Welsh/Palestinian Gig in Cardiff - MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS!

[Udo Erasmus]

A unique collaboration between Palestinian and Welsh musicians:
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
Alternative Information Tour

Monday 12 March at THE GATE Arts Centre
Keppoch Street, off City Road, Roath, Cardiff
Doors open at 8 pm
Tickets: £4 (£3 concessions)
For more info. contact:
[email protected]

Tareq Rantisi and Mohamed Najem from Bethlehem join
Gwilym Morus and Luke Evans from Bangor.

A fusion of traditional Palestinian music with the traditional Welsh ballad form – canu penillion – in a contemporary context.

In 2005, critically acclaimed Welsh musician Gwilym Morus visited Bethlehem where he wrote two songs with Palestinian musicians resulting in the release of the CD, From Bethlehem to Bangor. After a TV arts documentary on S4C and attention from many international DJs, the project now comes to Cardiff with a live gig that includes songs co-written via email over the past year. The concert will be followed by a question and answer session.

Gwilym Morus:

Musically our intentions are to fuse traditional Palestinian and traditional Welsh material in a contemporary context. The live performance will be a mixture of traditional instrumentation, such as the Arabic nye flute, daff and darbuka percussion, and elements of the Welsh canu penillion ballad form. This will be accompanied by guitar, banjo and digital sound produced live with a laptop. After the performance we will hold a short twenty min. question and answer session for the audience.

The collaboration works by exchanging ideas via mp3 on e-mail. The musicians consist of two from the Bethlehem area of Palestine, and two from the Bangor area of North Wales. This collaboration is a continuation of the project that began with the release of a four track CD earlier this year called From Bethlehem to Bangor.

Through this we hope to create a cultural relationship between one of the most comfortable countries in the world, and one of the poorest countries in the world, which continues to suffer in the horrific conflict that’s consuming the region. We hope that this relationship can somehow promote a little understanding, compassion and respect between Western and Arabic people.

This gig is part of a tour around Wales, for dates of other gigs see:
www.gwilymmorus.com

In our world there are borders everywhere.
In music there are no borders . . .

 

[Udo Erasmus]

More about the musicians

Tariq Rantissi - Percussions

Tareq Rantissi was born in 1984 in Jerusalem. He started playing percussion at the age of 12 and has performed with various groups including Turab, Mawasem, Ghofran, Aywa, Bisan, Yalalan, Dalouna, AWJ (Arabic choral ensemble), First Ramallah Group, the Oriental Music Ensemble of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM) and Mattab Jazz Group.

He has performed in several local festivals including the Palestine International Festival and the Jerusalem Music Festival and has worked with local cultural centers including the Popular Arts Centre and the Franco-German cultural centre in Ramallah.

His international experience includes performances with Kudsi Erguner in the Chabada Festival in France and with Manfred Leuchter in Aachen, Germany.

His CD credits include Turab’s Hada Leil, Away’s Banafsaji, a recording of the Popular Arts Center and another with a German orchestra featuring the music of Suheil Khoury.

He teaches oriental percussion at Al-Kamandjati Music Association in Ramallah, Kufiyyeh Center of Music in Birzeit and Yamaha Music School in Ramallah.

In 2007 he will attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston, concentrating on jazz and Latin hand percussion

Mohamed Najem - Clarinet, Nay

Born in 1984 in Jerusalem, Muhammad Najem was drawn to music from an early age.

He first played the recorder and saxophone, before settling on his instruments of choice - the clarinet and nay. He studied both instruments at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Bethlehem.

He has played both Western and Arabic style music with numerous groups including the National Conservatory Ensemble, Palestinian Youth Orchestra and Sabreen.

His performance credits include appearances locally in the Jerusalem Music Festival and internationally in the Binale festival in Napoli, Italy.

He received first place prize for nay in the Marcel Khalifeh competition in 2005 in Ramallah.

Muhammad is currently studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Clarinet at the Conservatory of Angers in Angers, France

 

[Socrates]

Sounds like a good night set to a dub groove, see you on Monday night!

 

[Udo Erasmus]

Looks likely to be more fireworks than on bonfire night . . .!!

In music there are no borders . . .

 

[Gavin Bl]

In music there are no borders . . .

Tell that to U2's accountants! - welsh-palestinian fusion, that is going some!

 

[Udo Erasmus]

I thought the Welsh people lived under very similar conditions to the Palestinians? or so I've heard on these boards.

 

[zog]

I thought the Welsh people lived under very similar conditions to the Palestinians? or so I've heard on these boards.

Don't be stupid. The Welsh know the true meaning of oppression!

 

[Gavin Bl]

I thought the Welsh people lived under very similar conditions to the Palestinians? or so I've heard on these boards.

Its true, we just don't like to make a fuss.

But deep down, I do yearn to to see Offa's Dyke torn down, its true.

 

[niclas]

I thought the Welsh people lived under very similar conditions to the Palestinians? or so I've heard on these boards.

Ho bloody ho...

I understand certain members of the audience complained very noisily about Welsh-language songs at this evening? I wonder who that could have been.

How dare the natives think they can sing in their own language.

 

[Gavin Bl]

I understand certain members of the audience complained very noisily about Welsh-language songs at this evening?

no way?!?

 

[niclas]

no way?!?

"Internationalists" have a blind spot when it comes to Wales remember

 

[llantwit]

Seriously?
What happened?

 

[niclas]

Seriously?
What happened?

I'm going to the gig in the Galeri tonight but a friend at the Cardiff concert was astounded to hear some members of the audience complain noisily that some of the songs were in Welsh. She's a reliable witness.

 

[llantwit]

That's well off.

 

[Udo Erasmus]

Ho bloody ho...

I understand certain members of the audience complained very noisily about Welsh-language songs at this evening? I wonder who that could have been.

How dare the natives think they can sing in their own language.

Have to say, I was present too and I didn't witness such behaviour and they hardly seem representative of the audience as a whole, most people were extremely positive about the music and enjoyed it alot. There will always be the odd one or two individuals out of a hundred . . . In fact, one of the most interesting segments of the evening was when Gwilym Morus was talking about the canu penillion tradition.

I did hear a journalism student who was writing a review of the gig, ask Gwilym if he was singing in Welsh and explained that as an English woman she didn't know. But she was asking out of curiosity for her report and certainly not in a critical way.

As the publicity for the evening clearly stated that the event was a fusion of traditional Welsh and traditional Palestinian material, it would seem a little odd to make this complaint.

Niclas's implication that I might have been the critic is a little odd, as I set up the gig in Cardiff, it would seem a little odd for me then to criticise the musicians!

I personally have no problem with the Welsh language. I do, however, question some of the politics that surrounds it, aptly described by one commentator as "a minority culture with majoritarian pretensions".

PS. To the people who PM'ed me, I will reply when I get a spare moment!

 

[Gavin Bl]

fair comment Udo, if it was just a couple of random wankers, then that's life.

I think niclas was implying that members of a particular group might have been likely candidates, rather than you in person.