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Global Hit Interview
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The World (PRI), Global Hit Interview >>
News from the Middle East is often filled with anguish. But a few musicians are trying to change that.
Israeli Yair Dalal and Palestinian Naser Musa have teamed up. They're performing with the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, in an upcoming tour called Gesr Jesr: Bridging cultures in conflict through the arts.
They've both joined us from the studios of Chicago Public Radio.
see tour schedule
Lisa Mullins: And I'd like to know a little bit about your background first. Yair Dalal, where do you come from?
Yair Dalal: I'm coming from Israel, my family came from Iraq, Jewish Iraqi family. I was raised in Israel. I'm living now in the old city of Jaffa...beautiful place.
LM: What instrument do you play?
YD: I'm playing the oud and the violin.
LM: The oud and the violin. How about you, Naser? Where do you come from first?
Naser Musa: My family is originally from Ein Karem, a village near Jerusalem. I was born in Jordan, they moved out of that village in 1948. And I spent most of my life here, in the US.
LM: You are a Palestinian Christian, is that correct?
NM: Yes.
LM: And you play which instrument?
NM: I play the oud, which is kinda like a lute.
LM: How did you two get together?
NM: Well, I teach regularly at the Mendocino Music and Dance Camp. Few years ago, Yair was visiting and he was a guest teacher. I was sitting by the fire playing my oud and just he sat next to me with his oud and we started playing and singing. And before I knew it he was saying Hebrew words to songs that I know and I was saying Arabic words to songs that he knows.
LM: Play me a bit of music that would combine those influences.
LM: I want to know what the song was about, what you were saying and then I think, tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming, Yair, at one point you were speaking Hebrew, Naser, I assume you were speaking the same words, but in Arabic.
YD: I speak, actually, it's in very ancient Hebrew, it's in Aramaic Hebrew, Naser Musa speak in Arabic. You know sometimes those two languages are very, very similar, they're like sisters.
LM: I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the languages are similar and that your styles are woven together so easily, seemingly so effortlessly. What was that song about, by the way?
YD: It's a song to glorify the God.
LM: Is it traditional or did you write it?
YD: No, no it's traditional.
LM: Naser, would you say the same thing, that it's traditional?
NM: The melody, yeah, the melody is familiar to me. When I heard Yair sing the song I just liked it so much and I wrote Arabic words to it, just glorifying God, thanking God.
LM: Do you make it a point not to talk about politics together?
YD: No, we talk about politics together. Because politics is part of our lives. Especially living in Israel, we don't hear only in the news what's going on there. But, we have our hope, it's more than hope, it's existence.
LM: I'm curious about the songs you've put together for this tour. I mean, did you for instance, Yair, come up, perhaps with a tune, and say yeah this reminds me of sort of a traditional Aramaic tune or lyric and then Naser you specifically set out to have kind of an Arabic influence in it or was it more organic than that?
NM: It was a little more organic than that because what we play and what we like in our cultures are very much similar in so many ways that it effortlessly comes to you that it's the same thing, he's doing the same kind of music.
LM: Did that surprise you when it was so easy?
NM: Not really, it surprised me later when people started pointing finger, "Arab and Jew, Palestinian and Israeli."
YD: We are artists, this is our nationality. So we play Middle Eastern music and that's it. We just play.
LM: OK, so play, I'd love to hear something.
NM: I want to play you a song that I wrote especially for this festival.
LM: This is Naser.
NM: Yes. And the song is titled Salam, Salam meaning "peace," Shalom in Hebrew, "peace" in Arabic. And just starting with peace within your heart. 08/30/05 >> go there
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