"I Have a Multiple Cultural Identity"
"Music for me is more powerful than taking a weapon and heading into battle. You can speak without words and still have a great impact," says Claude Chalhoub. His new album therefore relies on the eloquence beyond voices, on the language of string instruments – but still bears a name normally given to a collection of poems: "Divan".
"I chose this name because it presents a collection of different styles and because the album has a markedly poetic character. I use the violin because it is very close to the tone of the human voice."
Music as refuge
Making his violin speak to him saved Claude Chalhoub through many dark years. He grew up in the Christian district of Beirut, in the midst of the civil war in the 1980s. His father had a hairstyling salon, but the whole family was in love with music. Each one of the eleven children received an instrument, and a violin was destined for Claude. In contrast to many middle-class offspring he was not reluctant to embrace the instrument, but instead developed a very intimate relationship with it.
"It's not pleasant when bombs are dropping around your house all the time," he recalls. "For me the violin became a refuge, a way to escape everyday life." Many young people of his generation were unable to enjoy a proper musical education; they were forced to teach themselves. According to Chalhoub, this was quite a challenge.
"I had to accept that I couldn’t go to a conservatory. I made progress in very small steps, but every small detail that I discovered was personally meaningful."
Soon, however, he received support in his search for details. A scholarship at the prestigious Royal College of Music in London catapulted the young Beirut native into another world. With great comprehension and perception he mastered the music theory and practice of Western classical music and soon received an award for a composition.
Daniel Barenboim invited the young artist in 1999 to join his "West-Eastern Divan Orchestra" as his first violinist – a project that sent a signal for peace with young musicians from three world religions. A second West-Eastern orchestra in Beirut followed three years later.
Natural multiculturalism
Since then he has remained dedicated to promoting communication between East and West, even if he no longer explicitly formulates it this way. "My main goal is not to look for parallels or paradoxes; I am not trying to 'multiculturalize' my music. With the years I spent living in Europe and my roots in the Middle East, I now have this multicultural background. So it comes very naturally to me."
This balance has reached maturity on his current second album. It is in a completely different league than his debut album from 2001, which he and Canadian producer Michael Brooks lent a world music sound with electronic effects. This time he stays almost exclusively in the sphere of classical music. His solo instrument enters into dialogue not with machines, but with the string instruments of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig.
"They enjoyed discovering the music, and despite the language barrier we were able to interact quite well," remarked Chalhoub enthusiastically. Most of his compositions are arranged in suites, at times reminiscent of Bartók and Dvořák, at other times pregnant with Baroque vocabulary. Of course his compositions also include oriental sounds. Where is his own style recognizable?
Arab sound and European classical music
"All these sounds yield something that I call my style," explains the composer. "This is a process, which is far from being completed. I study the works of others and notice that I reflect them as well as my diverse cultural background. I am the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam as well as the small jazz club. And when playing the violin I try to combine Arab sounds and classical European music into something very individual. I mainly achieve this with a very sophisticated bow technique."
Claude Chalhoub has returned to Beirut. Even though the optimal conditions for a composer do not exist here, he remains committed to his native country.
"I have seen three wars, the war of the early eighties, the late eighties, and the war last year. Sometimes I feel dispirited, because the sources of inspiration run dry here. We have a symphony orchestra, but there is little interaction with artists from other countries. People are busy surviving. Politically, it is still very unstable."
"Yes, I have freedom of speech, but I catch myself unconsciously holding back. There are limits here," says Chalhoub, and he flounders perceptibly in his speech and becomes uneasy. The climate of fear in Lebanon has made many in the country feel insecure.
At the end of the interview he formulates a sentence that placates and relativizes the situation: "On the other hand, have you ever heard of a composer who had a stable and easy life?" Those, like Chalhoub, who have decided not to leave their homeland, must find peace with the menace and violence.
Stefan Franzen
© Qantara.de 2008
Current CD: "Diwan" (Herzog Records/edel Kultur)
Translated from the German by Nancy Joyce
Qantara.de
"Orient Meets Occident"
Middle Eastern Music as a Challenge
In 1999, Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim founded the Arab-Israeli youth orchestra. Now, Lebanese star violinist Claude Chalhoub continues the tradition. Christina Förch reports from Beirut.
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