Jahida Wehbe, Osama Abdulrasol and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra recreated the magic of Night 352 of One Thousand and One Nights at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
Throughout history, One Thousand and One Nights (also known as Arabian Nights), the collection of classic, medieval Middle Eastern folk tales, has influenced literature, music, art and cinema in many forms and genres.
The original tale of Night 352 is about the enslaved princess, Zumurrud, and Ali Shar, who inherits a large fortune after the death of his father, but spends it all very quickly. For months, he goes hungry until he finds Zumurrud for sale at a slave market. The two fall in love and live together until she is kidnapped a year later. The story continues with Ali searching for Zumurrud.
However, the version brought to the stage in Abu Dhabi was reworked by Iraqi playwright Hazim Kamaledin, as a tale about slavery in the world today.
Abdulrasol teamed up with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and Wehbe to create a blend of classical Arabic music and jazz styles. True to the roots of the story, Abdulrasol played the qanun, a stringed instrument that traces its roots back to Mesopotamia.
Lebanese singer Wehbe, who performed on the opening day of the Abu Dhabi Culture Summit in October, captivated the audience with her voice, fusing classical Arabic music with the western genre.
"This experience was one of a kind. I had experience with jazz, but never with Brussels Jazz Orchestra or music compositions like Osama's," Wehbe told The National after the performance.
"A year and a half was spent preparing for the project, it was a great but difficult experience. We found that the combination of oriental and western styles, in poems based on jazz, appealed to a wide audience, knowing that such works appeal specifically to jazz fans."
Speaking to The National, Abdulrasol, recalled growing up in a "very religious" family in Babylon, Iraq, where music wasn't a part of his life. However, he would visit music stores by himself, which is where he first got a taste for jazz and "fell in love with it". This passion inspired him to merge the genre with Arabic classical music.
"I did not start with jazz. I started with the classical guitar, rock heavy metal," he says, "then I went to music school, and I switched to the qanun. I played guitar at first, then I thought of making something new. I always bring new elements to my projects — this is my character.
"I want to take jazz, big band or orchestra, to a level they don't know. And I want to take the Arabic music to a new level too."
Abdulrasol, who now lives in Ghent, Belgium, has a daughter named Zumurrud, 15. Creating Night 352 of One Thousand and One1001 Nights has been a labour of love, and months in the making.
"The process of composing took around three to four months, but developing the concept took eight to nine months," Abdulrasol says. "Before I approached music, I studied nearly all the big bands of jazz music, and I didn't want to copy. I wanted to give a new colour, a new identity."