Talented Palestinian oud Trio set to conquer the US.
Paris: Samir Joubran oud musician extaordinaire, has been described as having “something burning within.” When he plays, the intensity of his feelings translate into exquisite sound.
Besides the beauty of his music, part of the pleasure of hearing him in concert, playing solo or with his brothers Wissam and Adnan is witnessing what seems to be a direct transfusion of his emotions into his oud and back out toward the audience.
In every day life Samir is much the same, kinetic, tightly wound and thoroughtly focused.
His apartment in Paris is neat as a pin, his gestures precise.
Clearly , he has no intentionof letting anything interfere with the two elements (besides his wife and daughter) that make up his moral fiber, music and Palestine.
“I will never be a normal musician”, he remarks, “I wish I could be, but I can’t get up on the stage and think about my career. All the emotion and aggressiveness from daily life comes out when I play”.
Early this year, Samir officially created a trio with his brothers, a project he has “been waiting for, for a long time”.
The Trio’s fisrt CD, Randana, was released last April.
Samir,31, grew up in Nazareth with an Israel passeport and all the complications this implies for an Arab Israeli.
When he finished high school he studied in Cairo at the Mohammad Abdel-Wahab conservatory , then taught the music in Arab schools in Israel, under the aegis of the IsraeliCulture Ministry.His relationship with the ministry soon broke down when Samir began to give concert abroad and seen as representing Palestine.
While he was in Paris in 1996 he had the opportunity of meeting Palestinians from the west Bank such as the poet Mahmoud Darwish whom he mater accompanied during poetry recitals.
That same year, Samir moved to Ramallah in the West Bank,where he got married.
He quickly became involved in the intellectual circle there and most importantly felt he was finally living where he belonged.
“I developed a strong belief in my indentity and when the second intifada started I stayed in Ramallah. At the beginning of the intifada the Israelis killed 13 Arab Israelis in Nazareth anyway so I preferred to be in a place where I could see my enemy very clearly and he could see me”.
Twice, Israeli shells damage samir ‘s house. He recently decided his young daughter should be able to experience life without daily violence, he and his family will move to Paris temporarity this fall.
France has been good to Samir. Ever since he performed at a music Festival in 2002 with his middle brother, Wissam, his career has skyrocketed. Two weeks after the concert the Joubran brothers had a manager, a label for a CD and began to tour world.
Adnan joined them in 2005 when the Trio was created. The music Samir and his brothers play is based an a tradition of Arab musical modes, but he brother reinterpret the Arabic scales rapidly and freely when they improvise – which is much of the time.
Wissam,22, besides being a musician is also a master luthier, recently fulfilling his father Hathem’s (a renowned oud maker) dream when he became the first Arab graduate from the Antonio Stradivari violin-making scholl in Cremoni, Italy last month.
Samir and Wissam have been playing together fro many years.
When Samir performed for the first time in france at the Arab institute in 1996, he dragged along Wissam who was only 12.
“I was worried about him getting stage-fright. I took him to visit the Eiffel tower and
he said :”Yeah,so?” He wasn’t impressed and he wasn’t stressed by the concert either”.
Integrating Adnan, 19, into the Trio wasn’t easy- Samir and Wisam are in a complete symbiosis when they play together. Adnan has only been playing the oud for three years.
“Adnan was pushed directly onto the stage” ,says Samir.Pushed, prodded and encouraged? Adnan has taken on difficult roles with with courage and talent.
Samir has big dreams and is not about to slacken the pace.
“I’m very dictatonal with him”, he admits.”I make him cry. Adnan’s very talented but very stubborn, like me”.
Luckily for Samir and Adnan, Wissam is “very relaxed”. With three CD’s besides Randana under his belt (two solo, one with Wissam),soundtracks for two films his own record label, Samir has turned his attention to “Improviation”, a film documentary in the making on the Trio by Palestinian filmmaker Raed/Andoni.
Shot in Nazareth, Ramallah , Cremona, Italy, and Paris, the documentary recounts how the Joubran brothers became a Trio, their differing political views and their unifyi,g passion for the oud.
In the fil; Samir feels he is presenting himself to Arabs in the countries he is not allowed to visit.
“Unfortunatly for me, most of the Arab world is what I see on satellite television”. The Sundance Institute had awarded Andoni a grant for his work-in-progress in 2004 and last January he presented 10 minutes of his documentary at the Sudance Film Festival.
For the Joubran one of their biggest breakscame from those 10 minutes of film shown at Sundance.The renowned American composer, John Adams, happened to be at the screening and asked the Joubran brothers to play at Carnegie Hall in New York in February 2006.
The brothers are already touring US in September and the prospect of it makes Samir nervous.
“I’m very worried about my visit tu the US. Now that I know what I want, politically and musically, I feel like I have to prove so many things primarily that I’m an honest human being”.
Adnan and Wissam will join Samir in Paris in the fall. The brothers have gone farther than their father ever dreamed, says Samir.
“He just wanted me to have a nice safe job. I think he’s more relaxed about everything now, he sees that we are serious. My Mother keeps telling him ”I’m told you so !”