Spend an Arabian afternoon with Gorillaz collaborator Issam Rafea this Sunday
Oud player Issam Rafea gets around—from Damascus (where he was chair of the Arabic Music Department at the High Institute of Music) to DeKalb (where he was the artist-in-residence and guest director of the NIU Middle Eastern Music Ensemble).
This Sunday, October 18, he and his DIO Trio (which includes vocalist Dima Orsho and percussionist Omar al Musfi) will perform at 3 p.m. at Evanston’s Nichols Concert Hall as part of the Music Institute of Chicago’s faculty and guest artist series.
“All in all, I believe music is a universal language,” says the Syrian musician and composer. “Whether you are from Africa or the Middle East or America or Europe, you have a connection to music, you can feel the beat. Every type of music has its own unique sound. But there is interaction between audience and musicians, so even if you’ve never heard a certain kind of music, every person responds in his or her own way, the images it creates in your mind, the feelings it inspires. And the musicians like to hear the audience vocalize its responses.”
Speaking of musicians, Rafea collaborated with former Blur frontman and composer Damon Albarn in 2009-10 when Albarn was working on his third album with the animated band Gorillaz. “It was an amazing collaboration,” recalls Rafea. “I worked on a recording project with them arranging five tracks for SNOAM, and the song ‘White Flag’ was selected for their Plastic Beach album. We performed at the Citadel, then toured Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the UK several times, and most of Europe.”
Now that Rafea is in Evanston, his trio will perform traditional music from the Arab world as well as some of his own compositions. For tickets ($10- $30), visit musicinst.org/faculty-guest-artist-series or call 847-905-1500, ext. 108. To learn more, visit www.musicinst.org.
Source: www.examiner.com