Nizar Rohana is a Palestinian ud player and composer based in The Netherlands, distinguished for combining virtuosity within fresh contemporary compositions while maintaining the ud’s authentic language. In his podcast for Gaudeamus, he unravels the relationship between improvisation and composition in taqsim (Arabic improvised music), focusing on temporal aspects of taqsim and on the historical inventions by ud pioneers like Munir Bashir.

Full list of musical fragments played in the podcast:

1. Riyad al-Sunbaṭi, taqsim hijaz
2. Simon Shaheen, Taqasim on the Beat 
3. Nizar Rohana, taqsim nahawand
4. Salih Abd al-Hai, mawwal: adhak men al-fum 
5. Muhammad al-Qasabji, taqsim nahawand
6. Muhammad al-Qasabji, taqsim bayati
7. Riyad al-Sunbati, taqsim nahawand
8. Munir Bashir, taqasim nahawand kabir
9. Nizar Rohana, Mufradat Nahawand

Production: Soundtreks / Michiel van de Weerthof
Curator: Jonás Bisquert

www.gaudeamus.nl

Taqsim journey: appreciating temporal aspects in ‘Ud improvisation

Suite (2012) for toy piano

Simon Al-Odeh (*1988 in Peine) grew up in Recklinghausen. After self-studies in mu­sic theory and first pieces for Youth Or­ches­tra, which were per­formed in Ger­ma­ny, Italy and France, he re­ceived com­po­sition training by Rüdi­ger Blömer. Simon Al-Odeh studied composition with Dolf de Kin­kel­der in Arn­hem and with Alex Ma­nas­sen in Zwol­le, in the Nether­lands and elec­tro­nic com­po­si­tion with Michael Beil in Cologne. His music has been per­formed amongst others by the New Phil­harmonic Or­ches­tra of West­pha­lia, Het Gelders Or­kest and orkest 'de ere­prijs' and is being pub­lished by Verlag Dohr Köln since 2011. In 2014 his multi­disciplinary opera-project [kʌu̯ ɪn junifɔɹm] premiered. Simon Al-Odeh was partici­pant in the Darmstadt Summer Course and the Impuls Aca­demy in Graz with the tutors Brian Fer­ney­hough, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Isa­bel Mun­dry and Mark Andre.

Suite (2012) for toy piano

SimonAl-Odeh

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