Kamilya Jubran and Werner Hasler.

Versatile Scales and Textures

Review
by Thomas Burkhalter

«Wanbani»: The new CD of Kamilya Jubran and Werner Hasler is the remarkable result of a long-standing collaboration.

Since 2002, Palestinian Kamilya Jubran and Bernese Werner Hasler have been experimenting in-between Arabian music, jazz and electronica. On their second release together «Wanabni», Jubran sings across Arabian quarter tone heights (Maqam), full tone scales and overtone series, while Hasler plays his trumpet with versatile sound textures.The two of them add an oud-lute, manipulated noise-samples and minimalistic electronica and create an organic and very personal music.

On one hand the music functions similarly to Arab Tarab-music: in the title track «Wanabni» Jubran and Hasler develop step by step their tonal materials and create a long, gradually intensifying arc of suspense. When Hasler interacts freely with the singing of Jubran, «Wanabni» sounds completely like jazz. Eventually we hear electronically manipulated sounds: minimalistic synthesizer melodies and manipulated Oud- and song-samples, that support the track, though without disturbing the flow.

Kamilya Jubran and Werner Hasler communicate from their respective canon of their original musical genres. They play with this canon and tantalise it. Though they never completely break the connections. It’s an impressive long-term project.


The CD

Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler: Wanabni (Zig-Zag Territoires / Musicora )

CDs and Documentary Film

→ Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler, Ghareeba, 2002
Telling Strings, documentary film on Kamilya Jubran, from Anne-Marie Haller.

Video of the Cover Tune of 2002 CD Ghareeba


Scientific Work

Thomas Burkhalter, Christoph Jacke and Sandra Passaro are currently working on a scientific article about the cover track «Wanabni».

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music duo «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «Long Take: Life as an Artist». Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Published on December 16, 2010

Last updated on April 29, 2024

Topics

Experiment
Music Production
Tradition
All Topics
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