It stands to reason that people who are making music together are not going to argue — at least not while playing or singing. So why not make that a starting point for a broader effort to reconcile differences often thought to be irreconcilable?
Inter-cultural dialogue through music is as old as the Silk Road centuries before someone spotted an electron, when dark nights far away from home were likely whiled away with the help of music.
On Sunday afternoon, Soundstreams is helping to add another layer to that dialogue by bringing together in Koerner Hall the musical traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, using storied Jerusalem as the point where we all meet.
In case you don’t follow these things, Jews, Christians and Muslims share the same, single god and most of the same prophets. In principle, the three sects should have a lot in common. But, as human nature would have it, it’s often easier to exploit differences than it is to celebrate commonality.
The Soundstreams concert is all about what we have in common. To that end, the music presenter has pulled together 13 musicians and an accomplished stage actor to gather around a proverbial campfire.
The concert’s conductor is David Fallis, one of Toronto’s most versatile, thoughtful, imaginative and empowering orchestral and choral leaders.
The singers are Roula Said, Fançoise Atlan, Dawn Bailey, Laura Pudwell, Zachary Finkelstein and David Roth. Western instrumentalists are organist Paul Jenkins and gamba player Pierre-Yves Martel.
Joining them are setar (Persian lute) master Kiya Tabassian and Arabic-tradition instrumentalist Michael Ibrahim, who plays the nay (a cross between a recorder and flute) and mizmar (a double-reed, like the oboe). Playing to all sides of the musical divide are Toronto percussionist Ben Grossman and oud (lute) as well as violin virtuoso, Israeli Yair Dalal.
Soulpepper Theatre’s Diego Matamoros will add his characteristic dramatic flair to poetry reading that also include Atlan and Said.
The musical programme has four components: a selection of Sephardic songs, representing Judaism, a combination of vocal and instrumental pieces from the Arabic tradition, representing Islam, 12th century abbess Hildegard of Bingen’s O Jerusalem and, to bring everything old together in shiny 21st century newness, the premiere of Five and a Half Bridges by Toronto composer James Rolfe.
Once in a while, the subject of cross-cultural musical understanding comes up. Last night at the symphony, for example, a subscriber who has over the years become a fond acquaintance asked if the kids at the Regent Park School of Music, who largely come from recent-immigrant families, have trouble connecting to Western music.
I explained that children have no natural predisposition to any specific type of music; as with everything else their curious and plastic minds encounter, they observe and absorb — more so if the circumstances encourage the exposure and interaction.
Anyone who needs Good Science Seal of Approval on this kind of thinking can turn to several studies. One I remember clearly involved the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle 10 years ago, in which MRI scans showed brains responding to classical Western and traditional Chinese music in the same way, regardless of the subject’s ethnic background. (You’ll find the study results here.)
The subjects were grown-ups — six professional Western violinists and six untrained native English speakers exposed to the music of Alessandro Scarlatti and a traditional piece Liu Qin Niang (Liu Chin’s Mother).
This is a long way of saying that there is nothing we can’t understand or grasp about other genres of music. Rather, we just have to keep an open mind, and put our metaphorical hand in the hand of a trustworthy guide — someone like Yair Dalal.
With classical Western as well as Persian training musically, and equally split roots ethnically, Dalal is used to building bridges. “This is what world music is all about,” he says of the Soundstreams concert.
“The secret of success is not to be patronizing,” he says of overlapping cultures and traditions. “You cannot say this is mine and this is yours. You cannot patronize music.”
He sums everything up very simply when he tells of how people ask the Israeli why he plays Arabic music: “It’s like asking a Korean violinist why they play Bach. Music is like air; you breathe it.”
Enjoying the concert is, ultimately, not about education or preparation. “You need to come with open arms,” says Dalal. “If you do, it’s a success and you enjoy yourself.”
For all the details on Sunday’s concert, click here.
John Terauds