DeutschIncense of Music 18
Ugarit — Syrian Classical Music Meets Baroque Cello
An olfactory concert – Saturday, 27 May 2017, 1 pm
Damaskus-Berlin: Nabil Hilaneh (oud), Maria Magdalena Wiesmaier (cello)
Ugarit Trio: Nabil Hilaneh (oud), Mevan Younes (buzuq), Mohamad Fityan (nay, kawala), George Saade (percussion, guest)
Incense: Juniper, Frankincense
St. Elisabethkirche, Berlin Mitte — closing day of "Zeig Dich!", Evangelischer Kirchentag 2017
Closing "Zeig Dich!" ("Show Yourself!") at the 2017 German Protestant Kirchentag, Incense of Music appears one final time at St. Elisabethkirche in Berlin Mitte with "Ugarit" — a programme spanning humanity's oldest surviving written musical notation through to the present day. While the Ugarit Trio focuses on new and old music from Syria, the duo Damaskus-Berlin, with its own compositions, builds a bridge between Arabic and European music. The evening moves through solos, duos, and trios, beginning with the earliest notations from the ancient city of Ugarit, through European baroque, to new compositions and free improvisation. For the occasion, we will burn juniper and frankincense.
This evening's programme:
J. S. Bach, Prelude in C Major, BWV 1009, for solo cello
Ugarit, Ugarit Trio
Hijaz Kar, Damaskus-Berlin
Nay solo improvisation, Mohamad Fityan
Teufels Tanz, Ugarit Trio
Nawa Ather, Damaskus-Berlin
Buzuq solo improvisation, Mevan Younes
Ghazala, Ugarit Trio
Oud solo improvisation, Nabil Hilaneh
Tahmil Hijaz, Damaskus-Berlin and Ugarit Trio
For guests who are particularly sensitive to smoke, this event is not recommended.
Artists
Nabil Hilaneh — oud
Nabil Hilaneh is a Syrian oud player based in Berlin, performing both in the duo Damaskus-Berlin and in the Ugarit Trio. Together with the other members of the Ugarit Trio, he studied at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus before beginning to tour internationally as one of the leading representatives of Syrian music. With the duo Damaskus-Berlin, he brings together Arabic and European musical traditions in original compositions.
Maria Magdalena Wiesmaier — cello
Maria Magdalena Wiesmaier is a German cellist who, together with oud player Nabil Hilaneh, forms the duo Damaskus-Berlin. In her own compositions, she seeks the connection between the Arabic musical tradition of the oud and the European cello repertoire — from baroque music to contemporary new works.
Mevan Younes — buzuq
Mevan Younes was born in 1990 in Damascus, Syria, and began playing the buzuq at the age of twelve. He studied at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus and was a member of several notable ensembles, including the Syrian National Ensemble for Arabic Music. A student of masters such as Ahmad Al Khatib and Mohanad Nasser, he developed his own distinctive style that blends traditional Syrian music with contemporary influences. Since arriving in Berlin in 2015, he has been an active part of the local music scene, performing regularly with various ensembles that weave together Arabic and Western musical traditions.
Mohamad Fityan — nay, kawala
Mohamad Fityan (b. 1 August 1984 in Aleppo, Syria) is a Syrian musician and composer known for his exceptional mastery of the nay and kawala. He studied under Mohamad Kassas and Berj Kassis, completing his studies at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus in 2009/2010. As early as 2002 and 2003, he was honoured as best nay player and best conductor respectively at the Contest of Syrian Youth Musicians, and in 2005 he became the first nay soloist to perform at the opening concert of the Syrian Jazz Big Band Orchestra in the Citadel of Damascus. Until 2013, he was a soloist with the Syrian Arabic Music Orchestra and the Syrian Jazz Big Band. In 2014, Fityan fled the civil war in his homeland and came to Berlin, where he has lived and worked ever since. He has performed with numerous international orchestras, including the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, and the Sarband Ensemble, and in 2016 founded his own band, "Fityan," with three German musicians, releasing their debut EP "Oriental Space." Alongside his concert work, Fityan is also active as a music teacher and, in 2016, wrote the first trilingual teaching curriculum for nay and kawala.
George Saade — percussion (guest)
George Saade joins as guest percussionist with the Ugarit Trio, accompanying on Arabic percussion the fusion of traditional Syrian music with contemporary composition.
Incense
Common juniper (Juniperus communis) is an evergreen coniferous shrub or small tree in the cypress family, boasting the largest natural range of any woody plant in the Northern Hemisphere — spanning North America, Europe, and North Asia. Its sharp, needle-like leaves and distinctive blue-black, berry-like cones make it instantly recognizable.
Juniper ranks among the oldest known incense materials in Europe, burned in antiquity to purify sickrooms and ward off plague. In many European cultures it was considered a protective plant against evil spirits, burned at New Year and other threshold moments of the year. It also played an important role in the traditional medicine of North American Indigenous peoples and in Alpine cultures, used in purification rituals and for disinfection.
Burned as incense, juniper releases a fresh, tart-resinous, faintly woody scent with a forest-like coolness. It is traditionally associated with cleansing, protection, and dispelling negative energy, and is considered a powerful, grounding companion for transitions and new beginnings.
Frankincense comes from small, deciduous trees of the genus Boswellia, growing in the arid regions of Somalia, Yemen, Oman, and other parts of the Horn of Africa, as well as the Arabian Peninsula and India. Incisions in the bark release a milky sap that hardens in the air into aromatic, tear-shaped resin lumps, known as "frankincense tears."
Frankincense ranks among the oldest and most precious incense materials in human history, traded for over 5,000 years along the legendary Incense Route connecting Arabia to the Mediterranean. It played a central role in the religious rites of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — appearing in the New Testament as one of the three gifts brought to the infant Jesus. For centuries it was so highly prized that its value matched that of gold.
Burned as incense, frankincense releases a warm, resinous scent with subtle notes of citrus and pine. It is regarded by many as the archetypal incense material, still associated today with purification, prayer, and the creation of sacred space across numerous religious traditions worldwide.