Damascus-SANA
The love and adoration of music grew in the heart of musician Raad Khalaf from an early age, and he inherited his creativity in it from his father, the Iraqi composer Hamid Al-Basri, and his mother, the singer Shawqiyyah Al-Attar.
Maestro Khalaf made the city of Damascus his home nearly four decades ago. He excelled in composing and teaching music, and showed in all his works his belief in collective heroism. He endeavored to highlight the creativity of musicians, singers, and theatrical performers, to make every individual experience a main hero in its appropriate place.
He focused most of his attention on working with young people on developing the ideal cultural vision, and he said in his interview with SANA: “After the circumstances we went through, we can only rely on the new generation of young people, to rebuild the country and trust their skills to return it to its first worlds and features with all the joy that it possesses, not to mention injecting the pulse of life in it.”
The leader and founder of the Ziryab Artistic Orchestra project pointed out that the creations of the new generation were created from the womb of the crises that their country went through, and possessed many creative capabilities and latent energies that need to be discovered, refined and developed, so that they become the strong language in which messages of beauty and peace communicate, and carry in their content a depth and a human dimension. And nationally, it proves that this country will inevitably survive.
Despite the musician's attachment to the cultural and historical heritage of the ancient cities, he recently moved away from his experience from the past, and began to simulate the stage that imposed itself on the city of Damascus, and drew from its hopes musical paintings that touched the aspirations with musical techniques that he embodied in the show "My City" in 2021.
And about his latest project, Musical (A Story from the East), which was recently shown at Dar Al-Assad for Culture and Arts, Khalaf indicated that it is a project that needs extensive research to find the appropriate environment to embrace it, as it is characterized by wide-spectrum differences from lyrical, show, and operatic theatres, as it seeks to have performers mastering all kinds of arts. The play, which takes a lot of time and effort.
Maestro Khalaf, who composed more than 130 musical works for theatre, television and cinema, found it difficult to identify the musical and artistic work closest to his heart and soul, as is the case with most creators, and described each of them as a new birth for him.
The founder of the Marie Orchestra wished to continue presenting a variety of artistic and musical productions to make a positive impact on the hearts of the Syrian and Arab audiences, and to influence their feelings and behaviors, pointing out that culture is the main pillar in the renaissance of nations and peoples.
It is noteworthy that Maestro Khalaf also worked as a composer for the opera (Ibn Sina), the Arabic version, and a music composer for the musical performances (Safar al-Narjis) (The Last Story), in addition to composing and supervising audiovisual performances, including (Rites of Ancient Civilizations) and (A Concert in Mari). He has many research papers, including music, plastic art, the audiovisual relationship, “music and religion,” “drama and music,” as well as musical preparation (for the violin, music, and instruments of ancient civilizations, an authorial and applied vision).
Amani Farooj
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