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Mideastern classicist

Pianist Khaled As'Ad goes West to rediscover the East
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By Darrell Jónsson
For The Prague Post
July 4th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Out of all the cities in the world, As'Ad has chosen to record and play here.
Khaled As'Ad

When: Wednesday, July 11, at 8
Where: Obecní dům
Tickets: 500 Kč, available at the venue

If you are looking for a piano composition to shout “peace” from your stereo speakers, Khaled As’Ad’s composition “Bells of Bethlehem” radiates enough virtuoso hope to soothe any set of jangled nerves. As’Ad’s unique combination of classical, romantic and Arabic forms may be as far off the classical music track as his personality. Yet, however odd his dreams, they have led him to Prague’s Barrandov Studios, where he has been fervently recording a three-CD set of piano compositions he calls Culture Shock (on the Naughty Rock Star label). This week, As’Ad will premiere works from the recently released first CD of the set at Prague’s stately Municipal House.
Sitting across the table from As’Ad, he looks more like a scuba-diving instructor of Middle Eastern descent fresh from the French Riviera than an accomplished interpreter of Rachmaninoff and Liszt. In conversation, it quickly becomes apparent that beneath his casual mask lives a profound knowledge, love and passion for both the European and Arabic classical music traditions.
As’Ad is part of a new generation of composers from the Arabic world who are reaching far beyond the occasionally sincere yet superficial “Orientalism” of late 19th- and early 20th-century composers. Arabic musical notions with a global reach are nothing new. In fact, as As’Ad notes, they “originally made their way westward about 1,000 years ago, and became what we know as Andalusian. Already at that time, Arabic/Oriental music was melding with Western forms. During the Renaissance, classical music was born and was inspired by the music that already existed.”
Given such a heritage, one might expect As’Ad to pick up where either the 11th-century Andalusian composers or 20th-century French impressionists left off. Instead, he takes creative detours closer to the heart of Europe. His reasons for this are as novel as the result. “I gravitated to [Rachmaninoff and Liszt] because their techniques are the most technically challenging to perform,” As’Ad says. “I am from the school of Rachmaninoff because he is also emotionally difficult to perform. One pours his or her heart and soul out when you perform Rachmaninoff. Liszt is amazing because he elevated Hungarian music and provided new inspiration.”
Audiences from Geneva, Cannes, Cairo, and Amman have all been impressed with the 21st-century intensity As’Ad brings to classical romantic composers. The work that he will premiere next week in Prague shares more than just technique and passion from the past. As As’Ad says, “By connecting with its folk music, Liszt brought Hungary to the world. I am now weaving Arabic melodies in the tapestry of Western classical music and am, in essence, resurrecting a form of music that has been long forgotten and reintroducing it to the world.” On the new CD, his work “Arabian Rhapsody/Dance of the Arabian Horse” demonstrates the rigors of As’Ad’s French and New England Conservatory training, while the music remains firmly based on original Arabic Maqam and Hijazi folk motifs. In the end, the work succeeds in doing what As’Ad describes as “capturing the spirit of the Arabian horse as only Arabic folk music can.”
Formerly of Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, As’Ad has studied and worked in New England and France and now resides in Jordan. Reflecting on his complex background, he says, “I am part of the Arabic culture which prevails all over the Middle East. My music is composed from many influences that began with the culture I was born into, and enriched by the other cultures I have experienced. After all, we are one world, and music is the universal language which supersedes nations, cultures and any perceived obstacles.”
Though he could certainly record and perform in world-class cities such as New York City, Paris or Cairo, As’Ad finds the Golden City a better fit. “Prague is the cultural capital of Eastern and Central Europe,” he says. “My biggest influences came from this part of the world — Rachmaninoff from Georgia, Liszt from Hungary. Artistically speaking, in a way I feel that I’ve come home.”

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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