Saeed Murad and “Sabreen”… The night is fleeting
The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in the occupied city of Jerusalem, did not become a destination for singing and music lovers out of nothing. It is there that the headquarters of the “Sabreen” Association for Artistic Development and the studio for the recordings of the band that bears the same name are located. Here, Palestinian singers and musicians find all the technical capabilities they desire.
The band, the association, and the studio were all the fruits of ancient efforts made by the Palestinian composer and arranger Saeed Murad (1958), whose name has always been associated with “Sabreen,” the musical band he founded in 1980, and which had profound effects on all singing groups and on the scene. All music in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, after its founder chose a specific path for it, sides with what is known in Palestine as committed music, and singing that is always preoccupied with serving the Palestinian identity, protecting the memory of the masses, and keeping the higher goals of liberation and independence present in the Palestinian collective consciousness, until In moments of enjoying the tune or playing and singing.
Saeed Murad remembers the climate in which the idea of the band was born, and how the players were very limited, the numbers of singers were very small, and there were no places equipped with what was necessary for recording and editing. There are no working theaters and no modern studios. He realized that confronting these stable conditions required a change in ideas, education and media, and the establishment of the band was the first step that would be followed by important steps that were reflected in the musical life in the cities of Palestine.
The band included a number of artists, including Camelia Gibran, a lead singer and player on a number of string and percussion instruments, Odeh Turjman, a singer and bass violin player, Issa Freij, on guitar, violin and cello, Yaqoub Abu Arafa on percussion, and Issam Murad, sound engineer and drummer. Samer Muslim, assistant singer, and Wissam Murad, singer and oud, percussion, and keyboard player.
Then came the second step in 1987, with the launch of the Sabreen Development Association, a non-governmental community organization, aiming to develop music in Palestine, so Saeed Murad and his band began organizing summer activities, workshops, and training that benefited many Palestinian musicians. In light of Murad’s great success, the Palestinian Ministry of Education concluded an agreement with him under which the Sabreen Band taught the music curriculum in Palestinian schools.
The artistic impact of this step was great, and was the main reason for the emergence of a number of Palestinian artists, including singers, musicians, composers, authors, and technical specialists in audio and recording. In 2007, Sabreen Association for Artistic Development launched the “Palestinian Eurovision” program in partnership with the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and the Superflex Group of Companies, with the aim of Palestine participating in the Eurovision Song Contests.
Under the supervision of Norwegian experts, the band provided its expertise to students, teachers and principals. The training began with music teachers, then expanded to include many people ready to develop. With continuous efforts, Murad was able to make his band and the association a major artistic incubator for sponsoring music and singing, and providing artistic, productive and advertising support to Palestinian bands. The band continued its partnership with the Ministry of Education, in West Bank schools, UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip, and Latin Patriarchate schools, starting in 1993 and for 14 years, before stopping in mid-2007.
Since its launch in the early 1980s, Sabreen has released five albums, each of which expresses the stage the Palestinian issue is going through at the time of release. Representatively, the first album was titled “Smoke of Volcanoes,” and it coincided with the Sabra and Shatila massacres following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
On the other hand, the third album, which was released in 1994, was titled “The Pigeons Are Coming,” influenced by the state of optimism that spread following the Oslo Accords, before it relapsed into frustration and despair, then hesitation and confusion, which was translated into the fourth release, which was titled “On Where?”. In the first four albums, the singing lead was singer Camelia Gibran, who later left the band and immigrated to France in 2004.
The fifth album was voiced by Palestinian actor Muhammad Bakri. Sabreen’s songs were distinguished by their carefully selected texts from groups of great Palestinian and Arab poets, led by Mahmoud Darwish, Samih Al-Qasim, Talal Haidar, Sayed Hijab, Fadwa Tuqan, and Hussein Barghouti.
Saeed Murad chose to stand in an area that mixes ancient classical music with Western modernist styles, and this appeared in the construction of the melodies, in the instruments used, and in the playing styles. Sabreen’s band was open to different styles of people’s music in India and Africa, and was also influenced by various forms of jazz and blues. The band produced a number of albums for other bands, in addition to its interest in theatrical and television performances, and creating soundtracks for cinematic films.
Anyone who wants to get to know the work of Sabreen Band can stop at its first album, “Smoke of Volcanoes,” and specifically the song “About Insan” by the poet Mahmoud Darwish: “They put chains on his mouth.. They tied his hands to the rock of the dead.. They said, ‘You are a killer..’ They took his food and clothes. And the banners.. And they threw him in the dungeon of the dead.. And they said, “You are a thief.” They expelled him from all the ports.. They took his little lover.. And they said, “You are a refugee.. You with bloody eyes and palms.. The night is passing.. There is no longer the detention room.. And there are no chains left Nero died, but Rome did not die. With her eyes she fights, and the grains of the ears of corn die. The valley will be filled with ears of corn.”
Murad composed the song, participated in recording it by playing the oud and percussion, Camelia Gibran sang it while playing the qanun herself, Odeh Turjman participated in singing, playing the double bass, Issa Freij participated in playing the guitar, and Jamal Morocco participated on the buzuq.
One of the striking songs in the same release is “Love in the Palestinian Style,” by the poet Abdul Latif Akl: “I will make you live in a place of figs and oil… and I will dress your nakedness in a fragrant garment. With your matted hair… my dusty face turns red… and I give birth to a fetus in your palms… and I grow and grow and grow. And when I am led alone… to be flogged with humiliation… I am beaten with a whip in every station. I feel that we are two lovers… who died of love… brown and brown… you become me and I become you. “.. delicious figs and peeled almonds.. and when the soldiers smash my head.. and I drink the cold of the prisons.. to forget you.. I love you more.” This is how Aql formulates the vocabulary of Palestinian poetry, from figs, olives, thyme, humiliation, the whip, the police station, smashing the head, and the cold of the prisons. Camelia Gibran’s voice in this song was very fresh.
Saeed Murad was born in 1958 in the Islamic Quarter in the city of Jerusalem. He had an early passion for music and singing. The truth is that he practiced for many years and to a degree of refinement and maturity before founding the Sabreen Band. Among the stations of his artistic journey that did not receive the necessary spotlight were the seven years he spent in the Al-Kawkab Band between… In 1972 and 1980, he practiced playing five hours a day, and then “Sabreen” was launched in response to the artistic, political and social requirements present in the Palestinian arena. Because of this response and support, the public’s reception of the band was supported by appreciation and admiration, and the singing and compositional styles opened new doors, through which subsequent established Palestinian bands passed.
Murad did not enter into battles over the old and the new, the original and the intrusive, nor heritage and modernity, but rather considered that all musical styles represented tributaries of inspiration. The battle of the Palestinian person needs the eastern oud, the western blues, and the African rhythm. Despite Murad’s long history, and the transformation of his foundation into a major sponsor for all music enthusiasts in Jerusalem and all of Palestine, his experience with school children will remain among the most important things an artist has provided to his nation.
