By Hanin Abu Alrub
The Iraqi musician announced that he will present a special song “Jordan our Beloved” for his Jordanian audience on Monday night. The words of the song are by the poet Karim Al Iraqi and the melody is by the Iraqi star himself.
The day before his performance at the Jerash Festival, Albawaba in an exclusive interview, asked the Iraqi musician how he felt about performing for the first time in the South Theatre. “I feel rather over-awed at performing in a theatre which is thousands of years old, especially when I compare this vast time span with my own age. I feel I share another dimension with the theatre especially as I play music from an ancient tradition. The feeling of Iraqi music can be very sad but I want to share it with the rest of the Arab world. “ He added that the Jerash festival is a cultural centre for the entire world.
“I am,” he continued, “very happy to sing for the first time to an audience, no matter the size, from Jordanian and many other Arab countries. I am happy meet people from Palestine. My musicians and I are interested in our music, not its commercialisation. The members of the audience who have come a long way to hear me have a special place in my heart.”
Asked about how he reacted to the criticism that he was destroying Iraqi Folkloric music he replied “ there are many worse things in Iraq which are destroying our music. Many famous Iraqi popular stars had already destroyed Iraqi music before I began to play Arabic guitar. Iraqi folklore music should develop or it should be placed for safety in a museum.
I don’t touch Iraqi arts but remain faithful to the style of Iraqi songs. I challenge any human being to say that we destroy Iraqi folkloric music. These comments come from ignorant, selfish people who do not understand.
When asked where his melodies came from, he answered “ I write all my own music. I also write songs for other artists and I have many project underway in Lebanon and Egypt. “
In reply to the question why his son Mohammed was his manager he replied
“My son is my manager because the job needs somebody who has administrative skills as well as a great deal of experience of music and culture in general. My son is highly educated and is ideally suited to the job. He also added “ family projects succeed and trust is the root of this success.”
During a press conference in the Jerusalem Hotel, Amman, Ilham Al-said “I was the first to use the guitar to play Arabic music. I started playing Arabic music and songs with guitar and keyboard as an experiment many years in 1958 during Military Coup in Iraq. That was long before Mohammed Abdel WaHab. I my style while working with a Spanish group in Baghdad. Since that time, we have used the guitar in Arabic song. Due to the embargo, we have time to improvize and experiment, it helps to kill the time.
Commenting again on Abdel WaHab, Ilham Al-Madfa’i concluded “ I Arabized the guitar but before Mohammed Abdel WaHab westernized Arabic songs. This thing is between Mohammed WaHab and myself.”
The words of his song “ Jordan of the Beloved Ones “
Jordan of the beloved ones
My heart is broken with homesickness
Jordan of the Beloved ones
You shared my burdens
Because you’re our family and our closest relatives
Patience is my food and clothes, homesickness tears me apart
Bringing the family all together is my demand, waiting days and nights so long
Who like my beloved ones saw sorrows and miseries
My heart is broken from the homesickness
Jordan of the beloved ones
You shared my burdens
Because you’re our family and the nearest relatives
Blood and language gathered us Religion glory and faith
Nothing can break us apart for as long as time goes on
Baghdad sings Amman Ask the new and the old men
Jordan of the beloved ones
You shared with me my burdens
Because you’re our family and our closest relatives -- Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
