Ya Sharr Mout wins Prix du meilleur portrait, 28.Festival International du Film sur l'Art in Montréal, Canada.
Dear All,
This production between Swiss film production Dschoint Ventschr, film director Sabine Gisiger and ENJA RECORDS was just awarded the highly respected first prize at the Montréal International Film Festival.
It will now be presented subsequently on an international tour, with stops at such prestigious institutions as the Louvre in Paris, the Studio national des arts contemporains Le Fresnoy in Tourcoing, the AIA/Center for Architecture, the Mid-Manhattan Library and the Morgan Library in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Musée national des beaux-arts in Quebec City, the National Gallery of Canada and the Tate Modern in London.
We are happy and proud.
Sabine Gisiger / Matthias Winckelmann
Some years ago Mahmoud Turkmani, the Lebanese-born avantgarde composer and virtuoso player living in Switzerland, attended the annual congress of classical Arab music in Cairo, Egypt When he advocated changes in conventional Arab music forms, he was called "Ya Sharr Mout". Turkmani was hurt by his colleagues' hostility, and words began to rotate inside his head. "Ya Sharr Mout" (son of a bitch) turned into "Ya Sharr, Mout!" (oh evil, die!). He became fascinated with the idea of experimenting with words, even writing them backwards, especially words referring to taboos in the Arabic world. Soon he joined Swiss video artist Michael Spahr who put the play with Arabic words into calligraphic images of a touching beauty. Then the idea for an ensemble work emerged: "I began to compose in a similarly playful system", Turkmani says. "I recycled some of my older compositions by playing melodies backwards or exchanging the order of notes." Teaming up with classical Arab players from Egypt and Lebanon, using the critical poems by Nadia Tuéni (1935-1983) and adding Spahr's video art for live presentation, Turkmani turned "Ya Sharr Mout" into a multimedia performance that struggles against any form of ideological or religious narrow-mindedness.
During one year Swiss film director Sabine Gisiger and her team accompanied Mahmoud Turkmani observing the development of this audio-visual project. Gisiger's film not only tells the story of the music -- composing, rehearsing, performing -- but also the story of Mahmoud Turkmani's life. He has grown up in two divergent cultures, the oriental and the occidental. His deepened knowledge in both musical systems made it possible for him to check touchpoints between them without using superficial fusion techniques. He kept asking himself: Can the Maqamat world of sound with its richness of modi be combined with the western tone system? How can complex Arab rhythms constitute a work of new music without getting stuck in shallow "Arabisms"? Says director Gisiger: "The film invites the audience to listen and look carefully. This seems very important to me at a time in which hatred and lack of understanding reign between the Orient and the Occident." -- "Ya Sharr Mout" (the music, the audio-visual performance, the film) is a journey in search for more understanding between East and West.
Mahmoud Turkmani composer, oud, guitar
Nisreen Hmaidan vocal
Saber Abdel Sattar qanun
Khaled Oweida violin
Amr Moustafa percussion
Ahmad Osman bass
Compact Disc (55 min.) + Film DVD (70 min. )
ENJ-9530 2
rec. Oct 2007, Beirut
30.03.2010
The documentary film about Ya Sharr Mout by Sabine Gisiger won an award at the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal, Canada. www.artfifa.com
Ya Sharr Mout is an audio-visual performance by Mahmoud Turkmani and Michael Spahr with texts by Nadia Tuéni.
The DVD/CD, which has been designed by Michael Spahr, has been released on Enja Records.
The documentary film about Ya Sharr Mout by Sabine Gisiger won an award at the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal, Canada. It will be shown soon at the Louvre in Paris, the Studio national des arts contemporains Le Fresnoy in Tourcoing, the AIA/Center for Architecture, the Mid-Manhattan Library and the Morgan Library in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Musée national des beaux-arts in Quebec City, the National Gallery of Canada and the Tate Modern in London.
28.03.2010
Der Dokumentarfilm über Ya Sharr Mout von Sabine Gisiger hat am International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal, Kanada, einen Preis gewonnen. www.artfifa.com
Ya Sharr Mout ist eine audio-visuelle Performance von Mahmoud Turkmani und Michael Spahr mit Texten von Nadia Tuéni.
Die DVD/CD, die von Michael Spahr entworfen wurde, erschien auf Enja Records.
Der Dokumentarfilm über Ya Sharr Mout von Sabine Gisiger hat am International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal, Kanada, einen Preis gewonnen. Der Film wird nun im Louvre in Paris, dem Studio national des arts contemporains Le Fresnoy in Tourcoing, dem AIA/Center for Architecture, der Mid-Manhattan Library und der Morgan Library in New York, der National Gallery of Art in Washington, dem Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, dem Musée national des beaux-arts in Quebec City, der National Gallery of Canada swoie an der Tate Modern in London gezeigt.
25.07.2009
Premiere: The Return of Lilith/ El Retorno de Lilth/ Lilith's Wiederkehr.
