Operatic Masterpiece World Premier: Ahmad Al-Arabi
Historical Background: Tal Al- Za’ atar (the Hill of Thyme ) was the largest Palestinian refugee camp established in 1948 in the northern part of what became Christian East Beirut during the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990. According to the Lebanese Forces website, “June 29 1976 saw the camp at Jisr el Basha fall and then efforts were directed against Tal al-Zaatar, one of the largest Palestinian camps in the country and situated on the Christian side of the Green Line. The battle for Tal al-Zaatar was the final showdown between the Palestinians and the Lebanese Front in Beirut. Tal al-Zaatar contained about 2,000 Palestinian guerrillas intermixed with a civilian population of roughly 15,000 facing them were some 4,000 Lebanese Front militiamen. The Lebanese Front were supported and advised in the siege by the Lebanese and Syrian armies; Israeli advisers were also present.” On August 12 1976, after 7 months of siege, Christian forces overran the camp. At the end of the siege, about 2,000 Palestinians were killed and 4,000 wounded. The surviving civilians were deported to Palestinian held areas as the camp was entirely wiped.
What: A Tribute to Gaza - Marcel Khalife’s world Premier of his operatic work Ahmad Al-Arabi from Mahmoud Darwish’s epic poem, Ahmad Al-Zaatar. Darwish documented the 1976 siege and massacre at Tal Al-Zaatar in his poem, Ahmad Al-Zaatar.
When: January 21st & 22nd, 2009
Where: The Opera House in Damascus - Syria
Who: Marcel Khalife: composer, oud, vocals
Oumaima El Khalil: vocals
Bachar Khalife: percussion
Accompanied by the National Syrian Symphony Orchestra &
The Choir of the National Conservatory of Music
Conducted by Missak Bagbodarian
For information on tickets: www. damascus. org. sy
All proceeds go to benefit the children of Gaza.
“I am the Arab Ahmad–he said
I am the bullets the oranges
the memories
I found myself near myself
So I went away from the dew
and the maritime scene
Tal Az-Za..tar the tent
I am the country, when it came
And it reincarnated me
I am the constant travel
to the country
I found myself
enveloping myself…
Ahmad went to meet
with his hands and ribs
He was the step and the star
from the ocean to the Gulf,
from the Gulf, to the ocean
They were preparing the spears
Ahmad the Arab was ascending
to see Haifa
and jump.
Ahmad is now the hostage
The city left its streets
and came to him
to kill him
and from the Gulf to the ocean,
and from the ocean to the Gulf,
they were preparing the funeral
and the selection of the guillotine
I am the Arab Ahmad–
let the siege come
my body is the gate–
let the siege come
I am the boundaries of fire–
let the siege come
I besiege you
besiege you
My chest is the door
for all the people–
let the siege come
My song did not come
to draw Ahmad the blue
in the trench
Memories are behind my back,
and he is the day of the sun
and carnation
Oh, ye boy who is between
two windows
Do not exchange my letters
Resist
Resemblance is for the sand…
and you are for the blue…”
—–
Ahmad al Za’atar
For two hands, of stone and of thyme
I dedicate this song.. For Ahmad, forgotten between two butterflies
The clouds are gone and have left me homeless, and
The mountains have flung their mantles and concealed me
..From the oozing old wound to the contours of the land I descend, and
The year marked the separation of the sea from the cities of ash, and
I was alone
Again alone
O alone?
And Ahmad
Between two bullets was the exile of the sea
A camp grows and gives birth to fighters and to thyme
And an arm becomes strong in forgetfulness
Memory comes from trains that have left and
Platforms that are empty of welcome and of jasmine
In cars, in the landscape of the sea, in the intimate nights of prison cells
In quick liaisons and in the search for truth was
The discovery of self
In every thing, Ahmad found his opposite
For twenty years he was asking
For twenty years he was wandering
For twenty years, and for moments only, his mother gave him birth
In a vessel of banana leaves
And departed
He seeks an identity and is struck by the volcano
The clouds are gone and have left me homeless, and
The mountains have flung their mantles and concealed me
I am Ahmad the Arab, he said
I am the bullets, the oranges and the memory
—–
To those hands of zatar(thyme)
and darkened stone,
I voice this cry:
To Ahmad
Forgotten and alone.
The passing clouds have left me
Homeless and unknown,
And only mountains
Dare to hide me
In a barren home.
I emerge once more
From the ancient wounds.
I approach until I see
The details of the land.
I emerge once more
In the year the sea was breached
From the cities of ash,
When I found myself alone.
Ahmad was the sea,
Foaming among the bullets,
A camp that fiercely grew,
Raining thyme and fighters
On us.
‘I am Ahmad al Arabi,’
he said:
I am bullets
And oranges
And dreams.’
‘I am Ahmad al Arabi
LET THE SIEGE COME!
My body is the fortress,
LET THE SIEGE COME!’
‘I am the line of fire
And I will besiege you in turn,
For my breast
Is the shelter for my people.
LET THE SIEGE COME!’
…. Oh Ahmad, born of stone and of thyme,
You say : ‘NO!’
…Dying close to my blood
And rising in the wheat…
The birds have willed
Their songs to me,
And I have been gathered
To the heartbeat of the fields…
Go deep into my blood,
Go deep into the bread,
So that we will have
A simple homeland
And a dream of jasmine yet to come…
Ahmad al Arabi,
RESIST!
We will journey
In this struggle
Until we reach the shore
Of bread and waves.
We will die
For the dream of a homeland
And of jasmine yet to come.
Oh Ahmad,
Secret like forests and flame,
Make your face known to us:
Read us your last will.
We will disperse in silence
To step back
That the dead may hear your words,
That the living may know
The features of your face.
Ahmad,
My brother, Ahmad,
We await your hero’s death,
When will it be?
When will it be?
When will it be?’
Poem Translation by: *The Angry Arab and **Umfalastin
via Bachar Khalife
