathing at all.

In many ways Racy’s performance on the mijwiz was a departure from the rest of the concert, which featured a takht ensemble. Traditionally Arab classical music is presented by a takht ensemble comprised of a violin, oud, qanun, nay, riq and vocalist. The enormity and uniqueness of its sound means the mijwiz is typically played as a solo instrument or accompanied by percussion outdoors. While the takht ensemble is the cornerstone of concert hall performances you will more often hear the mijwiz being played at weddings and other celebrations, providing music for the dabkah, a line dance. The inclusion of the mijwiz in the concert demonstrated Racy’s unmatched dedication to studying and playing both folk and classical music while also reinterpreting traditions in his own compositions.

We will upload a video clip from A.J. Racy's performance in Philadelphia soon. In the meantime check out this video of him playing the mijwiz.

Sources: Arab Music Part 1 and Arab Music Part 2

Teaching Arabic Poetry and Writing Water Poems

Hello everyone again, its Ellie and I want to share with you all the work that we have been doing in Ms. Engel's 10th grade IB classroom at Northeast High School.

First, let me tell you a little about what we do each week. Every class begins with either a chant or meditation exercise. We also conduct a free write activity where we have been known to write about sweat (hey it was a hot day in September... last period), write nonsense sprinkled with a few words about freedom, oppression, and bacon (Illot Mollot), and the latest exercise was about circles. All of this writing is really about us learning how to break down the barriers of what we think poetry is as well as getting ourselves writing about stuff that we see and are surrounded with every day, but doing it in creative ways. Take the normal, think about it critically and create magic. I feel I can go that far with this because what the students have shared and written with me has been nothing short of spectacular!

We also have been spending time learning about traditional and contemporary Arab poets and poetry. We have read poems and spent many class periods on Suheir Hammad, Naomi Shihab Nye, Al-Munsif Al-Wahaybi, and 'Enayat Jaber just to name a few. What we have taken from these poets has ranged from learning about identity to examining individual words like peace to learning about what our homes and families look like.

With these lessons, we have taken our own route to writing about identity. We have been writing our own poems, water poems. What we have been discovering over the last few months by studying Arabic poetry and what the students have migrated to through their own writing and questioning is discovering their own sense of identity. The students in this school bring a wealth of diversity to this area and we have been defining what that means by attempting to define not only what it means to be who we are, but what it means to be who we are in our space, in this case, Northeast Philadelphia high school students.

What a water poem does is tell about each student's journey from birth to where they are now. Their journey reflected by the movement of water, by the importance of water, by the life-giving quality of water.

I promise that in the next few weeks, I will share some of the magic and pure honesty that has been written by our IB students. In the meantime, I'll give you a few snippets of the free-write exercises.

Thanks for your time and enjoy!

1. I used to be scared of dogs,

But now I’m scared of this world.

I used to love the world,

But now I love myself.

I used to run to school,

But now I just walk.

I used to seek the meaning of life,

But now I know what life is.

I used to live in one place,

But now I live in a different one.

I used to have a place surrounded by nature,

But now I barely see the nature.

I used to wake up hearing birds,

Now they’re gone.

2. My great struggle-

Homesickness.

Born

Raised

In

Poland

But three years ago I came here.

Still, I miss my homeland.

I am a patriot of my country

So its even harder for me.

I not only miss my country

I miss my family.

I struggle.

I feel.

I feel like leaving.

I feel like leaving everyday.

Leaving everything behind.

Coming home.

Believe it or not,

Even the happiest face sighs.

3. A quick sketch on my struggles:

Enter some part of my life,

The other side of the macabre of pain.

Pretty basic.

I think you can handle it.

Here I go.

Abusive father’s hands like magnets

Feels like a thousand beehives

Freeing millions of bees

upon my skin.

My younger brother cries hysterically

Shaking his last nerve

While the heart beats to an extreme rhythm-

A fast tempo.

Stuff at an early age?

Yes, possibly, no?

Confined with a sin

A moral,

A sin.

Where my confession feels plagued

Guilt drives my conscience to sweat

A drop of sweat down my back.

I pray, I ask for strength

For preservation

Because it’s not healthy to

Go look upon the waters

Of contemplation

Beneath the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Interview with Youssef Kassab

The whole world is jealous of us. The breeze was confused. The waves of the ocean are telling a story to the beach without an end. When will time allow you, my beauty, and I to stay together all night near the Nile? Do you think I will ever stay the night with my beauty again? We will stay up all night, far away and safe from the jealousy of others.

- Imta Al-Zaman, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, 1936

In this song, Abdel Wahab could well be describing the dramatic circumstances of Youssef Kassab’s departure from Iraq. I had the pleasure of chatting with Kassab during his visit to Philadelphia last week and he shared with me a few stories from his colorful life.

At the age of 20, Kassab graduated from the Damascus Conservatory with a specialization in voice and qanun and moved with two friends to Basra, Iraq where he found work performing at a nightclub. Having been educated in the Syrian musical tradition he knew no Iraqi music and in just one week he learned an Iraqi repertoire by ear. So impressed by his skills as a musician, the owner of the nightclub asked him to sign a contract.

At the nightclub, he and a few other musicians accompanied dancers. While working at the nightclub, he caught the eye of a dancer with “blue eyes and bronze skin.” Her appearance was as remarkable as her forwardness. “She liked me because I was young. She took me to her family—I had never known a woman like her before—so tough.” He wasn’t the only one to be surprised by her advances. One morning he was awoken by the sounds of pounding on his door. Before he could change out of his pajamas, the police told him to return to Syria because without a work permit he couldn’t legally work in Iraq. It was only later that he discovered that the violin player at the club, envious of the dancer’s fondness for Kassab, told the police that Kassab was working without a permit. Embodying the jealousy that so concerns the lover in Imta Al-Zaman, the violin player arrested a love affair that might have been by ratting out Kassab. So, Kassab was torn away from the dancer, deported from Iraq, and on top of everything he lost his oud, which he left nightly at the nightclub as stipulated in his contract. He returned to Damascus, the place where his love of music began, with only his voice.

Born into a family of musicians, his introduction to music began at an early age. Though today he is most well known as a vocalist, he played a variety of instruments at a young age. When he was ten years old he began singing and playing the tambourine with his uncle’s group, which played in local churches. His uncle then taught him to play the oud by ear. As he grew up he developed an interest in the qanun and at the age of 16 he entered the Damascus Conservatory to pursue his musical studies. It was there that he formalized his training in music by learning for the first time how to read and write music.

Upon his return to Syria, his mother, so eager to have him stay in Syria, arranged his marriage. But Kassab already had his sights set on pursuing a musical career in America where his friend Muhammad El Aqqad, a qanun player, told him “money is like sugar” and you would come home from a night’s performance to discover $100 bills in every pocket. In his experience only one artist had ever enjoyed such appreciation—renowned Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum.

The day before his 17th birthday when he went with his father to see Umm Kulthum perform, remains one of his most vivid memories. “The room was completely full—600 or 700 people crowded into the auditorium of a local school. She was wearing red— not like wine, a little lighter—everything red except her dark glasses. She sang 4 songs—very long songs—the best singer in the world! Outside they were making ice cream in big barrels with gum mastic and real pistachios—not just green food coloring.” For Kassab, the day has a slightly mythical significance about it particularly since all the fanfare was in celebration of a musician.

Kassab left Syria for America to seek his own fame and fortune in 1969. He started out performing in nightclubs in Dearborn, Michigan, which was, as it is today, home to a large Arab community. But he did not find the America of abundance that his friend El Aqqad had described. Instead, he was earning a paltry sum and every night he would come home with his oud smelling of cigarettes. So, he left Dearborn for New York where in 1980 he met Simon Shaheen, a composer and oud and violin player who had just arrived in New York from Palestine. With their shared appreciation for the rich lyrics and melodies of the golden age, Kassab and Shaheen began making music together. In 1982 Kassab joined Shaheen’s Near Eastern Music Ensemble as the principal vocalist. With this ensemble, he performed in concert halls around the world. Kassab continues his career in music, singing with a variety of ensembles presenting a classical and folkloric repertoire of Arab music.

Over the course of the interview he made mention more than once of the hardships, both economic and emotional, that a musician endures. “Musicians, they make everyone happy but they are not happy.” However, his rapturous description of the lyrics of Imta Al-Zaman and his impassioned performance Saturday night suggest that he is motivated not by the fame or fortune he sought in coming to America but by the beauty of the music itself.

Miranda Bennett
Outreach Coordinator
Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture

(Photo by Langdon Photography: Kassab singing "Imta Al-Zaman" at Al-Bustan's Arab Music Concert Series in Philadelphia, Oct 29, 2011)

Defining the "golden age" of Arab music

The first concert of the Arab Music Concert Series will feature Syrian singer Youssef Kassab performing selections of music from Egyptian icons, Umm Kulthum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab, and Farid al-Atrash of Syria—artists who shaped the music of the “golden age” and continue to be among the most famous musicians and composers in the Arab world.

The period from the 1920s to the 1950s is considered the "golden age" of Egyptian cinema and with it came a blossoming arts scene in Cairo that drew artists from all parts of the Arab world. Along with cinema, music reached one of its pinnacles during the same period. With the advent of talkies (films with sound) in the 1930s came the introduction of a new form of film—musicals, which propelled the careers of many musicians to great stardom. Kulthum, Abdel Wahab, and al-Atrash all played starring roles in musicals. Farid al-Atrash (see photo to the right) moved from his home in Syria to Cairo and gained recognition for his role as a singing romantic lead in many musicals. Beyond his numerous film roles, he became known for his skill as an oud player and as a composer, performing only his own music.

In addition to the renowned musicians that the era produced, the music of the golden age is defined by particulars in composition and lyrics and the development of new media. Moving away from the romantic escapism of the post World War I era, music that dealt with the realities and hardships of the common man became more popular by the 1930s and 40s. The works of Egyptian composer Sayyed Darwish, the father of this golden age, depicted stories of working-class people, affirming local culture and politics while criticizing British presence in Egypt.

Like Darwish, many composers reacted to political changes in Egypt in their music. The end of Ottoman rule in 1914 also marked the beginning of the British protectorate and a growing europeanization of Egypt. Composers reflected this transition by moving away from Turkish music traditions and incorporating more elements of western classical music in their pieces. Abdel Wahab (see photo to the left), who emerged as a singer, composer, and actor in the 1920s, was one who juxtaposed European and Arab traditions in his music. With his move away from improvisation and audience-driven pieces that had long been central to Arab music, he is credited with ushering in a time in which composed pieces occupied a place of greater importance. In the face of growing Europeanization and the accompanying growth in support for western classical music, Umm Kulthum advocated for the appreciation of Arab music in her position as president of the Cairo Musicians’ Union and in choosing her own repertoire.

Musicians including Kulthum (see photo to the right) benefited from new forms of media. The development of radio in 1920s facilitated the transmission of music and the growth in popularity of musicians. A large portion of the programming on local radio stations and the Egyptian National Radio, which was established in 1934, was music. Kulthum solidified her status as the most celebrated female singer of her time with live-radio-broadcasts on the first Thursday of each month, which began in 1937 and continued until her death in 1975. As a measure of her popularity, streets would empty across the Arab world in time for her Thursday concerts.

The golden age may have a distinct beginning but the music’s popularity has extended its reign into the modern day. Youssef Kassab has a deep appreciation for this music, which he grew up listening to in Syria and continues to perform to this day in America, his new home since immigrating here in 1970. Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture is presenting Youssef Kassab in a performance of music from the golden age in Egypt and Syria on October 29. Check back soon for an interview with Mr. Kassab himself.

Miranda Bennett
Outreach Coordinator
Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture

Sources referenced:
Marcus, Scott L. Music in Egypt: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007.
Racy, A.J. Making Music in the Arab Music: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Danielson, Virginia. The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song, and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1998.

New season of the Philadelphia Arab Music Ensemble begins

For the past two years, a group of youth, college students, and adults from diverse backgrounds have gathered in West Philadelphia to celebrate their interest in Arab culture through music. By day, many members of the Philadelphia Arab Music Ensemble are doctors, teachers, and students. Every Monday night they come together with fellow musicians and music enthusiasts to learn a wide selection of Arab classical music.

While there are many returning members this fall, the Ensemble continues to expand with new students joining. This year many Penn students are participating because for the first time we are offering the Ensemble as a course in partnership with the UPenn Music Department and Greenfield Intercultural Center. Last night three new members shared with me their interest in the Ensemble.

Penn student Ellie Sun, a new member of the choir, decided to join the Ensemble because of her interest in Arab culture and Arabic language. She saw the Ensemble “as an easy way to start learning Arabic.” In spite of the difficulty she has had with pronunciation, she is enjoying the melody and richness of the music.

Amal Kabalan, a grad student at Villanova is from Lebanon, has found pleasure in other aspects of the ensemble. Cognizant of the fact that she has a tendency to speak softly when giving presentations, she said she has benefited from the emphasis Music Director Hanna Khoury places on projecting her voice.

Peter Schwab was looking for opportunities to continue to play the oud when he came across the Ensemble. “I'm learning about some of the basic structures and scales in Arab music, and rehearsals are training me to hear and play quarter tones.” The introduction to the theory and ideas behind the music that Khoury and the other teachers, Kinan Abou Afach and Hafez El Ali Kotain provide has allowed Peter to build on his previous exposure to Arab music. Abou Afach recently joined the ensemble, sharing with the group his knowledge of Arab music and skills as a cellist, oud player, and composer.

Khoury selected music for the Ensemble with the repertoire of the October 29th concert in mind. During this concert Syrian singer Youssef Kassab will present music from the “golden age” of Syria and Egypt. Khoury has been leading the Ensemble through Ana Winta composed by Farid Al-Atrash, a Syrian composer from that era and Ashki Li Min Thul lil Hawa, a work composed by Kassab. I’m already looking forward to the December 9th concert when the Ensemble will perform followed by poet Suheir Hammad.

What's wrong with Moroccan food?

Is it limited by the traditions of the past or has it lost touch with its roots?

Check out Julia Moskin's article in yesterday's Times for a discussion of Morocco's cuisine and how two cooks (young chef, Mourad Lahlou and esteemed cookbook author, Paula Wolfert) have come to understand its evolution in contrasting ways. Moskin touches on issues I began exploring in my post on Chef Ramzi's efforts to record the rich Lebanese culinary heritage. Don't miss the recipe for beghrirs, or Moroccan pancakes, which like their similarly holey English cousins crumpets, beautifully soak up a pat of butter and a spoonful of honey! Lahlou and Wolfert would surely agree that these pancakes represent the best in Moroccan home cooking.