Rehearsing with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq (4) | Music | Deutsche Welle | 21.09.2011
09/10/2011 17:57
Music | 21.09.2011
Rehearsing with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq (4) DW correspondent Bettina Kolb travelled to Arbil, Iraq to be with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq during rehearsals for the Beethovenfest. This is part four of her blog about the experience.
The ensemble took the stage with a VIP audience on hand
An unusual silence fills the breakfast room this morning - a departure from the previous days when laughter and cheerful "Good Mornings" resounded all around the table. Tonight is the big concert in Arbil's Saad Palace. Yesterday's rehearsals went well, but the musicians are nervous and quietly munching on cheese, olives and bread. Then the orchestra manager, Majid, calls out, "To the bus!" And off they go, leaving plates with half-eaten flatbread behind. Once they've boarded, Majid knows no mercy. Two young men carry the big bass drums above their heads into the vehicle. Room has to be made for them alongside the conductor, 12 tutors and 43 musicians. Instruments are stacked one on top of another, and we manage to squeeze ourselves in between. But this is our first trip together where there's no Kurdish music, no hopping, dancing and singing to set the bus to shaking. It's almost time for the dress rehearsal. Once there, everyone has to pass through security. Metal detectors loom behind guards with red berets, bulletproof vests and machine guns. They open up the violin cases with utmost seriousness - so serious in fact that it's clear they don't know just what to make of the instruments inside. Before the music begins, conductor Paul MacAlindin lets his orchestra members rehearse entering the stage. There are some little collissions. MacAlindin takes on the role of choreographer. After all, this warm-up is necessary. Beethoven's Violin Concerto isn't the only part of the evening that will require the musicians' full attention.
One more afternoon of rehearsals before their debut together...
The Beethoven piece is joined by four others on the program, including two works commissioned by Deutsche Welle from Iraqi composers - "Desert Camel" by Mohammed Amin Ezzat from Baghdad and "Invocation" by Ali Authman. The latter composer is on hand and more relaxed today than before. No longer pacing back and forth, he sits in the seventh row, listening, making notes and looking up again.
Oboist Murat, on the other hand, looks upset. "I've had a sore throat since last night. I don't know how I'm going to play. But I want to no matter what," he says. He's sitting in his chair in the last row at the rehearsal and fighting on. MacAlindin is worried that the tempo is off again today, and the violins are to blame. Sometimes they lag behind, sometimes they're rushing ahead. In front of the stage, the tutors watch and mark the beat with their fingers in the air. There's no shortage of conductors today, perhaps even too many.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15399934,00.html
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