Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
I am sure that everyone read the headlines about Yazz Ahmed’s first concert in Bahrain as part of the 25th Bahrain International Music Festival.
Judging by the way we all rushed the auditorium doors when they were opened at the Cultural Hall on Friday evening, everyone there thought they were in for a treat.
Yazz was celebrating her Bahraini roots with a delicious fusion suite Alhaan Al Siduri, accompanied by a diverse band of six musicians and two singers pulled together to create the Ahmed Family Hafla Band.
Blended from the best traditions of Bahrain folkloric sounds - the wedding songs that accompanied the bride as she started her new life, the Pearl Divers Odes of years gone by and the beautiful melodies of fusion jazz it proved to be a heady and intoxicating mix. But, I suspect, only for those who truly love jazz, like me, for example.
The melodies sung by the two singers were enchanting, whispering the sounds of the waves as they floated the words and notes between the ethereal mix of traditional African and Arabian drums, Jazz piano, modern drums, xylophone, guitar and clarinet - plus, of course, Yazz herself on trumpet and horn. Each one drawing out the essence of the music, playing with it and laying down a story as old as time.
My personal favourite was The Mermaid’s Song. So beautiful and haunting, yet so enveloping and calming.
Every part of the concert drew us into the world of jazz clubs and the sense of being part of something very special and sentient. Sadly though, and this does not just apply to this concert, the backdrop and lighting could not sustain the image. That part ranks in the ‘could do better’ category.
Contrary to all her publicity photographs, Yazz appeared on the stage like a tiny sparrow fallen to earth, shy and awkward until she started to play and then a transformation and the true triumph of what she had created, shone through.
Her work, Alhaan Al Siduri, was delightful, beautifully formed and performed. Her father, who we were told was in the audience, must, quite rightly, have been so proud of her. This was not just a piece of work thrown together, but a beautifully-crafted musical quilt.
I hope that she and her ensemble return to perform it once more because it deserves a much wider audience than it received … and one that stays to the end.
- Christine Hasan
