Qatar gets a Philharmonic!

I witnessed history last night. In the tiny little Arab state of Qatar, a new philharmonic orchestra was born. Over 50 musicians, most of whom were under the age of 35 and from countries as diverse as England, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Japan (I left a lot out of that list for the reader's sake). They played in this tiny little 500-seater National Theater with the worst acoustics I've ever heard in a space designated for musical performances. Part of the problem was that the full-piece orchestra barely fit on the stage. They started out with Beethoven's 5th Symphony (a timid first movement that then opened up into a rip roaring 3rd and 4th movement), moved into a riveting rendition of Ravel's Bolero, took a break for intermission, and finished up with the world premier of Marcel Khalife's Arabian Concerto, performed with 6 different traditional Arabic instruments. Thursday night was the VIP night. I have the great fortune of having a father who is considered "important" in the Doha social circles, so I get to accompany him to all of these high-collared events. We were there with every possible ambassador you could imagine, and the Emir and Her Highness were sitting just a half dozen rows in front of us. The topper was that Lorin Maazel, one of the most famous conductors alive right now, was the guest conductor for the evening.

If you know either my Dad or me even remotely, you know how big of a deal this is to both of us. One of my favorite things about my life in Pittsburgh was getting to see a world-class symphony weekend after weekend for $12 (student price obviously). I wasn't there because it was a cheap thing to do on the weekends. I have a deep-seated and long-developed love for music, something that started as early in my life as my dad was able to play "name that composer" with me in the car on the way to day-care. Being able to see a well-trained orchestra on a semi-regular basis is something I never thought I'd see here in Doha.

What struck me most about the evening was Khalife's Arabian Concerto, for two reasons. One, it was an interesting piece of music that wove traditional Arabic sounds into an orchestral piece. The Arabian "band" would carry a theme, give it back tot he orchestra who would then play around with it for a while, and then the traditional band would take it back and turn it into a new theme, which they would in turn give back to the orchestra, and so on and so forth. It was definitely a new experience to hear traditional Arabian instruments being used in a classically trained orchestra - two sounds I never thought would have gone together. Two, I realized that I'm really beginning to like Arab music. I went through a series of phases with it. At first I hated it, thought it sounded like just a jumble of whiny sounds. Then I started to tolerate it and would listen to it if it was the only thing on the radio. When I took a trip to Jordan back in May, my two friends and I jammed to it in the car on our road trip, but more for the romanticized feeling of driving through an Arabian landscape listening to "traditional" music, all the while making fun of how many times the word "habibi" was used in each song. But something changed for me with this symphony. I was suddenly able to appreciate the difference of sounds, the tempos, the rhythms, and feel it in my body like I feel bluegrass or Irish folk.

I have a theory about music and culture. Every culture has a type or style of music that bares the likeness of the soul of the people of that culture. You can feel it in the rhythm and the melodies. Irish folk is one. Bluegrass is another. Salsa, tango, bhangra, african drumming - they all reflect the spirit of the people of that culture. I'm finally beginning to understand and recognize that connection for the music from this area of the world. I think that's why I'm starting to appreciate it more.