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National Youth Orchestra of Iraq prepares for 2010 outreach programme
18 February 2010
Conductor Paul MacAlindin reports on progress so far...
"The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq 2009 was our first attempt at creating a normal 2-week course for young Iraqi musicians to get together and play in safety. Naturally, all manner of things went wrong, and we were prevented from falling apart with goodwill, passion and luck.
Let’s start with the organisation – If you want something done in Iraq, ask a 17-year-old girl. They are seriously wired and global. Zuhal Sultan, our founder and artistic director, was our leading light and media contact. She played orchestral piano and handled media, publicity and politicians. Sanar (16) in our location of Sulemaniyah, North Iraq, whom the British Council hired as our local administrator, ran errands, sourced translators and paid local bills in this entirely cash economy. There is one cash machine in this town of 700,000 people, but only if you want to queue in 45-degree heat. Boran Aziz (18), another orchestral pianist, was on the team of trilingual translators working between Kurdish, Arabic and English. One day soon, I hope she finds her way out of Iraq to get proper piano lessons. 15-year-old Tuq’a, who began the course on Grade 4 cello and finished around Grade 6 (everybody's hunger to learn was mindblowing), was swapped to principal cello after four days because of her blossoming leadership. Unlike Britain, music in Iraq is a man’s world, and she’s had to really fight to keep playing. All the players get either basic or no teaching. Many haven’t been taught in years.
Rehearsals – air conditioning was variable, when we had electricity. Wind tuning in radical temperature changes was a battle we won with intensive care from our amazing British and American tutors. My favourite blackout was the beginning of Haydn 99, fourth movement. After bar 16 we were plunged into darkness, and they just kept going to the end! Bewildered, I kept conducting. Afterwards, I learnt it’s standard to memorise the notes for that eventuality (switch off the lights during your next rehearsal and see what happens). Our Kurdish soldiers patrolling the hall were friendly. You don’t notice the AK47s after a while.
Our schedule was tough: 9-12 tutti, 2- 4 sectional, 4.30-5.30 tutti and 6-7 electives. The electives - piano, conducting and chamber music - were groundbreaking for the players. Supported by the National Association of Youth Orchestras’ chamber music library, sent by DHL to Iraq, groups were painstakingly coached in listening, subdividing, tuning, watching, etc. We held a mini-performance in the hotel breakfast room: Maple Leaf Rag for wind quintet, movements from Mozart’s K80 string quartet, finishing with our string tutors on Beethoven’s op. 18 no. 1. Mesmerized, I watched everyone experience their first live quartet. That evening, across the hall at midnight, some students met in a suite and played Haydn 99 as a string quartet. They had broken through and understood.
The concert rehearsal was the usual bag of ups and downs, adjusting Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture, some Iraqi and Scottish works and Haydn to a new space. Sniffer dogs checked for bombs. Finally, our concert, in front of 12 Arab and Kurdish TV networks and 750 people in the Palace of Arts, rode through on a wave of passion and joy.
We’re taking a deep breath with our current round of youtube auditions for summer 2010 and fundraising for our August visit to the Royal Academy of Music and the Edinburgh Fringe. The cost of getting us there, only £150,000."
A video outlining the orchestra's 2009 achievements can be viewed by clicking here.
Paul MacAlindin, Musical Director
www.paulmac.org
