Nouruz Ensemble
»From the Marshlands to Mosul – Music from Mesopotamia« – World Classical Music
Tickets €28
€28
Tickets €28
€28
Middle Eastern-German encounters
Nouruz is the New Year’s and spring festival in the Persian and Kurdish cultures. The Nouruz Ensemble led by Iraqi Bassem Hawar also understands »spring« as a departure – towards exciting encounters between the musicians and their second home in Germany, and with other musical styles. In this concert, however, they focus entirely on their roots.
A musical journey takes the ensemble from Basra in southern Iraq to Mosul in the north. They perform pieces from the southern marshlands and poetry set to music by Iraqi Assyrians and Arameans from northern Iraq, as well as classical Arabic maqam music from the area around Baghdad and all over the country.
Bassem Hawar is a virtuoso on the Iraqi joza violin, which he built and developed himself; he founded the Nouruz Ensemble as a quartet in 2018. He combines a wide variety of musical styles with virtuosity, and is a tireless ambassador for the music of his homeland.
Hawar is joined by the Iranian Kiomars Musayyebi on the delicate dulcimer santur and Saad Mahmoud Jawad, one of Iraq’s most renowned oud players. Other members of Nouruz are Persian percussionist Reza Samani, who has long had his roots in the Cologne area, and the Iraqi Rageed William on Armenia’s national instrument, the melancholy-sounding shawm duduk and the smoky-sounding flute nai. The guest vocalist is Baghdad-born Rita William, who works at the interface between Christian and Arabic singing.
Performers
Nouruz Ensemble
Bassem Hawar joza, direction
Saad Mahmoud Jawad oud
Kioomars Musayyebi santur
Rageed William duduk, nai
Reza Samani percussion, daf, tombak
Rita William vocals
Programme
»From the Marshlands to Mosul – Music from Mesopotamia«
Pre-Concert-Talk
(in German)
18:30 / Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal
Promoter: HamburgMusik
