In co-production with the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra, Dutch composer Thijs Borsten, Turkish-Dutch soprano Aylin Sezer and Andalusian music soloist Zainab Afailal, based in Spain, closed the Musica Mundo festival in Amersfoort ( Netherlands) a highlight that will delight fans of all musical styles. For the fourth time in a row, the event offered an ensemble specially composed for the occasion. The Musica Mundo Orchestra thus brought together artists from different musical schools, to interpret the concept of “classical music” from their own culture. The artists challenge each other, complement each other and offer each other a space for experimentation, thus creating sought-after and innovative sounds, in a truly universal dimension.
Violin, qanun, lute, cello, riqq and darbuka percussions, all the classical instruments accompanied on stage the original interpretation of Aylin Sezer and Zainab Afailal, thus celebrating the Andalusian heritage and its ability to be updated, or to meet other classical musical styles. In her interview with Yabiladi, at the end of her concert on site, the Moroccan singer expressed her joy “to have had the opportunity to get out of [sa] comfort zone, being forged mainly in Andalusian music”.
“The challenge was that I performed pieces of Western classical music. The idea of the Amsterdam Music Orchestra was for me to choose songs from my repertoire for both of us, Aylin and I, to work on, based on a selection of pieces that could be adapted as a duo, taking into account the classic background of Aylin and the principle of bringing Mouachah and other Andalusian songs within her reach, interpretable by a soprano,” Zainab Afailal told us.
Zainab Afailal / Ph. Peter Putters ; Musica Mundo – Rythms of the World
Experience Andalusian and soprano singing
The experience was very enriching, both during the preparations and on stage, Aylin Sezer told Yabiladi. “I was also asked to choose pieces from my repertoire, adaptable to both Arabic and soprano singing, for both of us on stage. Zainab lent herself brilliantly to the exercise and her interpretation was beautiful. I was very impressed by her performance,” she told us. For the Moroccan singer, the idea was indeed to be “challenged” on a musical color that she has always listened to, but never performed. “With the rehearsals each separately, then those that we did together here, we were able to succeed in the bet,” she said happily.
For Alyn Sezer, this artistic creation is proof that even musicians of different nationalities and different artistic backgrounds can come together in their diversity, to create symbiosis.
“The classical school is based on the principle of reading scores. But generally, music is first something that we feel. Once we start, everyone makes interpretations according to their musical language, while putting their own personal touch into it. The most beautiful thing, for us as musicians and artists, is that we have the requirement to be open to the possibilities that these interactions allow, as long as we give them the time necessary to understand each other’s expressions, and then above all to accept them in order to try the adventure of experimenting with new things.”
Alyn Sezer
Alyn Sezer / Ph. Peter Putters ; Musica Mundo – Rythms of the World
For her part, Zainab Afailal recalls that “even the concept of the festival is aptly named Musica Mundo: it is music and musicians from all over the world.”
“During our concert, we sang in French, German, English, classical Arabic, Turkish, Moroccan dialect. On stage, there were musicians of different nationalities. We feel internally that the essence of the festival translates well during the shows. It is enough for us to listen to our souls and let ourselves follow where they lead us, according to the artistic colors and the languages they want to speak,” she tells us.
“Music is a universal language that can be written in all ways, because it speaks the soul, our love for art that brings us together on stage. Technically, it requires a little more rehearsal than usual, but just to find the harmony between this ensemble.
Zainab Afailal
Rediscovering the universal meaning of musical expression
Educated in Western schools, Aylin Sezer tells us that she particularly appreciates this type of project. “I am a Western musician, but my person is a whole: I was born and raised in Turkey, of which there always remains something in my musical ear and in my soul. I can’t help but move when I hear a darbouka rhythm. In a show like the one with Zainab, the person and the musician in me meet and intertwine. In these moments, music is no longer something technical, but a performance that comes from the heart, which I share with myself, with the musicians and with the public,” she declared.
Ph. Peter Putters ; Musica Mundo – Rythms of the World
As a professional in Andalusian music, Zainab Afailal also grew up and was educated at this school only, “as a classical musical current of Moroccan culture, born and developed in Al-Andalous, then evolved and richly elaborated in Morocco” . “Because of my experience in the country of origin and then in Spain, on both sides of the Mediterranean, I have the impression of living the same experience, as if I had simply traveled through time to really imbue myself with the idea that this music is not only that developed by Ziryab in her journey, between Mesopotamia and the Iberian Peninsula,” underlined the singer.
“The Andalusian style is also the one that later mixed with Amazigh songs and those of the church, in the peninsula. Contrary to what one might think, even Andalusian music is a mixture of the essence of those with various tributaries. Therefore, when it meets other musical colors, it is enough that we are keen on a certain spirit of adventure, to discover new artistic experiences.”
Zainab Afailal
The bet was successful. In captivating harmony, Zainab Afailal and Aylin Sezer held a varied audience in suspense, by its cultural background, age or origin. This is the whole success of the incarnation of the universal character of music, which will have been celebrated on a global scale in Amersfoort, from June 27 to 30.
