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| Malek Jandali |
Malek Jandali is a Syrian
composer and pianist considered to be among the most versatile and creative
musicians in the Arab world.
He is the first Syrian
and only Arab musician to arrange music based on the oldest music notation in
the world, which was discovered in the Bronze Age city of Ugarit, Syria.
He has recently attracted widespread international attention for his
strong stand against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Martina Sabra met the artist in the country of his birth, Germany, where
she interviewed him for Qantara.de. The Arabic
word “qantara” means “bridge.” The
Internet portal Qantara.de represents the concerted effort of the Bundeszentrale
für politische Bildung (Federal Center for Political Education), Deutsche
Welle, the Goethe Institut and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute
for Foreign Cultural Relations) to promote dialogue with the Islamic world. The
German Foreign Office funds the project.
Following
are the Qs & As of the interview with Jandali as conducted
by Martina Sabra, edited by Lewis Gropp and published yesterday by
Qantara.de:
Mr. Jandali, you said
you would bring something special with you to our interview?
Jandali: Yes. I have a piece of
what’s known as a "shepshep"
here – the front part of a small, colorful rubber slipper. This slipper belongs
to a child who managed to escape from Syria to Turkey and survive in spite of
heavy bombardments by the Syrian army. Some Syrian students brought it after
visiting refugee camps in Turkey and gave it to me in Toronto. This rubber
slipper was an item in a charity auction organized on the occasion of my
concert in Offenbach, Germany. The audience donated thousands of Euros. This is
the most expensive shoe I ever saw. It's not Gucci, it's not Armani -- it's
freedom. Look at it. Isn't it great?
During the past two
years you have given many successful concerts around the world, among others in
London and at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. What was it like for you?
Jandali:
I was born in Germany and went to Kindergarten here, so this was
where my first introduction to music occurred. We moved to Syria when I was
six. But until the age of 12, I used to come to Germany every summer, to the
"Sommerschule" in Waldbröl, a small town not far from Bonn, and take
piano lessons. Unfortunately, I lost touch with my teacher, Mrs. Schneider. So
my last visit here dates back to the 1980s, almost 30 years ago.
From the age of six,
you grew up in the city of Homs. How did you manage to study piano there, more
than 30 years ago?
Jandali:
Actually it was pretty challenging to find a piano teacher at the time, because
there wasn’t a music school in Homs. But there was an excellent piano teacher
at the Tchaikovsky conservatory in Damascus. I had to travel every Thursday
from Homs to Damascus for two hours, take my piano lesson and come back by bus.
Later I applied for studies abroad and I got a full scholarship for the U.S.
You grew up under the
Baath regime and travelled between the US and Syria when the Baath regime was
still stable. To what extent did you internalize the Baath ideology and how did
you manage to rid yourself of it?
Jandali: To
be honest, you're sitting in front of a professional liar. I lied every
morning. I loved Bashar in the morning and I hated the system in the afternoon.
They force you to say: I sacrifice my soul and my life to Assad.
Every morning at school. Then you go home,
and your parents tell you that Assad is not good. This is schizophrenic, and it
all happens when you are still a child.
After I came to the US, it took me a good
10 years to cleanse my soul, to be honest, to tell the truth and not lie.
Many famous Arab artists,
like the Lebanese singer Fairouz or the Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri, have so far
remained silent over the violence of the Assad regime. Why this silence, do you
think?
Jandali: It's
disgusting. This regime has applied a strategy to hijack minds, including the
minds of artists. It has succeeded in withdrawing the humanity and freedom and
the essence of feelings, of human feelings from people’s hearts. An artist who
does not stand alongside the children of Syria at this moment in time is not a
human being. I call them "the empty drums", since they are just
drumming to the crimes of the dictator.
Malek
Jandali’s Freedom Qashoush Symphony
Do you think that
musicians in Germany and Europe should take a clearer stand in favor of the
Syrian revolution?
Jandali: We
need to differentiate between ordinary people and governments. My album
"Emessa", which was the old name for the city of Homs and which I
dedicated to the Syrian revolution, was recorded together with the Russian
Philharmonic Orchestra. To me this means that the people of Russia are with the
people of Syria, not with the government. Some of the musicians in Moscow cried
when we recorded the piece "Al-Qashoush". For me, art is a universal
message, the search for beauty and truth.
You composed the piece
"Al-Qashoush symphony" in 2011 and dedicated it
to Ibrahim Al-Qashoush,
a firefighter from Hama who stood up in public and sang a very famous song
against Bashar Al-Assad. Al-Qashoush was brutally tortured, murdered and mutilated,
the perpetrators were most probably thugs in the pay of the Assad regime. What
do we know about Al-Qashoush? Did he really compose the song "Go away,
Bashar"?
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On July 4, 2011, Qashoush
was found dead,
his throat cut and his vocal cords ripped out
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Jandali: Every
revolution throughout history has a legend. The legend of the Syrian revolution
in music is Ibrahim Al-Qashoush. To me, even though Ibrahim Al-Qashoush was
just a firefighter from Hama, he was the first true Syrian artist to break
through the wall of fear and lead the way for other musicians and artists – he
actually ignited the cultural revolution. This revolution is not only about
freedom and human rights. It's a cultural revolution. No freedom, no art; no
freedom, no progress.
After you published the
Al-Qashoush Symphony in the spring of 2011, regime bandits in Homs targeted
your parents. Their apartment was looted and they
were both badly injured. How did you feel when that happened? Did you ever
think of stopping your public statements against the Assad regime?
Jandali: It
was very difficult, to be honest with you. You feel very guilty, useless and
weak. It was a shameful act to go and beat my mother and break her teeth, at a
time when they couldn't come after me. I am a US citizen; they could not touch
me. But you know, to me this was a measure of honor. If this is freedom, I love
it to death; I am ready to die.
Recording of Ibrahim al-Qashoush stirrting up protesters with his ballade
The attack on Malek Jandali’s parents and their
home in Homs
Some people argue that even if Assad disappears, the Syrian people
will not be better off, because Syria will fall apart, socially and
geopolitically…
Jandali: Every
moment of delay makes the situation more difficult, because we are witnessing
the fall of humanity. But I don't want to give up hope. I think that we can
build a new, better Syria. The people of Syria have the potential to become a
beautiful symphony with different colors. The only thing we are missing is the beat
of freedom. The soil of Syria is the cradle of 10,000 years of civilization.
The alphabet and the first musical notation were developed in Ugarit, and even
the inventor of the Apple computer, Steve Jobs is somehow related to Syria –
his biological father was a Jandali from Homs and a cousin of my father.
We don't want to have a little crook, a
liar telling us: "Oh, your civilization is only 40 years of Assad!"
Let me put it differently: We are already free. There is no return. Bashar
Al-Assad is a war criminal who must answer to the ICC for all his crimes.
Are you able to be
creative, seeing the endless violence and horrors in Syria?
Jandali: We
are witnessing disturbing news every day, but it is an historical moment for
the Syrian people and for me personally this is an immense source of
inspiration. They bomb people who are lining up for bread in the street – it is
horrible, but it reminds you of the price of freedom.
Do you have any new
projects?
Jandali: My
upcoming project is a Syrian symphony, with four movements, full orchestra,
close to 60 minutes of music. It is going to be a major symphony and it is
almost finished. Most of the themes and motives are from the streets of Syria,
from the revolution. At a later stage, I would like to introduce it to big
orchestras and venues around the world. I see it as my duty to present the
nobility of this revolution in some of the most respected places on earth.
Because that's what art is: it is soft power.
