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Bay Area Reporter, Feature >>
Good news from the HOly Land
Le Trio Joubran scores on the new CD 'Randana'
by Michael McDonagh
Anything that happens in Israel and Palestine is front page news, and whether triumphant or tragic, no one can deny its gravity, nor the fact that this land has haunted the imagina tions of East and West for millen nia. The oudt the Arabic ancestor of our lute and guitar, has been around longer than the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, since about 3000 BCE, when it was invented in Mesopotamia. The instrument has experienced a resurgence lately through the work of Marcel Khal- ife, Issam Rafea, and other devoted musicians like LeJTrio Joubran, founded last year. The Palestinian Joubran brothers Samir, Wissam and Adnan hail from the storied hill-town of Nazareth in Galilee, where their father is a master oud- maker, and their mother a singer of classical Arabic music. I don't think it's a stretch to say that their playing on Randana (Sheer Sound) manages to conjure near ly physical images and spaces from their ancient, scarred land.
Their CD's name, a word in vented by Samir, combining rana/ranin (beautiful or resonant sound) with dandana (rhythmic or humming sound), gives a clue to what they're about here. Besides being cerebral Arabic music has over 70 maqamat, or melodic structures not unlike those in the Indian raga system it's also sen- Le Trio Joubran: conjuring physical images from their ancient land. suous, and the trio's mastery of iqa'at (rhythmic patterns) gives it variety and drive.
The first piece, "Hawas" ("Obsession"), serves as a kind of cur tain-raiser and compendium of the brothers* compositional and coloristic moves for their three subsequent, largely improvised pieces. As in raga, they're pitched to the moment's mood, and feel like deeply related sections of single unfolding work.
Plus there's lots of drama, which they achieve in several ways, such as through the use of uneven phrase lengths, especially "Shagaf" ("Passion"), which has mercurial shifting counts, and quarter tones which the Joubrans articulate singly or in runs. They get thrilling, deeply emotive ef fects by rolling these pitches into one another, often at breakneck speeds. Their intensity is acute, es pecially in the very long but never boring "Safar" ("Travel"), with its framing pattern, a link to Moorish from Andalusia which to encompass vast distances.
The Damascus-born clarinetist and New York resident Kinan Azmeh achieves similar effects with his group Hewar ("Dia logue") on their self-titled album on La CD-Theque, particularly on "Rituals " and "Prayer (Tribute to Edward Said.)" Though music has never stopped a bullet, a bulldoz er, or a tank, the work of all these young musicians can at least open ears, and hopefully hearts. It's not for nothing that John Adams in vited Le Trio Joubran to play in the In Your Ear Too festival this February at Carnegie Hall. Their technical mastery and emotive force answer Nathanael's question in the Gospel attributed to John. "'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'" Or in this case, listen, and in that way, see. And the sound? Quietly but utterly spectacular. 05/25/06
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