Marcel Khalife - Biography
By J Poet
Marcel Khalife is a Lebanese oud player and composer based in Paris known for compositions that have opened new avenues of expression for both the oud and Arab music in general. In 1976 Khalife created the Al Mayadeen Ensemble. The poems of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish that he set to music, including “Ummi (My Mother),” “Rita w’al-Bundaqiya (Rita and the Rifle)” and “Jawaz al-Safr (Passport),” made him popular all over the Arab world. While he borrows from jazz and western classical music, his goal is not to create a “fusion,” but to move Arab music forward with ideas from outside the Arab continuum. His innovations have generated much controversy with radical Muslims declaring that his compositions violate Islamic morals and sharia law because they “arouse (sexual) instincts” and “encourage debauchery.” Khalife has not allowed the criticism to dull his artistic edge and continues to tour internationally and release breathtaking albums. In 1999 he was granted the Palestine Award for Music and in 2005, was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace. In 2007 Khalife won the L’Académie Charles Cros Grand Prize in the World Music Category for his album Taqasim (2006 Nagam/Connecting Cultures.)
Khalife was born into a Christian family in Amsheet, a small village north of Beirut. His grandfather was a flute player and fisherman and he grew up among fishermen, peasants and Gypsies. He grew up listening to Christian church music as well as recitations of the Qur’an and incorporated both influences into his music when he picked up the oud. He started playing percussion as a child, but his parents were annoyed by the noise and bought him an oud. He first studied with a local player, who told his parents to send him to music school. At 14, he was studying oud and classical music theory at the National Academy of Music in Beirut, continually challenging the traditional parameters of the instrument and the music he played on it. After graduation, from 1970 to 1975, he taught at the National Academy and toured the world performing traditional music and his own compositions performances on the oud as a solo act. He became a legend in Beirut for performing in abandoned concert halls during the Civil War of 1975, playing oud and singing the great songs of Arab poets. His first album, Promises of the Storm (1976), included his own songs as well as traditional material; in 1996 Nagam reissued a new recording of the album.
In 1972 he put together a group in his hometown to perform Arabic choral music, but it was his second combo, the Al Mayadeen Ensemble in 1976 that made him an international presence. The group included piano, a revolutionary idea for Arab music, and made several ground breaking albums including Arabic Coffeepot (1990 Nagam), songs for solo voice, oud and orchestra, Dance (1995 Nagam), Ahmad al Arabi (1996 Nagam), musical setting of poems by Mahmoud Darwish and Voyageur (1998 Blue Silver.) He also composed music for the Caracalla Dance Troupe that is credited with creating a new Near Eastern Ballet style. These suites include Summer Night’s Dream (1992 Nagam) music based on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Magic Carpet (1998 Nagam), which includes music from the ballets “Allsar, Queen of Carthage” and “Andalusia.”
In 2005 his music was banned in Tunisia and in 1999 his song “I am Joseph, O Father,” with lyrics by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, which included a two-line verse from the Qur’an was declared blasphemous. He was tried and acquitted in a Lebanese court in 1999.
His instrumental symphonic compositions include Concerto Al-Andalus (2002 Nagam) a celebration of the Spanish/Arab music of Andalusia and Sharq (2006 Nagam) a suite that presents a history of Arab music using 100 choral singers from the Choir of Piacenza and the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1995 he premiered Jadal (Dialogue) (1995 Nagam), a piece for two ouds, bass and riq (tambourine.) In many Arab cultures oud is only played as a solo instrument and this composition for two ouds set a new standard for the instrument. His album Caress (2004 Nagam) continued his exploration of Arab and Western tonalities with an expansive, jazzy vibe.
Taqasim (2007 Nagam/Connecting Cultures) another suite based on the poems of Mahmoud Darwish won the L’Académie Charles Cros Grand Prize in the World Music Category in 2007.
