It is one thing to capture the sound of a notable singer and another to evoke a country’s heritage and musical traditions.
Fayez Al Saeed has spent three decades composing for artists including Mohammed Abdu, Hussain Al Jassmi and Kadim Al Sahir. His latest work Lightning, Thunder & Longing, brings Emirati sea rhythms, Al Ayyala and Al Taghrooda to the UAE National Orchestra.
Commissioned by the orchestra, the piece features words by Emirati poet Arif Al Khajah and premieres on Friday at the Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi, followed by a performance at Dubai Opera on Sunday.
It is one of three Emirati commissions in To This Land, We Belong, the programme opening the orchestra’s second season and part of a concert exploring the UAE’s landscape, musical heritage and history.
“It is a big experience for me, and there is a real sense of pride, especially because this is an orchestra representing the United Arab Emirates,” Al Saeed tells The National.
“I look at the orchestra as a culmination of everything many of us have gained over the past 30 years through composing and singing. Today we are putting that experience into the UAE National Orchestra and presenting something worthy of our country.”
Al Saeed began his recording career in the 1990s as a singer and songwriter, releasing his debut album Sa’at Wa’ed in 1996 and later scoring Khaleeji pop hits including #Selfie and Yensa.
Some of his biggest successes, however, came behind the scenes, as an official composer for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, setting his Nabati poetry, published under the name Fazza, to music.
Their collaborations include Rouh wa Rouh, performed by Assala Nasri in 2004, Limany Fi Mahjir Ayounak, sung by Rashid Menhali in 2005, and Sahet Al Sha’ar, led by Mohammed Abdu in 2016.
Al Saeed says composing for an orchestra requires a different approach to writing for a particular singer or setting a poet’s words to music.
“You have to understand the picture and the project you are working on, and it has to suit the orchestra and the choir,” he says.
“There is a lot of research involved because you have to give everyone something to do. Every instrument and every musician needs the space to contribute.
“It is about finding the balance between the choir and the instruments,” he adds. “It is a difficult task that requires a lot of research and revision, but it is an amazing challenge.”
For Lightning, Thunder & Longing, Al Saeed turned to Emirati musical traditions.
“I take the traditional and maritime music I learnt from the heritage of my country and combine it with international musical ideas,” he says. “I look at it, in a way, as a remix that brings those elements together.”
It is a recipe shaped by the Arab singers and composers Al Saeed listened to in his early years.
“The first thing I had was my Walkman,” he recalls. “I listened to great Arab singers such as Umm Kulthum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Wadih El Safi.
“Then I joined the choir, and once I became a composer, I spent so much time in the studio listening and learning. Over time, I built up this mental store of music, heritage and experience from different people. It was like a computer in my head, collecting all those ideas until I could create my own sound.”
For the UAE National Orchestra, commissioning composers such as Al Saeed is part of building a body of new Emirati orchestral music.
“Emirati composers sits at the heart of what the UAE National Orchestra is here to do,” Sheikha Alia bint Khalid Al Qassimi, its managing director, tells The National. “An orchestra should help create music that grows from its own country, not only perform the music of others.
“We want our composers to have the space to express our heritage, our stories and the UAE of today, each in their own voice. Every new work adds to what future generations will inherit.”
On that score, Al Saeed believes the orchestra has arrived at the right time.
“I always say that a country that has no music and no orchestra is a poor country,” he says. “Today our country has developed in everything, in technology, artificial intelligence and space. It is time to have music and an orchestra as well, because great countries are also measured by their art and their music.”
Yes. I’d make the parallel structure slightly cleaner:
To This Land, We Belong by the UAE National Orchestra is at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi on September 18 at 8pm, with tickets from Dh100, and at Dubai Opera on September 20 at 8pm, with tickets from Dh200.
