“We are actually six brothers, said The Joubran Trio last Monday at their first concert in Egypt, held at Geneina Theater. The a’wad, the stringed-instruments they play, are their three additional brothers.
The Joubran Trio are three young musicians – Samir, Wissam and Adnan Joubran – from Palestine, hailing from a well-known family of musicians. The father, Hatem Mbadda Joubran, is an illustrious stringed-instrument musician known throughout the Arab world while the mother, Ibtisam Hanna Joubran, is a singer.
Samir, the older sibling, had already started a successful singing career more than a decade ago, releasing two acclaimed albums: “Taqaseem (1996) and “Sou’ Fahm (2001). For his third record “Randana, Samir invited his younger brothers to join him in 2005. The record was an instant success, propelling the three to start a world tour and produce a second album, “Majâz (Metaphor), released last year.
Accompanying the Palestinian fraternal trio was percussionist Youssef Hbeisch, who said he deliberately kept his accompaniment light to play “in service of the instrument, the oud.
Blessed with the cool breeze offered at Azhar Park, the concert hosted by the Mawred was respectfully centered on the music of the oud.
Self-effaced in their muted and classic black outfits, the lights were initially focused on the instruments rather than the trio before the musicians began to unleash their sound that enthralled the audience.
Many of the opening notes directed the audiences into stillness and contemplative silence. Once the melody was established, the music overflowed with fullness. The songs never broody, rather conveying a more profound contentment.
On the waves of the music, the audience was carried like flotsam – gently following the intoxicating rhythm with heads gliding over the music.
For the past four years, the trio has given at least 150 performances per year all over Europe and the United States. Samir Joubran, 35, who studied at the Arabic Music Institute in Egypt from 1989 to 1991, said he had missed the passing praise of “Allah! at these performances.
In response, some of the audience thenceforth heartily offered exclamations of “Allah! Allah! Allah! and “Ya Salam! Ya Salam!
At one point, when Samir spoke of the liberty of Palestine, one of the audience members broke out into praise, proclaiming solidarity, “You are our sons, our brothers, our loves. . We love you. We love your men, your women, and your children.
Many of the songs played last Monday were taken from “Majâz. The album in which percussionist Hbeisch cooperated with The Joubran Trio has been, as Samir Joubran told Daily News Egypt, a chart topper in France for the last seven weeks.
Dedicated to the memory of the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, some couplets of the late poet’s were also recited at the concert.
In fact, the calligraphy on Wissam Joubran’s oud carries inscription by the poet. It reads: “We have on this earth what makes life worth living: on this earth, / the Lady of Earth, mother of all beginnings and ends. She was called Palestine. / Her name later became Palestine. / My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.
Wissam himself crafted the three a’wad played by the trio. A graduate of the Antonio Stradivari conservatory, Wissam honed his skills in oud-making, having constructed his first model when he was six years old. The 25-year-old is the fourth generation in his family to pursue the craft.
He compared playing the oud to raising a baby, considering training to play the instrument “a great responsibility.
The relationship of the musician to his oud is personal. As Palestinians, “we deserve to be in life, said Wissam, but also equally importantly, “as a musician, and “as a person. He expressed an appreciation for even the petty nuances of being human – worries over love and other vagaries of life.
Adnan, at 23, is the youngest of the trio. Like his brothers, music was an early passion for Adnan, who started off wanting to be a percussionist, but soon was lured by the strings of the oud.
The brothers, all born in the town of Nazareth in Palestine’s Galilee, currently reside in Paris. Hbeish divides his time between Paris and Palestine, and also teaches in Sweden.
For more information on The Joubran Trio, visit their website at http://www.letriojoubran.com. More information on Wissam and the Joubran family’s oud-making history can also be found at http://www.wissamjoubran.com.
