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Oud-playing band of brothers makes improvising its own art

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The Plain Dealer , Oud-playing band of brothers makes improvising its own art >>


Samir Joubran longs to be a "normal" musician who focuses purely on the melodies he draws from his oud, an ancient Arabic ancestor of the guitar and mandolin. But he finds his dream impossible.

"I don't want to make music political," he said. "But being Christian and Palestinian with an Israeli passport, I cannot not be political. While Palestine is occupied, I'm not a normal musician. After the concert, I go back and listen to the news. Everything is related to my country, my people."

Joubran was speaking by phone from the apartment in Paris that he shares with his wife, daughter and two brothers.
The brothers make up Le Trio Joubran, the ensemble of oud players who perform tonight at Reinberger Chamber Hall.

Born in Nazareth, the Joubrans grew up in a musical family. Their father is a master oud maker, and so was his father. Their mother sang in a classical Arabic poetry/music ensemble.
Samir, 33, began studying music with his father at age 5. He entered the Nazareth Conservatory of Music at age 9 and completed his studies at a conservatory in Cairo. Besides performing with his brothers, he is a soloist and composer.

"My background is classical and traditional Arabic music," he said. "But I like to listen to Bach. When I was a child, my father was in love with Elvis Presley."

Wissam, 23, made his debut at age 12 playing duets with his older brother. The first Arabic musician to graduate from the prestigious Stradivarius Institute in Cremona, Italy, he built the ouds the brothers play. Because of the relationship of instruments and players, Samir says there are six brothers onstage.

Adnan wanted to join the oud ensemble when he was 17. But he was not ready. "He wanted to go on the road and travel the whole world," Samir said. "I told him, Forget it.' He cried. I was very tough on him. I said There is no ego in music. I want you to play with us not because you're my brother but because you're a good player.'"

To the brothers' surprise, the emotional incident was secretly filmed for a French TV documentary. The film ends on an upbeat note as Adnan makes his debut with the trio.

"He was home in Nazareth practicing alone for 1½ years," Samir said. "The first time out of our house, he played for 800 people in Paris. It was a big, big step." Because the Joubrans are the world's first oud trio, they are challenged to create original music. Although they play some traditional melodies, they improvise most of their repertoire.

Their new album, "Randana," contains haunting melodies, expressive dialogues and mesmerizing repeated patterns.
"In a studio, it's a little different to perform for a machine," Samir said. "Onstage, our compositions are more powerful. The audience listens by eye and sees the communication between three brothers.

"The American audience is open-minded. The first 20 to 30 minutes, I feel they are outside the music trying to discover what's going on. After that, it's easy to be one with the soul of Arabic music."


---by Wilma Salisbury
Plain Dealer Music Critic
 04/14/06 >> go there
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