The Desert as Inspiration

The music scene in Jordan has long been regarded as traditionalist and inward-looking; now, things are changing. Tareq Al Nasser and his ensemble "Rum" are among the leading representatives of this new trend. Martina Sabra met the band

​​In 1998, the Jordanian flautist Russol Al Nasser and her brother Tareq teamed up with some other musicians in Amman. They named their new band "Rum" – a tribute to Wadi Rum, the sublimely strange desert landscape in southern Jordan.

At first, the siblings were unsure whether their mixture of traditional Arabic music and contemporary sounds would be accepted by the decidedly conservative Jordanian public.

Today, however, they perform at countless festivals in Jordan itself and in the neighbouring Arab countries; and since the band's first international album-release ("Urdon"), interest has been growing in Europe, too.

Arabic music with Latin rhythms, jazz & blues

To be precise, Rum is not so much a band as an orchestra of varying sizes. The 'pool' consists of 20 musicians – amateurs and professionals, men and women – who are at home in a broad spectrum of musical genres, from Western to Arabic and Oriental.

Among the instruments deployed are electric piano, accordeon, ney, oud, electric bass, trumpet, saxophone, oriental percussion, Western drums and (of course) the human voice. The result is a mixture of Arabic music with Latin rhythms and elements from jazz, blues and reggae.

"Our music has no particular nationality, no passport", says Tareq Al Nasser. "We just make music, as people, for people; that's all."

For family reasons, Russol Al Nasser herself has now cut down on performing and mainly looks after the management side of things from her home in Jordan. As the buzz increases, not just in Jordan and the Arab world but also in the West, her brother Tareq has taken on the task of leading Rum to international fame.

Successful scores for cinema and TV

Born in 1969, the accordeonist and keyboarder can now look back on a remarkable career. Tareq and Russol had both grown up in a family of artists and musicians; but unlike his big sister, Tareq originally took little interest in music.

​​Until he was 16, all he could play was a few chords on the Arabic lute. Then he discovered the accordeon, which he taught himself to play without the help of a teacher. Keyboards were the next challenge ... and eventually, the young autodidact acquired a knowledge of composition and harmony that has enabled him to write many successful scores for cinema and TV.

His credits include soundtracks for the popular TV series "Nihayat Rajul Shouja'a" ("The End of a Brave Man") and "Al-Jawareh" ("The Predators"). Having made his name as a film composer, Tareq Al Nasser now writes most of the music for Rum.

The band's very existence is further proof that Jordan has finally overcome the cultural stagnation of recent times. "There were always individual artists in Jordan with a cosmopolitan attitude", says Tareq Al Nasser.

"But they were a tiny minority and practically without influence. Today, all that has changed. Both the Jordanian government and private initiatives are really doing a lot for the arts. People simply want to show that they too are part of a global culture." If Rum are anything to go by, music is the best possible medium for that message.

Martina Sabra

© Qantara.de 2006

Translated from the German by Patrick Lanagan

Qantara.de

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Website Tareq Al Nasser and Rum