Issue 7
Qataris Abroad
specific to pearl diving. There is a specific percussion the fact that music speaks any language, but then
pattern for when the boat leaves the shore, for when you will hear an accent or a dialect that is distinctive
the boat is coming in, for when they’re lamenting to the origins of the identity of that instrument or
their situation, they’re looking for the pearls, they find person.”
the pearls, they don’t find the pearls. And on top of
that, there’s always a gentleman chanting.”
She adds: “Of course, individuality is very important.
That’s what colours us. That’s what makes us
“So when I started to understand the sounds and interesting. That’s what makes us want to interact
the framework, I understood how to incorporate with other people. It’s just developing the tools
that on a more modern neo-classical orchestration to communicate regardless of the differences, to
to make that accessible and to tell that story to an celebrate the differences. That’s the role of music.
international audience.” That’s what I’ve been trying to do. That’s the reason I
She recently performed at the 2019 UN Day Concert
want to tell the story of my country, Qatar.”
in New York, and took inspiration from the children
she met. She says: “I was asked by the UN to write a
song to create a campaign with Qatar Charity for a
refugee camp in Jordan. They were dealing primarily
with Palestinian refugees. It was to create food
One of the things that I’ve personally taken
away from Qatar was the pearl diving
tradition. I’ve incorporated that into my music
to provide a new sound, a sound with a level
of authenticity that is in demand in classical
music with a character and a texture. baskets during Ramadan. I went with them to Jordan
Dana Al Fardan, Contemporary Composer “My recent concert in New York, at the UN, featured a
and I was absolutely blown away by the children that
I met. They are highly ambitious, highly intelligent
children, but life had dealt them a very difficult blow.
And yet, they were incredibly optimistic.”
She is a musician, but also a businesswoman, and
says: “My mandate is generally preserving Arab
heritage in a way that is exportable to international
markets.”
range of different sounds, different soloists, different
instruments that are universal in their scope but that
have a very distinctly Arabian feel. The message is
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