Sarah McDonald and Dr. James Toronto, Near Eastern Studies
The attacks of September 11th were designed to strike fear into the hearts of Americans, but the terrorists did not take into account the fact that the blanket term “Americans” includes many of Middle Eastern descent. The aftermath of the hijackings found Muslims, Sikhs, and others of Eastern appearance targeted by unjustly vindictive acts. As a student with many Muslim friends, I wanted to do something to promote cultural acceptance on campus and beyond. My double major in Near Eastern Studies and Vocal Pedagogy prompted the idea of researching authentic classical Middle Eastern music and performing it in recital as a way of showcasing the positive aspects of eastern culture.
Despite the beauty of Middle Eastern art song, it almost never performed by Western classical singers and few are aware of it at all. One reason is the language barrier. Western art song is comprised almost entirely of music in English, French, German and Italian; songs in Russian, Spanish and Norwegian can be found only on the margins of general classical study. These songs are almost entirely written in the Roman alphabet and are arranged for voice and piano. Significantly, both the Roman alphabet and music are read from left to right. In contrast, the languages of the Middle East (excluding Turkish) are written from right to left. Middle Eastern languages contain several sounds not represented in the Roman alphabet, and transliteration to meld lyrics to written music results in dismal pronunciation.
Despite these challenges, I had hoped to arrange several songs for piano and solo voice and by so doing increase awareness and the future performance of this repertoire. Language was not the only challenge that I uncovered. The under-representation of classical Middle Eastern music in the West is also due to the cultural factor of instrumentation. Whereas Western art song is entirely written for voice, piano, and occasional solo strings, Eastern art song is accompanied by various instruments such as the ‘oud, santur, large string ensembles, and percussion. Additionally, Middle Eastern classical music is characterized by improvisation and includes quarter tones which our pianos cannot produce. I ultimately felt that to write an orderly, static piano accompaniment to a Sufi poem was to compromise the spirit of this music.
Despite these obstacles, performing Middle Eastern classical music is entirely feasible for Western singers. I was easily able to locate musicians in my community that I could hire to perform with me. Surprisingly, none of them were of Eastern ethnicity. I was joined by Dr. Lloyd Miller on the santur, Cecily Saunders on the ‘oud, and Catherine St. John on the zarb. I met Dr. Miller through a Persian music course offered by Brigham Young University. I assisted with the tambourine and performed all the vocals. The instruments had been made in Afghanistan and Iran and belonged to Dr. Miller.
I was additionally aware that a large selection of Jewish music is widely available in printed form for solo voice and piano. As a student at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies in 1997, I was able to purchase several Israeli art song collections. I found a tutor to help me with the Hebrew pronunciation and enlisted Willem van Schalkwyk, a talented pianist from Namibia, to assist with the accompaniment.
The next part of my research involved finding and mastering additional repertoire. In the Middle East, music is learned from an ustaaz, or music master. Emphasis is based on repetition until the different modes are learned perfectly. Learning is audial; music is almost never committed to patterns on paper as we do in the west. The ustaaz passes the music down to the student. Skilled musicians likewise never depend on written music to accompany the vocalist; once the mode is learned, they can play the song. My research led to me several ustaazes; Dr. Miller, Dr. James Toronto, and the simpler teachers of musical recordings.
The final program comprised a set of Persian Sufi songs from the dastgah Mahur, performed with the instrumental ensemble; an Afghan folk tune with a traditional dance, coached by Catherine St. John; a set of French art songs by Georges Bizet, Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Ravel, reflecting the entrance of eastern melodies in European music; a selection of Israeli art songs with piano, originally arranged by Menachem Wiesenberg in Tel Aviv for contralto Mira Zacai; a set of Arabic and Syriac Christian hymns, performed a capella and with piano; and a lengthy Bedouin love song in an Iraqi dialect.
My hope in performing such a varied program was to call attention to the richness and diversity of Middle Eastern musical tradition. Interviewing people after the successful performance, I found that the attendees had been moved in different ways. Some cited the French and Israeli songs as their favorites; others stated that the Arabic hymns had touched them the most. During the performance, the audience responded most enthusiastically to the Afghan and Iraqi songs, giving the performers loud applause and a standing ovation. These songs were both performed with the instrumental ensemble and differed greatly from the European tradition familiar to the American audience.
The program had been very successful in achieving the stated goals. In the aftermath of the recital, I had many requests for the CD recording. My two greatest concerns were the reception of the Afghan song and the inclusion of Israeli and Arabic songs on the same program. I was pleased to hear one of my Palestinian friends, who had suffered during the recent months of conflict in her hometown of Ramallah, state that the Israeli art songs were her favorites.
I feel that educating people through sharing culture is an effective way to increase understanding and tolerance of other ethnicities. I consider projects of this nature an ongoing effort as our nation researches ways to integrate her citizens of Middle Eastern origin into American society.