Monday 7 July 2008 at St John’s, Smith Square, London, will be a special night. The concert that evening, entitled Tafahum (Arabic for understanding), will see the results of a collaborative cross-cultural music project using the professional groups of the EMFEB Symphony Orchestra led by myself, composer/conductor Benjamin Ellin, the Sufi Band Al-farabi, led by Syrian musician and ney (Arabic flute) soloist, Louai Alhenawi, along with music students from the Pembroke Academy of Music.

Whilst the performing groups represent a whole spectrum of musical possibilities, the choice of repertoire similarly demonstrates the vast journey that this concert will be about. Music by Holst (Hammersmith) and Vaughan Williams (Overture: The Wasps) will be heard against traditional Middle Eastern folk pieces, some of which will be performed by the Al-farabi ensemble alone and others adapted for the full forces of orchestra, Sufi band and Youth Academy. One last addition to this broad offering of music from East and West will be the world première of my own Concerto for Ney and Orchestra, entitled – appropriately – Tafahum.

This project has been the outcome of a collaboration between myself and Louai Alhenawi over the last year and a half, following my initial invitation for the Syrian born musician to work with the students at the Pembroke Academy of Music in Walworth. After the workshop that Louai did with the Academy students and over several coffees and sheesha, it became clear that between the two of us there was a real desire to collaborate on a project which would start a journey of musical discovery. Initially, the plan was for me to pen a new work for Louai. This initial idea developed to one whereby a final project and performance would introduce different musical cultures to new audiences. Driving this idea was a passion to highlight not only the musical collaboration of the different groups involved but the cooperation of people under the auspices of music, regardless of ethnicity or background. The idea was out of the bag. The project was to be called Tafahum.

Collaboration between musicians, cultures and, where appropriate, across art genres is something I feel passionately about. On the one hand, it opens up a huge number of new avenues of perception, thought and musical approach that either one may not embrace naturally or are there in the mind but would benefit from some level of confirmation! However, and somewhat more importantly for me, a collaboration highlights the main reason why I am a conductor and composer. Collaboration brings people together to share something beautiful through the indefinable medium of music. Collaboration must not be some slapped together cut and paste procedure, and Tafahum is definitely not that. It is a gesture of celebration, communication and discovery using music from two different cultures stemming from a friendship, admiration and intrigue of two musicians. It has been and will continue to be an organic process.

Louai Alhenawi is a performer, teacher and composer. He specializes in the ney (Arabic flute), Arabic percussion (dabuka, daff and riqq) and Middle Eastern music. Born in Syria in 1975, Louai studied at the eminent Damascus Conservatoire, graduating in 2001. Following his studies he spent a year as a teacher at the Conservatoire and held the prestigious role of ney soloist in the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra and the National Arabic Orchestra. At the start of 2002 Louai was chosen to be a member of the music ensemble with the dynamic Dutch theatre production company Zt Hollandia, with whom he toured throughout Europe. Since coming to the UK in 2002 he has been involved in many performances, teaching projects and collaborations.

Over the last few years, Louai has recorded and toured world wide with many artists including Terry Hall, Natacha Atlas, Nara, Oojami and others. He also leads and composes for his group Taraweeh, performing spiritual Sufi music. Louai is passionate about education and this has resulted in many collaborative projects with organizations such as Zenith Foundation, In Toto Theatre, Culture Co-operation, Arab Culture Community and Cavansary. Directing and leading Middle Eastern percussion, music and cultural workshops for all age groups and in a variety of settings has enabled Louai to promote Arabic music and culture in an accessible and enjoyable way.

Louai not only brings himself as an individual to Tafahum, but also as part of the Sufi ensemble Al-farabi. At times lyrical, at other times ecstatic with powerful rhythms, the music of Al-farabi is an authentic expression of Sufi traditions – passionate, heartfelt and with a spiritual depth. The London-based band is almost unique in Europe in playing Arabic Sufi music – some of it traditional, some of it newly composed by Louai. Of course, in the Middle-Eastern style, the players are brilliant virtuosi, expected at times to improvise their parts!

Tafahum will culminate in two direct outcomes. Firstly, it will enlighten and unite all the students and musicians taking part in the project. It will also give the students from the Pembroke Academy the opportunity to work with high class professional musicians from different backgrounds and ultimately prepare them for the presentation of this work in a central London venue. The second outcome is the final performance itself at St John’s, Smith Square. This project, aimed at unity, celebration and enlightenment, is wholly significant at a time when cultural misrepresentation potentially threatens the very fabric of our society. This concert is also aptly timed as 2008 marks the celebration of Damascus as Capital of Culture in the Middle East.

As this project aims to unite musicians and youth projects from different cultures, the workshops and rehearsals for this event are as vital as the final public performance. The association with Pembroke Academy, and Pembroke House too, is significant and appropriate. Pembroke House was founded in 1885 by students from Pembroke College, Cambridge to be a centre for social action in Walworth, which was then and remains one of London’s poorest communities. Though disadvantaged in many ways, Walworth is an area of tremendous diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture, faith and age; and it is a place where over thirty different languages are spoken every day. In short, Pembroke House is a place of real creativity as people of different backgrounds and experiences come together. Pembroke Academy, one of the three projects running from Pembroke House serves to give a full and broad musical opportunity in the face of this social and economic adversity confronted by many of those who attend.

I have been director of the Academy since the beginning of 2006. During this time student capacity and intake has nearly doubled and there is an impressive roster of nine professional tutors, three volunteer tutors and a steadfast group of parent support. Introducing the possibilities of music from as varied a background as possible was one of my main aims. I wanted to give the students an opportunity to experience as broad a spectrum of first rate music making from different fields as possible. Some, by definition, they may not warm to, but others they would embrace. The important issue was accessibility and interaction. In this vein and thus far, Pembroke Academy students have had the opportunity to engage with samba performances, sing contemporary works for ensemble and choir, perform parts of a traditional Congolese Mass in Latin, as well as having an introduction to the world of Middle Eastern folk music, style and techniques.

The whole project is about achieving through music what can sometimes be impossible to achieve through words. In the final performance itself, Louai Alhenawi’s Sufi Band, Al-farabi and my own EMFEB Orchestra will independently present a snapshot of their own musical heritage. The presentation of the two musical worlds will then lead in to the grand finale of both the entire group collaborations and the world premiere of the Concerto for Ney and Orchestra; a piece aimed distinctively at embracing the musical traditions of both East and West, from the pen of a Western conductor/composer for Syrian musician and ney expert, Louai Alhenawi – a musical collaboration never before achieved.

There is still much to do in getting ready for the project itself. Both Louai and I are making sure that in the wake of the 7 July concert, the spirit of Tafahum and the positive gestures it has already encouraged are carried forward and continued. On the one hand there is a world première, a new commission. More important is the context that première has and what the project stands for, so that rather than the concert being the end of the process, it is in fact just the start.

If anyone wishes to know more about the concert and project please do get in touch on 0208 986 2518 or ben.ellin@emfeb.com. And of course, do come along on 7 July to St John’s, Smith Square at 7.30pm.

Benjamin Ellin BMusHons belongs to the ISM’s North London Centre. He is currently Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of EMFEB, Music Director of the Seychelles International Festival of Music, Director of Music at the Pembroke Academy of Music and a freelance composer and teacher.

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