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Music from the Motherland Paul Hughes-Smith Palestinian music has always absorbed many musical influences throughout its long history, by virtue of its geographical position at the centre of the Arab world. Enforced migration has now added to these influences represent the desire to preserve tradition and remember the good times, while embracing innovation and outside influences. Marwan Abado is a christian Palestinian, born as a refugee in Beirut in 1967, who has lived and worked in Vienna since 1985. He is the closest Palestinians have to what the French call a chansonnier, composing highly personal and individual songs sung in a very intimate style and often using his own lyrics as well as those of other poets. Woven into these are often thought-provoking commentaries on the palestinian condition and a certain wry humor is evident in his live performances. Despite working with European musicians and , since 2000, as a duo with the percussionist Peter Rosmanith, his compositions are always uniquely Palestinian in character, whatever the instruments used. Marwan´s oud playing is warm but never showy and you can feel the close rapport he has with his other musicians. This is music in miniature to be played late at night when there is time for reflection. Marwan Abado proves that cross-cultural collaboration can be succeeful without having to sacrifice your own national musical voice. songlines, june 2006 „Marwan Abado´s „Kabila“ is sometimes European in flavour, with some experimental touches. His oud and voice blend with violin, percussion and accordion from three Western musicians – it´s one of those collaborations that work quintessentially well. Together they create an impressionistic, mesmerising sound with shades of minimalism and even hints of baroque music. This combination suits Abado´s dreamy songs perfectly – this is a delightful album.” Perpetual minority: Jazz Abado and Co. Gareth Smyth Friday, April 23, 1999 Drinking large glasses of beer in Wimpy, Marwan and Helmut seem an unlikely pair. To the right a chubby Arab with a wisp of gray hair in his dark mop; to the left a skinny, serious-looking Austrian. Chalk and cheese. But when they play music, the closseness is uncanny. Paradox, Marwan Abado grew up in Beirut but learned to play the oud in Vienna, where his teacher was the iraqi maestro Asim Chalabi. Mr. Abado was born here in 1967, to a family of Palestinian Maronites from the village of Kufr Barem in Safed, over today´s border from Bint Jbeil. He went to Austria in 1985, where he met Helmut Neundlinger, who had arrived in Vienna from Upper Austria to study philosophy- specifically Jordano Bruno, an Italian burned for heresy in 1600. Originally clarinetist as well as a philosopher, Mr. Neundlinger graviated to soprano sax through free jazz. „ Our music together derived from a feeling of friendship,“ says Mr. Neundlinger over his pint. „ I learned about Arabic music from him. The rhythm drove me crazy at the beginning- it was very unsquare.“ Mr. Abado had played guitar growing up in Lebanon and was a great fan of the songs of Marcel Khalifé. But being a Maronite Palestinian in Beirut in 1975 proved too complex for some of the neighbors, and the family moved to west Beirut from Dbayeh camp before he left for Europe in the aftermath of the israeli invasion. In the city of Mozart, Schubert and chocolate cakes, Abado plunged into the depths of Arabic music. „With Chalabi, I studied modes and scales,“ he recalls. „ From the 30s onward the Iraqi school had explored the potential of the oud as a solo instrument.“ He plays in variety of settings- he has just released a solo CD, „Songs of the South,“ on which he sings over his own oud. He is in Beirut this week with a quintet for a couple of concerts which should bring a fresh dimension to the city´s emerging status as capital of crossover. The concerts feature the ensemble Abado & Co. Which came together in 1994 as a quartet with Mr. Abado, Mr. Neundlinger, a bassist and percussionist. Their CD, „Circles,“ was a crisp, rhythmic adventure with melody alternating between saxophone and oud. The rapport between the two musicians gave „Circles,“ a tightness lacking in much „world music“ (it compares very favorably, for example, with the „Thimar“ CD of John Surman and Anour Brahem). „ This music is resistent to definition. It is a mixture of identities, but I do not look at it in terms of nationality. The music comes out of friendship. It´s not a matter of Arab meeting non-Arab – it´s a matter of having something in common. Dania Saadi/The Daily Star, Lebanon Marwan Abado, singer, composer and oud-player, brought his borderless music to the audience, a show teaming him with Austrian percussion wizard Peter Rosmanith. Abado and Rosmanith’s playfulness may give the impression they are just two boys at play, but their uncanny humor is trenched in reality. Chroniques et points de vue Amazon.fr Albawaba.com Palestinian singer Marwan Abado who is residing in Austria, participated in the Poets Spring Celebrations in France through songs from his new CD Marakeb (Ships) which he inspired from the Palestinian sea heritage. “Although our sea heritage is very rich, we unfortunately did not benefit from it except very little in the musical aspect despite the fact that many Arab countries overlook the sea. I found the script Marakeb in a book entitled “Labor and workers Songs in Palestine” by Ali al Khalili. It is an old script that has not been tuned which talks about the moments of welcoming the returning ship. The farewell is very fast but waiting is slow,” Abado told the London-based daily al Hayat. He added, “I seek to be modern from the personal and artistic point of view. From this point my tie with the heritage unites. It is a rich tradition which to me is a reference but not the only reference.” |