Waed Bouhassoun

Waed Bouhassoun (Arabic: وعد بوحسون) is a Syrian singer and oud player. She has released four solo albums of traditional Syrian music, and toured internationally since 2010. She is a founding instructor-performer for the project "Orpheus XXI – Music for life and dignity," supporting refugee musicians in Europe. In 2018, she was made a chevalier (knight) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.[1]

Waed Bouhassoun
Concert "Flamenco et Soufisme" (IMA) (4431396219).jpg
Waed Bouhassoun playing the oud at a concert in 2010.
Born1979 (age 43–44)
NationalitySyrian
Occupation(s)singer and oud player
AwardsOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, chevalier

Biography

Bouhassoun was born in 1979,[2] and grew up in Shaqqa,[3] a small Druze village near As-Suwayda in southern Syria.[4]: 2  She began playing the oud at age seven, taught by her father.[4]: 3  In high school, she began to play in regional competitions, and by age 18 had travelled widely in Syria as a performer.[4]: 4 

She then entered the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, where she studied for three years.[4]: 5  There were no courses in Eastern singing, so she studied singing for Western opera.[2] Also, when she was asked to learn a Western instrument to play in the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, she continued to study the oud instead.[2]

In 2005, Bouhassoun had her first performance in France at the Festival de l’imaginaire ("Festival of the Imaginary"), where she sang and played the oud as part of a play.[4]: 6  To prepare for a solo performance at the next Festival de l’imaginaire, Bouhassoun travelled to Aleppo in northern Syria to train further as a singer with Arabic musicians.[4]: 8  In 2007, she was invited to perform at the Festival of World Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco.[4]: 5 

In 2010, Bouhassoun moved to Paris to begin a Masters' degree in ethnomusicology researching Syrian Druze funerals, supervised by the ethnomusicologist Jean Lambert.[4]: 13  As of 2016, she was a doctoral student in ethnomusicology at Paris Nanterre University, and a member of the Center for Research in Ethnomusicology (CREM).[5]

Beginning in 2016, Bouhassoun was one of the founding instructor-performers for the project "Orpheus XXI – Music for life and dignity," a program led by famous Catalan musician Jordi Savall to support refugees in Europe with traditional music training.[6] The program was funded by the European Commission as part of the Creative Europe Programme on 29 September 2016.[7] It provides employment for refugee musicians and teaches refugee children traditional music from their countries of origin, allowing for the preservation of cultural heritage and personal growth for the participants.[7] The first concerts took place in the summer of 2017, featuring Bouhassoun on the oud.[6]

In 2018, Bouhassoun was made a chevalier (knight) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and letters).[1] Bouhassoun remains based in Paris, but continues to return to Syria annually to visit family and do research in ethnomusicology.[8]

Music

Bouhassoun sings in the contralto vocal range[3] and has interpreted both traditional and mystical Arabic poetic lyrics as well as modern poems by the Syrian poet Adonis.[4]: 12  She has released four solo albums, each featuring little more than her own voice and oud-playing. Her music has been praised for preserving Syria's rich musical history[8][2] and for the intimate, minimalist beauty of her songs.[9] Her third album, La voix de la passion (The Voice of Passion), features Nabatean Bedouin dialect poetry, a language originating in the historical region of today's Jordan, that was also spoken in Syria and which she has studied in field surveys for her Masters' degree.[4]: 18  On this album, she was accompanied by her former fellow student at the Damascus conservatory, Syrian ney player Moslem Rahal.[10] Apart from her own albums, Bouhassoun has also contributed to three albums by musical ensembles directed by Jordi Savall.[4]: 17 

Albums
  • La voix de l’amour (The Voice of Love) (2009), released by the Arab World Institute[4]: 11  and distributed by Harmonia Mundi – selected as a "Coup de Coeur" for the year by the Académie Charles Cros.[4]: 11 
  • L'âme du luth (The Soul of the Lute) (2014), Buda Musique – "Coup de Coeur" of the Académie Charles Cros [4]: 12 
  • La voix de la passion (The Voice of Passion) (2017) with Moslem Rahal, Buda Musique.
  • Les âmes retrouvées (The reunited Souls) (2019), Buda Musique.

Participation in Jordi Savall's ensembles
  • Orient - Occident II - Homage to Syria (2013), Alia Vox.
  • Ramon Llull (2016), Alia Vox.
  • Granada (2016), Alia Vox.

References
  1. "Théâtre Alliance Française: remise des insignes de chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres à Waed Bouhassoun" (in French). Foundation Alliance Française. 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  2. "صحيفة تشرين • وعد بوحسون.. صوت يرتقي معارج الصوفية" [Waed Bouhassoun.. A voice that raises the mysteries of Sufism] (in Arabic). 2013-06-19. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  3. Baldos, Raphaël (2016-12-12). "Waed Bouhassoun, la voix arabe de l'amour". La Croix (in French). ISSN 0242-6056. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  4. Bensignor, François (2016). "Waed Bouhassoun". Hommes & Migrations (in French) (1315): 134–139. doi:10.4000/hommesmigrations.3741.
  5. Labesse, Patrick (2016-11-17). "Waed Bouhassoun, la poésie de l'oud". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  6. "ORPHEUS XXI – Breaking down barriers with music". European Commission: Europe Créative. 2017-12-11. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  7. "ORPHEUS XXI – Music for life and dignity". ICORN international cities of refuge network. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  8. Savic, Lela (2019-11-14). "La Syrie Racontée Autrement" (in French). Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  9. Ulman, Eugene (2019-10-11). "Music reviews: Mika, Mozart, Lucky Oceans, Waed Bouhassoun and more". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  10. "Waed Bouhassoun et Moslem Rahal - Production & ingénierie". Maison des Cultures du Monde. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
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