Rahim AlHaj, Iraqi composer and oud player, will give a lecture demonstration from 10:10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and a concert at 7:30 p.m. today at the Music Hall.
“The purpose of this concert is to promote peace and to raise awareness about what (Iraqi) culture is about,” Nasser Al-Taee, performance chair of the National Symposium on Multicultural Music, said.
“We’re hoping to get as many people as we can; it would be wonderful if we can really make a statement and say, ‘even though this is a hard time, this is a time of war and instability, we believe in peace and coexistence and we believe in building bridges between East and West.’ We feel that this is a concert that crosses boundaries, that crosses all racial and religious divisions.”
AlHaj was born in Baghdad and studied under Munir Bashir at the Institute of Music in Baghdad. Bashir is considered by many to be the greatest oud player ever. AlHaj left Iraq in 1991 as a political refugee and lived in Jordan and Syria until he was granted asylum in the United States in 2000.
The oud is one of the main instruments of the East and is very ancient. It is a stringed instrument with five double strings. He does not sing because he said that if there are words people concentrate more on the words than the feeling of the music.
“My mission is to bring out the spiritual meaning that lies behind the notes. My music is not to entertain, but to communicate compassion, love and peace,” AlHaj said.
“(AlHaj) is like a poet, he enjoys that intimacy between him and his instrument, and he wants to share that with the audience,” Al-Taee said.
Arabic music relies heavily on audience feedback, so AlHaj will come in without a set program and draw from the audience’s reaction as to what he should play next. There will, however, be some music from his CD, “Iraqi Music in a Time of War.”
Al-Taee said AlHaj will give the title and then there is that image that the audience can hear in the music, as well as his reaction to what was and what is now.
“This will be a kind of autobiographical collection of stories, memoirs, memories, fantasies, fairy tales, stories of, you know, couples who have fallen in love. You get to really relate to the geography, to the memory and the past of the place,” Al-Taee said.
“All my compositions are concentrated on some event (or) experience in my life,” AlHaj said. “Our life is full of things and we need to talk about current issues, things that need resolutions. My compositions are more than just songs; they embody emotions and ideals. When I perform, I invite you to communicate with me. I need your heart and ears to be very open. The responsibility of the listener is to understand the message. This message is the secret of life.”
The concert is sponsored by Musicology Distinguished Lecture Series, jazz studies, Asian studies and the Arab-American Club of Knoxville. More information about AlHaj is available his Web site at http://www.rahimalhaj.com. More information about the symposium is available at http://www.music.utk.edu/multiculture.html.
