music jazz oud world music

Loay Balaawi

Ville de Paris

INTERVIEW

 

You will have a concert on January 22nd, a few words about this project?

 

"It's a musical show called Nessma Daw (a breath of light). Each piece was composed under difficult circumstances and with a concern for internal conflict. I couldn't express this concern verbally, but musically. The reasons for these conflicts were the wars, poverty, famine, fear and separation I see in the world.

 

The show is built around the oud (the hero of the story), accompanied by jazz instruments such as piano, bass guitar, electric guitar. The drums also play a part in the concert and reflect the frightening turmoil of the world."

 

 

What are the changes and evolutions to be noted in your work thanks to the residency at the Cité internationale des arts? 
 
 
"I've been able to deepen my reflections on bigger and stronger future projects, but also to have a clearer vision of what the world of music is in the broadest sense of the term. France in general, and Paris in particular, is the destination for artists from all over the world. The fact that I've had feedback from other artists from different cultures has brought me a lot. I speak very little English and even less French, so I often find myself alone, which allows me to create more and more projects and to start imagining them to realize them."
 
 
 
An anecdote about your residency at the Cité internationale des arts? 
 
"One day I was playing music in my studio with my eyes closed. When I opened my eyes after a long time, I thought I saw the shadow of someone or something, I got scared. Indeed, when I play in this way, I am completely isolated from the world and when I decide to return to reality – by reopening my eyes – it is not surprising that for a few seconds I see imaginary projections inspired by my music.


So I decide to go to the window to see if someone or something was watching me. Surprise! It was a seagull watching me! It was nodding its head in rhythm with my music. It made me laugh a lot! So I decided to lower the rhythm, then raise it... Each time, the seagull nodded its head in rhythm. Eventually it got tired and flew away. 

 

For the next few days, I put a small bowl of bread crumbs on the window sill in the hope of seeing it again, but it never came back. That seagull showed me that chance is more beautiful than a planned date."

 
 
 
 
BIOGRAPHIE
 
 

Loay Balaawi is a Palestinian oud player and composer, he has worked in many musical fields such as music therapy, live theatre music, soundtracks, western classical music and Arabic music. He has participated in many international and local festivals. 

He began his career at the age of 15 when he enrolled at the Kamandjati Institute. In his third year of oud study, he learned a thousand songs from Mottle's lyrics about Jerusalem and impressed all the teachers at the Institute with this precocious talent, then moved away from the group to pursue a solo career. His new music is inspired by oriental jazz. He therefore decided to start working on the Louai period, thanks to which he participated in many festivals. 

 
 

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