The Spirit of World Music
BY JAMEY HADDAD
I
really don’t give a damn about mixing
politics with music. Music doesn’t
need the burden of politics. But I was
just reminded by my friend Mark
Stewart that every time we play, we
make some kind of political statement.
Regardless of the musical setting, you’re
really letting someone know where you’re concert series across the U.S. with the
coming from. That is the focus here.
I started off the summer of 2003 by re- that mirrors the invited artists from the
cording a trio record with singer Nancy
Wilson. Then while the bombs were fall-
ing in Baghdad, I was in-
vited to Beirut, Lebanon
and Amman, Jordan to
perform with Iraqi singer
Kazim El Sahir, acknowl-
edged as the sixth most
recognized voice in the
world by the BBC (how do
they really know?). Some-
thing is up with him be-
cause they had to call the
army to get us in and out
of both gigs. He and his
whole group were fantas-
tic. He had a full Iraqi or-
chestra and choir with four
percussionists. Some musi-
cians had already experi-
enced bombs in their towns
and even on their homes,
but before we parted they
were singing and chanting
my name out of thanks for
wanting to share music
with them. Thank God for
music! Jamey Haddad with the Moroccan women’s ensemble Hadra des Femmes de
Following that, I started Taroudant.
rehearsals with Simon and
Garfunkel for a fall and spring 2004 tour. My favorite was a Moroccan women’s
This was and is an extremely powerful
and memorable part of American and Eu- from the desert. They were seven singers/ eyes of the rest of the world (MTV has
ropean musical and cultural history. One
night, we played Rome for 600,000
people. I was proud to see the power of
Paul’s truly American form of music so
well received in Europe, where although
anti-Americanism was running high,
people still responded openly to the mu-
sic and the sentiments that created it—a
different America.
The year continued with recordings
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 50 JUNE 2005
and concerts with saxophonist Dave
Liebman, singer Betty Buckley, Palestin-
ian oud/violinist Simon Shaheen, com-
poser/saxophonist Daniel Schnyder, The
Paul Winter Consort, Italian singer
Chiara Civello, and Venezuelan pianist
Leo Blanco. Then there was a five-week
Fez Festival of World Sacred Music tour
Fez Festival every June in Morocco. I
performed with everybody on the tour.
troop, Hadra des Femmes de Taroudant,
drummers aging 24 to 74, the 74-year-old the biggest stick). It’s like a spiritual diet
being the youngest! When we parted and
they all gave me their drums as a gift,
there wasn’t a dry eye among us. The
tour also included Francois Atlan, an Al-
gerian Andalusian Jewish singer, a
southern Christian Gospel group, and a
Jewish and Islamic cantor.
Next, there was a huge concert at
Rome’s Circus Maximus, organized by
Quincy Jones’ “We Are the Future,” with
a cast of hundreds in front of a sea of
people. Lastly, I toured and recorded with
Vietnamese-French guitarist Nguyên
Lee.
I mention these things for the simple
reason that, although I do know some-
thing about all those styles of music, I
am not authentic in any of them. The
only thing I am authentic about is my
ability and desire to harmonize. I know
these folks could get someone from their
own musical environment
to give their music a cer-
tain flavor, but I would
like to think they are
searching for a mix that
helps bring their composi-
tions and feelings to life.
Sometimes it’s a business
strategy to use musicians
from outside your normal
circles to gain some recog-
nition, but I hope they
hire me for the right rea-
son.
I am an extremely
lucky person to have
lived, played, taught, and
studied music as a global
language, and I can hon-
estly say that I view
America at its best when
it comes to providing a
fertile playing field for the
grafting of cultures. Hav-
ing said that, I think
many of us may be se-
duced and blinded by
American pop culture and
music. The danger here is that we’re
coming close to putting out the cultural
of great-looking, genetically altered veg-
etables that have no nutritional value.
Pretty soon you become oversized and
spiritually starved for the sustenance
that is not there. Unfortunately, it is now
becoming harder to find nutritious musi-
cal seeds.
If I am anything, I am a jazz musician
first. Becoming a jazz musician was all I
really wanted. My definition of jazz is that the women, whom I had gotten to started to get a bit bored. Then I noticed
broad, though. Jazz was a fusion in its know at the rehearsals, seemed to go into that what I had previously thought was
inception and jazz will always be an art a trance and had let their hair down to the downbeat really wasn’t, and how the
of fusion. In the world music scene, I the floor (it was up during the day). To melody fell against the time in a totally
know it’s those skills that help me the my surprise, after a whole day of re- different way. Even the musicians didn’t
most. Perhaps it’s my Lebanese mother hearsing, they were still playing that look like the same guys, but they were.
and father that made my foray into non- same little tune! As the night went on, my perception of
western cultures seem as natural as it I thought I had it all figured out dur- that tune changed significantly, and I
does (they were both born in the U.S.). Or ing the day, so I joined in the circle and was also changed! I remember walking
maybe it’s my inability to really sound clapped for a good while and again home hours later basking in the after-
like my jazz heroes that prompted me to
explore a more wide-open playing field
with like-minded players from around
the world.
One thing is for sure: There came a
time when I truly felt that the quality of
vibration that came out of any musician
was far more meaningful than what they
were playing. I found myself falling in
love with music that I knew nothing
about, more than the music I knew inti-
mately. Better yet, in these musical envi-
ronments, the musicians liked me and
could feel my heart, and they embraced
my good-willed musical intentions (even
when I wasn’t cool). Certainly, in many
situations I was puzzled and mystified as
to when, why, and what to do, but with
the right spirit, the process of gaining in-
sights is a total joy.
I often describe to my world music
classes at Berklee and New England
Conservatory what was a real turning
point for me. In 1988 I was invited, along
with Richard Horowitz (co-composer of
music for the film The Sheltering Skies)
to rehearse in Marrakech for two weeks.
Our job was to develop a musical pro-
gram to perform for the King of Morocco
at the World’s Fair in Seville, Spain. Ri-
chard and I, along with five other Ameri-
can musicians, began rehearsing with ten
different Moroccan folk groups, mostly
from the Berber tradition. One day, after
rehearsing a song for hours, I started get-
ting bored with the short repetitive tune.
Afterwards, a musician from that group
invited me back to their tent camp. I was
excited at the prospect of hearing these
musicians play their music authentically,
not the dumbed-down version so that we
westerners could feel comfortable and
participate.
This particular group had three male
musicians—two playing bandir (an early
frame drum with snares) and a violin-
ist—and four female vocalists. I arrived
at their large tents late in the evening,
and they began playing together as they
did every night. I couldn’t help noticing

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 51 JUNE 2005

glow of the experience. Although their
music wasn’t new, it acted as a passport
into another dimension where a new
level of perception made everything seem
richer and deeper.
We now have so many international
students here in western music conserva-
tories that Coltrane is as exotic to some
people as Balinese music is to others. If,
indeed, music has a power to provide a
functional spiritual aspect to our passage
on the planet, we must have the obliga-
tion to share more of that planet with our
students, and we as students need to
take the responsibility to expand our mu-
sical diet and accept the greater role of
music on the planet. To be sure, the abil-
ity to do one thing really well is a great
start in helping create a personal stan-
dard for touching the common link in all
of us.
Last year, there was a wonderful inter-
view for the Berklee faculty in which Joe
Lovano talked about the importance of
studying the masters in jazz. I was
puzzled by how many of my most tal-
PERCUSSIVE NOTES 52 JUNE 2005
ented students have no interest in jazz, Finally, allow yourself to absorb the
but—understanding that they have very feeling of what’s really happening in
little cultural link coming from countries whatever musical setting you find your-
like Peru, Greece, or China—I asked Joe self attracted to. At first, you might not
what he would tell such students. His re- hear what to play, but a willing spirit and
sponse was (as I can best remember), an open heart will set the stage for the
“Well, I guess they could have stayed miracle in music to happen.
home, but they came to America, so since
they’re here with all this great music, Jamey Haddad is a genre-bending hand-
who couldn’t learn something from a percussion specialist who plays with
master?” some of the top artists in the American
I agree. If you’re in America, studying and world music scenes. PN
the jazz tradition can provide perhaps
your greatest musical tools in reaching
out to the rest of the musical world, even
if you never have any desire to be a jazz
musician. It can all seem too much for a
young player to absorb without serious
devotion in this most developmental pe-
riod of a young life. My suggestion is to
give the masters a real chance to touch
you. Invest in your originality, stay close
to what feels musically true to your na-
ture, and develop strong musical rela-
tions with people who want to see you
shine.