AFRICA EXPRESS PRESENTS...

the OrchestraOf syrian musiciansWITH DAMON ALBARN & GUESTS

HOLLAND FESTIVAL 2016

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infOWED 22.6 starting time8 pm

venueKoninklijk Theater Carré

running timefull evening

introduction7.15 pm, by René van Peer

creDiTsperformersDamon Albarn and guests: Bassekou Kouyaté, Bu Kolthoum, Eslam Jawaad, Faia Younan, Malikah, Mounir Troudi, Noura Mint Seymali, Paul Weller, Rachid Taha, TALA, Seckou Keita

musiciansAl Mothana Ali, violinAmer Dahbar, percussionBadi Rafea, percussionEmad Moursi, celloFajer Alabd Allah , double bassFeras Charestan, qanoonJamal Al Sakka, percussionJamil Al Bittar, violinJehad Jazba, violinJoseph Samaan, violaKhaldoun Al Najjad, violaMaher Mahmoud , oudMazen Hamzeh, percussionMhd Majed Jaredeh, violinMohamad Amir Karjoli, violinMohamad Namik, celloMoslem Rahal, nai (reed flute)Mouhamad Souhaib Alsamman, celloNawaf Hlal, violinRachid Hlal, violin, orchestra leaderRaghad Haddad, violaRazan Kassar, violin Sousan Eskandar, violin Tarek Zaidieh, violinThaer Eid, violaWalid Khatba, violin

choirAbdalhade Deb, Basel Saleh, Hamsa Mounif, Heba Fahmeh, Iyad Hanna, Lina Alshahin, Louna Mohamad, Mais Harb, Mervat Rafiea, Mirna Kassis, Mohamad Saleh, Omran Abo Zainaldin, Osama Al Sultan, Ossamah Kiwan, Raneem Barakat, Reem Rafiea, Samer Jaber, Sanaa Barakat, Tammam Taifour

visualsTammam Azzam, Jaber Al Azmeh

musical adviceIssam Rafea

productionAfrica Express

co-commissioned by Holland Festival, 14-18 NOW

Unfortunately, due to visareasons, Issam Rafea will not be with us tonight.For personal reasons Baaba Maal and Lotfi Bouchnak will not join us tonight.

Patron

This concert is made possible by Coproduction This concert is part of the HF Young programe.

programme noTesIn the spotlight tonight are the members of The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, featuring former and current members of the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music (SNOAM).The orchestra will be joined by performers from Britain and Syria as well as Algeria, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Tunisia and the United States, including Damon Albarn, Bassekou Kouyaté, Bu Kolthoum, Eslam Jawaad, Faia Younan, Malikah, Mounir Troudi, Noura Mint Seymali, Paul Weller, Rachid Taha, Seckou Keita, and TALA for a rare concert to showcase Syrian and Arabic music.

Albarn first played with Syrian conductor Issam Rafea and SNOAM musicians at the Damascus Opera House in 2008. He later worked with Rafea and members of the orchestra when they appeared on the Gorillaz track White Flag. The musicians, together with Rafea, joined Gorillaz on their 2010 Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour which included shows at the 11th century Citadel in Damascus, Syria, as well as dates in Lebanon and across Europe and North America. As a result of the ongoing conflict, many Syrian musicians – including Issam Rafea – have been forced to leave their country. This special concert will see musicians who previously worked with Albarn, travelling from both inside and outside Syria, to reunite for an orchestral performance of Arabic music alongside Albarn and the other guest performers. The event will highlight and celebrate the remarkable music cultu-re of Syria, offering an alternative providing a more positive perspective than events currently seen in the news. As well as tonight’s concert in Amsterdam, The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians will open the UK’s high profile Glastonbury Festival, ahead of a show at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London which will be streamed globally via YouTube; with additional dates also scheduled for Istanbul and Den-mark’s Roskilde Festival next week.

REUNIONThe orchestra members have been looking forward to working together again. ‘It’s fantastic Damon Albarn has brought the orchestra back together,’ said Rafea, who is still involved with the orchestra as a muscial advisor. ‘It was his idea – fifty former and current members of the orchestra will join the tour: twenty singers and thirty instrumentalists. It wasn’t straightforward getting so many of us together. A lot of work has been done behind the scenes – Africa Express has laboured tirelessly.’ Rafea sees this reunion as more than just a festive occasion. It is a concert for peace in a time of pain and despair: ‘I’m convinced that music can make an effective contribution towards peace. It’s no easy task, but the universal language of music can enable us to communicate openly and with a positive and peaceable attitude with musicians from other parts of the world, in spite of our differences. This is ultimately the core of any meaningful peace – in Syria, too. The orches-tra is performing here with an overwhelming sense of sadness, but Syrians have decided life must go on. They don’t give up, however much pain they suffer. They carry on making music, art and theatre, in the hope of a better future. I’m sure that by using all of the energy we have in us we can show a little of Syria as it should be. We hope the situation in Syria soon returns to normal.’

ABOUT THE ARTISTSThe Orchestra of Syrian Musicians features current and former members of the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music (SNOAM). SNOAM started life as the Orchestra for Ara-bic Music, which was founded in 1990 by the Syrian Ministry of Culture, together with the Higher Institute of Music. Issam Rafea, as then chief conductor, completely restructured the orchestra in 2003, professionalising it and giving it its current name. It has performed in Syria, Tunisia, Germany and Italy. The orchestra took part in the Damascus Opera House’s opening ceremony in 2004. As well as performing tradi-tional Arabic music, SNOAM also performs contemporary music based on traditional forms. Whilst traditional Arabic music usually maintains a single melody, SNOAM emphasises harmony as an extra dimension in its performances, while preserving the musical and spiritual identity of the music. SNOAM performs all kinds of traditional Arabic music, for the most part vocal repertoire. The orchestra also performs les-ser-known instrumental Arabic music, to which it gives its own interpretation. Adnan Fathallah currently heads the orchestra in Damascus, where it still performs.

Damon Albarn is a Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, producer and composer whose eclectic musical style and observational lyrics have made him one of the UK’s most influential and consistently interesting musicians. Best known for his work with Blur and Gorillaz, other releases include: Mali Music (2002) recorded with local musicians in Mali; The Good, The Bad and The Queen (2007) with Paul Simon, Tony Allen and Simon Tong; Kinshasa One Two (2011) by DRC Music – recorded with Western producers and contemporary Con-golese musicians in the Democratic Republic of Congo over 5 days in July 2011 to benefit Oxfam; Rocket Juice and The Moon (2012) with Tony Allen and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dr Dee (2012); and the critically acclaimed Africa Express presents… Maison Des Jeunes (2013) which saw Africa Express bring Western artists together with local Malian musi-cians to make an album in just 5 days. 2014 saw the release of Albarn’s first solo album, the Mercury Award nominated Everyday Robots.

Hailed as the most revolutionary force in popular music for two decades, Africa Express brings together musicians from different cultures, genres and generations to break bounda-ries and promote cross cultural collaboration through music.Africa Express began in 2006 with a trip to Mali, when co-founder Damon Albarn took Western artists to work with African legends such as Toumani Diabate, Salif Keita, Amadou & Mariam and Bassekou Kouyaté. This was followed by the now-legendary Glastonbury 2007 show, followed by trips to Nigeria, the Congo, Ethiopia, together with shows in a Liverpool variety hall and at the BBC Electric Proms, as well as for a 25,000 strong crowd in Paris town centre and 50,000 people on a Spanish beach show. In 2012 a week-long train tour of the UK, with more than 100 artists taking part, captu-red global headlines. Last year they headlined Roskilde Festi-val in Denmark. Each event is unique, based upon on-the-spot collaboration and filled with one-off moments of magic. Album releases include the critically acclaimed album Africa Express Presents… Maison Des Jeunes (2013) recorded in Bamako, Mali. Africa Express musicians and producers, inclu-ding Brian Eno, Nick Zinner, Ghostpoet and Damon Albarn, set up a temporary studio in a city youth club and worked with a new wave of contemporary Malian musicians – inclu-

Bassekou Kouyaté (b. 1966, Garana) is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa. A Malian, he has collabora-ted with many musicians in and outside of Mali. After his celebrated debut album Segu Blue and the follow up I Speak Fula, he has performed all over the globe.

Bu Kulthoum is the moniker of Syrian MC and producer Mouneer, derived from combining the names of world-renowned Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum and legendary poet Amr Bin Kolthoum. His other projects include the hip hop group LaTlateh.

Wissam Khodur, aka Eslam Jawaad is a rapper of Lebanese-Syrian origin. His debut album, The Mammoth Tusk was considered an international success. As well as his English language tracks, he was the first Arabic hip-hop artist to create and record tracks in classical Arabic.

At the age of eleven, Faia Younan (1992, Aleppo) moved with her family to Sweden. She began singing and playing piano at a very young age. In 2014, in partnership with her sister Rihan, Faia launched her first video titled To Our Countries on You-Tube. The video was a viral sensation and launched her career in music.

Lynn Fattouh, aka Malikah (Queen in Ara-bic), was born in Marseille, France in 1986. Raised in Beirut under the shadow of war, Malikah first hit the Lebanese hip hop scene at the age of 16. Since then, Mali-kah has established herself as the true ‘Queen of Arab Hip-Hop’ and becoming the first successful Arab female MC.

Mounir Troudi (b. 1960) is a jazz and Sufi music singer from Tunisia. He made his debut with his show Hadhra in 1994, and in the early 2000s he formed the band Nagouz. He has also appeared on several albums with French jazz trumpet play-er Erik Truffaz. In 2010 he released his album Tawassol.

Noura Mint Seymali is a singer, and instru-mentalist from Mauritania. She began her career at age 13 supporting her legendary stepmother Dimi Mint Abba on vocals. She plays the ardin, the nine-stringed harp traditionally played only by women. Her songs are dominated by the electric guitar work of her husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly.

Paul Weller (b. 1958, Woking) is an English singer and musician. He achieved fame with the band The Jam, and had further success with The Style Council, before establishing himself as a solo artist in 1991. He’s known for his varied, long-lasting and determinedly forward-looking career.

Rachid Taha (b. 1958, Sig) is an Algerian singer and activist. He moved with his parents to France when he was ten years old. He has been described as ‘sonically adventurous’ and music is influenced by many different styles such as rock, elec-tronic, punk and raï.

TALA grew up in London, as the child of an Iranian father and a British mother. In 2014, she released her debut EP The Duchess, and last year’s follow up Malika. Her eclectic songs are a mixture of clas-sical music, 90s hip-hop and R&B, and computer game soundtracks.

Seckou Keita (b. 1978) is a kora player and drummer from Senegal. He is a charismatic live performer and one of the few champions of the less-known and rhythmically rocking kora repertoire from Casamance in southern Senegal.

Stage visuals are by Tammam Azzam and Jaber Al Azmeh:

Jaber Al Azmeh (b. 1973, Damascus) is a Syrian art photographer who fled his country four years ago and who continues to work as an artist. His previous series include Wounds (2012), which tackled the emotional ramifications of the Syrian uprising, and Ba’ath (2014). He lives and works in Doha, Qatar.

Tammam Azzam (b. 1980, Damascus) fled the war in Syria with his wife and daugh-ter more than four years ago, moving to Dubai. The move meant that he had to leave his studio and his work behind. His art changed in tandem, exploring themes of war and migration. In the absence of a studio, he turned to digital media and graphic art as a form of expression.

ding Songhoy Blues, Kankou Kouyaté and Bijou – to complete the album in one week. The resulting 11-track album captures the spontaneity and excitement of a unique week in a coun-try famed for its musical heritage, yet which saw music briefly banned in much of the nation following 2013’s coup and mili-tant takeover in the north. And in January 2015, to mark the 50th anniversary of Terry Riley’s pioneering masterpiece In C, Africa Express released the first African version of the mini-malist classic, Africa Express presents… Terry Riley’s In C Mali, which has been praised by critics and won a major award.

GUESTS