CLASSICAL
This orchestra celebrates music of the Arab world.
Fear may take a different shape or form with age, but it remains a profound inhibitor in response to uncertainty. Health and employment status are anxiety-provoking stimuli, particularly in a time like the present, and even in the days before social distancing, learning about or being immersed in an unknown culture has been another.
A sense of uneasiness caused by the latter is what the National Arab Orchestra’s music director Michael Ibrahim has sought to subdue since he founded the ensemble in 2009 with a mission of preserving the musical traditions of the Arab world, while bridging social and cultural barriers.
Although closures due to the coronavirus have sidelined inperson classroom visits, university lectures and performances for the foreseeable future, it has failed to suspend one’s ability to educate. So the Detroit native, who was born into a Syrian immigrant family, has continued his quest to instill greater cultural awareness through music.
His Michigan-based organization, which was scheduled to perform at the Hobby Center in celebration of Arab American Heritage Month on April 10, launched a new online series called “NAO Live Tuesdays.” In the weekly program on Facebook, Ibrahim delves into rarely discussed subjects while interviewing experts in their field, such as Iraqi-Jordanian violinist Layth Sidiq, Lebanese percussionist Gilbert Mansour, Palestinian cellist Naseem Alatrash, Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, and New York-based musicians Johnny Farraj and Sami Abu Shumays, who are co-authors of the book “Inside Arabic Music.”
No matter the guest, two recurring topics have been the responsibility that Arab artists instinctively assume to represent both the music and the values of the culture through their work and the effort it takes to do so living outside the Middle East, Ibrahim explained.
“If people know how to build a house, then they won’t be so scared about buying a house,” he said, wrapping up a mid-May installment with Palestinian singer and oud player George Ziadeh. Days later, Ibrahim hosted his first online workshop in another broadcast series that examines aspects of Arab music like “maqam,” the system of notes that forms the basis of composition, and “taqasim,” or improvisation.
“If you remove the fear, if you’re informed, things tend to come easier,” Ibrahim said, further elaborating on his school of thought in a phone interview. “You’re able to cope and handle things a lot easier. This pandemic has caused a lot of disarray for many people all over the world. It’s caused a lot of forced reflection. The most important thing, I think, is to remember to remove fear so that your mind is clear and you’re not stuck in the same habits that you’ve been stuck in.”
In addition to its live programming, the National Arab Orchestra is regularly sharing trivia tidbits relating to music history, uploading video clips from past performances and promoting work from other prominent Arab artists. In April, the organization also released a quarantine video titled “A Collaboration in Isolation,” in which 26 members of the orchestra — including Ibrahim on a long end-blown flute called the nay — perform Philemon Wehbi’s “Jayibli Salam” together with internationally renowned vocalist Abeer Nehme from the safety of their own homes.
“One way to connect with people is to kind of let them in backstage,” Ibrahim said. “It’s sort of like letting them into your home. We thought it would be a good time for them to get to know the musicians and what goes on behind the scenes.”
The virtual effort to maintain and even intensify an authentic relationship between the members of the orchestra and their supporters is an example of the organization’s forward-thinking leadership. Education not only instills greater open-mindedness, it also increases approachability.
“It goes back down to fear, the fear of the unknown,” Ibrahim said. “That’s basically what fear is, when you fear the unknown. When you know what’s going on, you tend to be more aware of the experience, and so you get to enjoy it more. I mean, what’s more enjoyable than music?”