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BY NINA PELAEZ

In print | Published March 25, 2010

This past Monday evening, a symphony of rich and beautiful sounds emerged from a small, crowded classroom in Kohlberg. The modern languages and literature department, in partnership with the music department and Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, hosted an Arabic music workshop. Renowned modern Arabic musicians Hanna Khoury and Hafez El Ali Kotain led the workshop. The tiny classroom in Kohlberg was filled with a diverse group of musicians, students and professors all sharing an interest in Arabic culture and music.

Khoury, Director of Music of Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, is a Palestinian-Israeli violinist trained in both Western classical and Arabic classical music styles. He has also played alongside contemporary pop artists such as Beyoncé and Shakira. Kotain is a percussionist who plays both Latin and Arab rhythms. Both musicians teach with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, a non-profit group dedicated to exposing and educating youth in Arabic art, culture and language.

Not only did the duo perform both classical and improvisational pieces, but also the audience had the opportunity to participate by learning and performing an Arabic song. Khoury taught the audience the rhythm and pronunciation of “Nassam Alayna el-Hawa,” a song originally composed by the Brothers Rahbani and performed by the well-known Lebanese singer Fairuz.

The audience learned to sing in Arabic and some audience members even had the opportunity to play alongside Kotain using traditional percussion instruments. “I enjoyed singing along with the musicians,” Charlie Huntington ’12, who studies Arabic, said. “Trying those different melodies out increases one’s appreciation of their complex beauty.”

The two musicians talked with the audience about the traditional instruments used, such as the Arabic flute, the violin, the Arabic lute and the qanún, an instrument similar to a harp or zither. They also discussed some of the elements that characterize Arabic music and set it apart from other styles such as the use of quarter tones, which create notes that are intentionally out of tune. “This is what we say makes Arabic music what it is,” Khoury said.

They began the workshop by playing a piece by Uum Kulthum, an Egyptian singer and icon of Arabic music. They played only a nine-minute excerpt of the song for the audience, but as Khoury explained, “This song was probably more than an hour long,” which he said is common in Arabic music.

Khoury also spoke about the use of heterophony in Arabic music, where the different musicians vary a single melodic line by ornamenting over that line. “It is somewhat a chaos but the chaos is organized,” Khoury said. “It moves in one direction.”

There is traditionally no harmony in classical Arabic music and the heterophony creates variation and intricacy. “Without harmonies you only have two things: rhythm and the musical line,” Khoury said “They have to be very strong.”

The musicians explained that the rich variations in Arabic music come from the use of ornamentation. “It’s not difficult to play the notes on these sheets of music,” Khoury said. “Rather, it is what you can make out of them.” They not only spoke about the history and style of Arabic music, but also performed a number of songs, demonstrating the elements they were describing to the audience. They played the songs with enthusiasm and energy, filling the room with rich sounds, despite using only two instruments to perform.

“My favorite is the classical Arabic music. It’s harder to play but somehow I enjoy it more,” Kotain said.

Arabic music is often also characterized by the use of improvisation. “There’s a lot of making things up on the spot, so you always have to be on top of things,” Khoury said. The musicians also demonstrated different regional styles, mentioning the strong Turkish influence in the classical music coming out of Egypt and the French influence in Lebanese songs.

“Arabic classical music has a shorter and less documented history than Western music, but the performances showed that its beauty is still very much alive and intact,” Huntington said.

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