Mahattaat

Kamilya Jubran, born 1963 in Aka, spent her childhood
years in the Palestinian village of Al-Rameh. At a very young age, she began
studying traditional Arabic poetry and music with her father Elias Jubran, a
master craftsman of authentic musical instruments. She was singing the
classical Egyptian repertoire between the ages of 4 and 10, accompanying
herself on the "kanun", but until she was 15, her musical gifts were
solely for home enjoyment. In 1981, she moved to Jerusalem/Al Kods, where she
joined Said Murad, a composer who founded the world-famous Palestinian music
group Sabreen. She performed with this group for twenty years as the
lead singer, mastering many different Eastern instruments, co-producing four
albums, travelling all over the Arab world, in Europe, the USA and Japan, and,
at the same time, co-founding the Association for Artistic Development.
During this time, Kamilya Jubran shifted toward a new style and started her
intensive search for new approaches towards modern Arabic poetry. A retreat to
Paris proved helpful. A crucial step toward developing a new expressive,
modern, and unique sound happened last year when Kamilya Jubran merged the
alternative worlds of several musical dimensions with European instruments and
electronics, including video, in a project called Mahattaat. Two
versatile Swiss artists, who will be appearing with her in Ljubljana, as well
as the French double-bass player Sarah Murcia, contributed to the project. The
project has received essential support from the foundations ProHelvetia and
Kultur und Entwicklung, which allowed the show to tour, appear at festivals
and develop even further. Jubran says her recent work "at the stations"
isn't just a simple "encounter of East and West", but rather a
"confrontation of diverse cultures": European electrophonics,
traditional Arabic sound, the modern poetry of the Middle East, video-art,
jazz, etc. Intercultural tensions always give rise to something new, an
unexpected understanding, a special calm, where one should not forget the old
paradox that the most beautiful creative results often originate in war and
other forms of repression. Mahattaat actually came into being because of
the expressed wish of Sandro Lunin, the director of Schlachthaus in Bern
and organiser of the Ja'Salam festival, in the spring of 2002, when
Kamilya Jubran visited Switzerland as a resident artist.

Werner Hasler (born 1969) plays jazz trumpet and is
the leader of the band Manufactur; their intriguing tapes in the field
of electro-acoustic research are available through the Zürich distributor RecRec.
Although he has had a lot of experience in collaborating with Japanese sound
designers and dance performances, collaboration with Kamilya-they also perform
as a duo-has been a completely new and precious experience in harmony. His
younger colleague Michael Spahr, a.k.a. Rhaps (born 1973), is
both an artist and a scientist. For a long time he lived in Amsterdam, where he
worked as a historian and video-artist. Three years ago he returned to his
native Switzerland, perfected his skills as a VJ, and today works as a
freelance historian, produces documentaries, and directs short films. Spahr
hones his VJ skills in the V.I.T. collective (Mouthwatering Cast,
Manufactur).
Miha Zadnikar

 Visual-musical performance

Concept, vocal, oud: Kamilya Jubran
Electronics: Werner Hasler (Switzerland)
VJ: Michael Spahr (Switzerland)

Organisation: City of Women
In co-operation with: Cankarjev dom
With the support of: Pro Helvetia - Arts Council of Switzerland; Adria Airways