Nasser Sahim, Deputy Executive Director of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra
Doha: Football fans and the public have something more to look forward to during this World Cup as the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) revealed it will hold concerts featuring the Gulf folk music.
Nasser Sahim, Deputy Executive Director told The Peninsula that a similar concert which was conducted in August entitled “Gulf folk meets Philharmonic” will be performed during the mega football tournament.
The August concert was the first of its kind in Qatar. Sahim stressed that they used the polyphony type of music to merge the Gulf folk music and the orchestra. The Deputy Executive Director is the focal person behind the concert where he made the musical arrangements for five to six months.
The sold-out August 27 concert wowed the audience according to Sahim. “They really liked the music and the performance, and the important thing that they noticed is the folk Qatari music arranged within the orchestra,” he said.
He said that regardless if the audience was local or expatriate, they liked the concert and had opened doors to learn more about the Qatari culture.
“What I did in the concert 'Gulf folk meets Philharmonic' is I’m using the same music – the sea songs and traditional music, and re-arrange it to polyphony — from the monotonic form to the polyphony form, that means from one voice to harmonisation. We used the same theme and rhythm, developing the art with more harmony to make it fit as a polyphony arrangement,” Sahim explained.
During the almost half a year arrangement of the musical compositions, he coordinated with professionals and researchers in the industry including Dr. Faisal Al Tamimi, a composer, Qatari director and researcher in arts and Qatari folklore.
Sahim highlighted that the upcoming concerts are dedicated to residents and guests who will come to Doha, for them to experience the “traditional folk music in the orchestration style.” More than a million soccer fans are expected to attend the tournament.
On preserving and promoting the Gulf folk music, especially the Qatari folklore, Sahim said that the QPO is a musical cultural ambassador of Qatar and one of their objectives is to present the local music in the orchestra direction.
“It is very important for us to present something worthy and teach other communities about our themes, cultures, type of instruments that we use in our music. Qatar is developed financially as a country, and with all of these developments [economically, culturally], the musical culture is well equal to these developments.”
The Gulf folk meets the Philharmonic which will be performed during the biggest sporting event in the world will also advance a broader understanding of folk music and emphasise its vitality and significance to the region. The upcoming concert will feature the music Rouah Al Maqam, Ya Sadja, Khamary – Ma Agwa, Samariat, and Sea Journey, among others.
