Maestro Razan Al-Qudsi.. Creative female fingers on the oud

Damascus-SANA

Razan al-Qudsi loved oriental music from an early age and was attached to the lute and fascinated with melodies and strings to secure a place in the current Syrian melody world with a lot of effort and training.

About her artistic career and the stations she passed, Maestro Razan, the leader of the Alhan troupe, said that she has been attached to the oud instrument since she was ten to develop this talent through study and perseverance.

Razan chose the oud instrument to specialize in out of her love for oriental melody and rapture, as she found herself with that instrument more like a friend who shares her various feelings and feelings with its depth and sincerity, indicating that she touches with his voice, melody and echo of his strings something of the fragrance of the East despite her various experiences with other musical instruments.

She explains that the one who supervised her training was her uncle, Ahmed Bayazid, a veteran musician who taught her the basics of playing and how to deal with the oud. His soft fingers are hardened by training.

After Razan acquired her own oud, she, as a fifth-grade student, began learning notes and solfege at the Youth Institute in Sabaa Bahrat, and she began to sing and play together.

Her love for singing and her constant listening to the old, authentic tarab made it easy for her to learn to play the audio, so she did not find it difficult to play any song that she loved from the first time.

Although Razan studied English at the university and worked as a teacher and then as an assistant director and the preoccupations of daily life, she did not give up the lute and the love of music.

When I learned that the Educational Center for Plastic Arts, under the supervision of the plastic artist, Muwaffaq Makhoul, aspires to establish a choral and music department with the aim of integrating music with drawing and plastic art, and to give the center a diversified artistic character to attract talents and music lovers, I moved to it bearing her ambitions and dreams.

Razan worked on attracting students looking for a musical artistic center, and some of the center’s students in the specializations of drawing and sculpture became her students, so she formed a band from them, while supporting the education of Damascus with machines and allocating a place for training.

The band, which bore the name Alone, was joined by skilled players such as Mamoun Maraachli on the violin and Jamil Soboh on the flute, noting that she paid attention to students who tend to play and focused on training and teaching them the musical notes to help them join the band as new players.

During the 7 years of the band's life, Razan, along with the musicians and trainees, went on a musical journey during which they presented works by the great singers of the most beautiful songs of tarab, originality and heritage.

And about the reason for her preference for group work, she saw that there is no individual work in art because it is inspired by humanity and lofty relations, and the most beautiful melodies and instrumentals are presented by the artist when he works with his fellow musicians, where he is inspired by them and inspired by him to present us with an integrated, sophisticated, high-sense and credible artwork.

Razan has ambitions on a public and personal level, as she hopes to adopt every musical talent and hold his hand until she presents him as a performer on stage.

Razan's personal ambition is inseparable from the public, to continue to develop herself musically for the Alhan band, which has become a large part of her life and the lives of those who work with her.

Razan holds her generation of musicians responsible for strengthening the relationship of the new generation with heritage, considering that we can communicate it only through love, joy and sincere giving, introducing it and presenting it in a loving and smooth way, gradually, and benefiting from its strength and artistic prestige that makes it impose itself without effort.

Razan concludes her speech by saying, “Art is an essential part of the human being, and as we develop the body, we develop the individual’s spirit with high taste and a refined artistic sense.”

Hadi Imran