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In 1976, while confined to the village of Amchit during his country's civil war, the Lebanese composer Marcel Khalifé first read the work of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Khalifé says the effect of Darwish's work on him was instant, and he quickly set about writing music to some of the poems. He wasn't aware of any copyright laws for doing such a thing; he just did it. Several years later Khalifé met Mahmoud and found the poet was thrilled with what he'd done. "We developed a friendship that lasted a lifetime," says Khalifé, also a virtuoso on the oud (which is similar to a lute). For Mahmoud that lifetime ended in 2008 when he died in Houston following heart surgery. But Khalifé's new album, "Fall of the Moon," finds him composing more music based on the work of his friend. The album features many different styles and sounds to complement both Mahmoud's varied manner of writing and the content of his poems, which often dealt with land, loss and love. Khalifé simplifies that trio as just being about "life." With assistance from a translator, Khalifé fielded questions at Club Quarters downtown on Monday in advance of his Friday night show at Jones Hall. Q: Do you have a phrase for your working relationship with Darwish? It's not exactly a collaboration as we typically label it in popular music. A: I felt that the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish spoke to me on a personal level. When he spoke of his mother's bread, it was like he was talking about my mother's bread. His poem "The Passport," I felt like it was his picture in my passport. It didn't matter where we lived. We traveled the world and often weren't in the same city, but we had that connection through music and words. I wrote music for the poetry of other poets, but the poetry of Mahmoud spoke to me on a personal level. Q: I notice he used a lot of bird imagery, which contrasted with some earthier metaphors, too. I feel like I hear that in the music, too, the earthiness of the oud contrasted with the fluttering of the violins. Was the instrumentation meant to reflect the poetry that specifically? A: The best way to describe music is to hear it. It's difficult to describe in words. That doesn't mean I can't explain it. But if I explain it in words, it will lose a lot of its value. And music has to be heard. If you or anyone else was able to hear the instruments as you have, you've really arrived at the best one can hope for listening to music and hearing the piece. Music is abstract, just like painting. You might describe that painting as a desert and come back to me and I think it's a moon. Music is abstract and reflected by the feelings of the person listening to it at the time. That's why music in my opinion is the most powerful form of art. You don't have to be musically trained to appreciate it. And it's the most global, it's the language of the world. If you bring in Chinese music, you can relate to it. Arabic music, you can relate to it. European music, the same way. Music is global. Q: Is American jazz in the mix for you? The bass notes on "Now, In Exile" reminded me a little of some of Jimmy Garrison's playing with John Coltrane. A: The new album basically reflects all forms of music: classical, folkloric, music that moves people's feelings, jazz, all of it. I'll tell you a story about that song … When Mahmoud wrote the poem, I came to him and said I wanted to write music to it. At the time Mahmoud was 60. He said, "Wait until you turn 60 … don't rush." So I did when I turned 60, but by then Mahmoud had died. That song has elements of blues and elements of pain and elements of jazz, they all come out through the song in the way it's played. It reflects a lot of the feelings when someone reaches 60. You look back at the long road, and you also look forward. It glorifies life, but there's also the idea of death in it. Q: Which seems to tie in with the album as a whole. There is darkness throughout, whether it's death or exile, but it's countered with a strong sense of hopefulness. A: Yes, the balance was to write the song so you can maybe cry over the passing of 60 years but also think about the glorious days in the past, and also think about what's left. The poem has a defiance to death. Darwish said without life there is no death. So really life complements death. It's an essential part of death. So really this album is glorifying life. 04/18/12 >> go there
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