NEW YORK—In nightclubs, on the radio, or walking the streets in New York, one might hear Sting or Algerian Cheb Khaled, who sings Aicha by the multi-cultural group Outlandish, a blend of Arabic music and French lyrics.
Recently, I met a very talented musician, composer, and a conductor who blends classical, Arabic jazz, and contemporary music. Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh easily switches styles and also composes music for movies.
Azmeh explains his style. "The music I write is, I think, a reflection on what I have lived 'musically' between Damascus and New York—not trying to mix musics, but rather creating something new from my complex musical education and heritage."
Azmeh started playing the violin, but being left-handed caused him to change instruments. "If you play in an orchestra as a left-handed violinist, there is a great chance of poking someone's eye during a performance." So he chose the clarinet "because I can take it with me wherever I go."
The musician was born in Syria to a family of scientists who appreciated music and supported their son. At first music was extra homework, but always enjoyable. Although he took a double major of music and electrical engineering at the University of Damascus, he knew he was heading toward music.
Until age 11, Azmeh was taught by a Syrian clarinet teacher, Shukry Chawky, once a clarinetist in the Syrian military band, and then continued with Russian teachers who came to Syria to teach.
At 21, Azmeh won the Nicolay Rubenstein Prize for young artists. This gave him the confidence to take his unconventional path. Syrian youth are expected to become doctors, engineers, bankers, or businessmen—not musicians.
He completed a masters at Julliard and is continuing with doctoral studies at City University of New York. He easily navigates between Damascus and New York, with solo performances as well as composing for film and theater. He also manages to tour with his Arabic jazz group, Hewar, which means "dialogue" in Arabic.
Since September 11, his Syrian heritage has given him more time to write music in airports. "I always have to be at the airport for at least five hours before the flight." He wrote "Airports" at JFK to show unjust treatment. "This is what really motivates me."
Trying to define his jazz style is difficult. His record label is searching for the right fit. "Arabic jazz is mainly the concept of jazz, which has become a very large concept which makes it vague like the oriental jazz. Sometimes they want to put it under world music. It is music. Arabic jazz reflects everything I listen to."
Organized in 2003, Hewar performs in concert halls worldwide with two performances each at the Kennedy Center and Julliard, as well as venues throughout the U.S. Hewar collaborates with other groups—notably Japanese and German—and sometimes just plays with three core members who play clarinet, oud (a wooden lute), and vocals.
Azmeh will solo with the German Radio Orchestra in Munich in June and with the Corasara Orchestra in Naples. He has soloed on several occasions with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, including the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House, with the West Eastern Divine Orchestra, founded by Barenboim and late Edward Said, and the Kiev Kamerata Orchestra in Kieve, Ukraine.
Azmeh says Arabic music incorporates more than 50 modes and quarter tones, which Western music doesn't use. Like jazz, improvisation is traditional in classical Arabic music. Azmeh says there is a lively discussion on how to use quarter tones in the harmonic structure of classical Western works.
Azmeh has produced four CDs. Two more are in production, one with Sri Lankan-born Canadian pianist Dinuk Wijeratne called "A South Indian meets Arabic jazz," and the other with the Damascus Festival Chamber Group. Azmeh is the artistic director of the group, which features four Syrian composers commissioned to write Western chamber music and contemporary classical Syrian music.
"As Arabs, we are very much under-represented on the world music scene," Azmeh explains and then adds jokingly, "Every time I play for an American audience, they ask, 'When you go to Damascus, do you have problems parking your camel?' I sometimes imagine myself carrying my clarinet in my backpack and going to the concert hall on a camel."
Kinan's Web site is http://www.kinanazmeh.com/
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