C.: Hello Juthoor Ensemble, I’m happy to meet you and your music! Please, tell me something about your ensemble: who are you and where are you from?
A.: We are a group of musicians from Amman, Jordan. There are four permanent members in the ensemble: Nasser Salameh (36) is on percussion, Abdul-Wahab Kayyali (30) is on oud, Mohammed Tahboub (24) is on violin, and Ghassan Abu Haltam (21) is on clarinet. We are sometimes joined by guest performers on different instruments, but the four of us constitute the core of Juthoor – which in Arabic means roots.
C.: Tell me about the music you play! Do you like traditional music? What kind of music do you prefer to play?
We are all from Amman, Jordan. We have been schooled in various traditions, but we know that the instrumental heritage of the Middle East was developed in the major urban centers of the Ottoman Empire – Istanbul, Cairo, Baghdad and Damascus. We are familiar with this tradition, and we seek to produce an interpretation of this music in an authentically Jordanian way. Because Amman is not one of those urban centers, we are not bound to a specific interpretation of oriental music, and fuse influences from all of these.
We perform classical instrumental oriental forms such as samai, bashraf, longa, tahmila, doolab, as well as select vocal melodies and more contemporary and modern compositions.
A.: These videos better illustrate what kind of sound we hope to produce:
جموعة جذور الموسيقية – نوى – عبد الوهاب الكيالي | Roya
مجموعة جذور الموسيقية – عبد الوهاب الكيالي | Roya
مجموعة جذور الموسيقية – هوا صحيح الهوى غلاب | Roya
مجموعة جذور الموسيقية – Garip – Goksel Baktagir | Roya
We are trying to show our audiences that oriental instrumental music is beautiful, enjoyable, and full of originality and creativity. We are serious about the music we produce, but we want it to be entertaining as well as melodically and rhythmically rich.
C.: What about your artistic activity and about your future musical projects?
C.: Many thanks, Abdul, and good luck to Juthoor Ensemble! I hope we’ll be able to collaborate to prepare other articles, in the future, about your music and arabic music, in general.
Regards to everyone!
Cinzia Merletti