Ghassan chose to interact with this great improviser of the 19th century through a musical piece titled “Taqasim Saba ‘ala Al-Wahda” (Taqasim form, in Saba mode and Wahda cycle) recorded in 1921; exactly a hundred years ago. The recording was kept and digitized at the Foundation for Arab Music Archiving and Research (AMAR) in Lebanon.
Playing the original recording of “Taqasim Saba ‘ala Al-Wahda” in the studio while also performing on his own qānūn, Sahhab enters into a musical dialogue with Al-‘Aqqad; a form of question and answer. In doing so he also employs the Taqsim, a classical instrumental improvisation form used in the Levant. The contemporary sound of Sahhab’s qānūn converses freely with the unlevered qānūn of times past. The whole conversation is built on the concept that heritage is not a solid or dead material, but a living reflection of cultural identity.
Despite the different time periods, historic events, and technological innovations, both artists meet in one track, sharing the same language—that of the maqam.
Duration: 3:30
Instrumentation: qānūn
Date of original recording: 1921
Archive used: Foundation for Arabic Music and Research (AMAR)
Composition: improvisation
Date of recording: August 2021
Sound engineer: Fadi Tabbal
Recording studio: Tunefork Studios
The Why Behind The Music
My experience in music has evolved over the course of a long quest in musical learning, education, research, composition and performance. I first began to hone my musical practice and passion with the qānūn[1], one of the core instruments of modal music in the Levant. Then came a pivotal moment for understanding music when I started to do research and wanted to share my findings with others.
My contribution to Mirath:Music is a continuation of my work both at me’azaf (my musical, cultural initiative) and in my wider musical activities and practices. In this project I went back to the sources with which I am most familiar, such as audio archives, manuscripts, tablets, and written and oral testimonies. I also followed in the footsteps of the movement that renews music from within the classical modal tradition.
While working on my project I wanted to highlight the importance of our locally rooted Levantine musical language, and to showcase its complexity, versatility, and diversity. I did so by playing and composing on the qānūn. Throughout the compositions I put my learnings into musical practice. The work accentuates the manifold potentials of modal/maqam music in contrast to western harmonic thinking, which has been increasingly present in musical practices in the Levant.
Western musical influences entered the region’s musical practices through education, the record industry, and in many cases through music production and dissemination that is oriented towards the Global North. This became visible when the orchestra invaded the musical scene at the expense of the familiar takht, and music education became institutionalized within educational and religious structures. Up until that point our local musical practices were built on deep relationships between the teacher or murshid (meaning the one who guides) and the student or mureed (the one who seeks). Returning to these practices, my compositions provide a counterexample, tapping into what I have absorbed through praxis.
[1] Qanun: a string instrument consisting of 78-81 strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board.
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November 2021