André El Hajj was in love with Persia

Under the title Bitabi-e Belqeis, the National Orchestra of Iran finally greeted the Lebanese capital and expressed its condolence and solidarity with the people after the tragedy of the bombing of the port of Beirut on August 4. The artistic greeting was the result of a collaboration between the “Rudkey Foundation” who directs the orchestra and the teacher, and the Lebanese composer André Hajj, who spent the last month eight days in Iran, where this work was carried out. The leader of the “Lebanese National Orchestra of Oriental-Arab Music” led some 70 Iranian musicians, most of them young, who performed the piece composed by the famous Iranian artist Fardeen Khalatbari, based on the well-known Persian poetry. And from the words of the song that compares “Sit al-Dunya” with a woman, performed by the tenor Hamid Reza Nurbakhsh: “I saw you even from afar / a dream, a dream / They told me: From a gypsy caravan / When I asked by your name / Nafeh Sabri, Belqis / From a desert cut into a desert / From the alleys of the city of rain I came / I came to the city of the sea ”.

Over a span of 5 hours, the video version of the song was completed under the direction of director Reza Mousavi at the Talar Wahadat (Al-Wehdah Hall) theater in Tehran, after he attended an entire studio the day before to record. the work directly in the same place.
André Hajj continues to be fascinated by this experience, which is the first in this country. In relation to the news, Al-Hajj confirms the professionalism of the artists he worked with: “It is nice to deal with people who have a lot of know-how, knowledge and experience, but who do not brag about it and are willing to listen to everything. kind of notes “.
In addition to presenting you with “a beautiful country that preserves its great civilization”, this work acquires great importance for Andre El Hajj on a professional level. “It is enough to build excellent relationships with artists of this level … Any teacher is eager to learn about new schools of orchestral leadership and a new discipline,” he says. And he adds: “My knowledge of his way of thinking and his work enriches me both musically and professionally”.
As for how the cooperation was carried out, Al-Hajj points out that the idea came from the Iranian cultural adviser in Lebanon, Abbas Khameh Yar, who raised the issue with those responsible for “Rudky” after the bombing that shook Beirut. With the idea crystallized, the choice fell on Andre El-Hajj, who was open and welcoming to the subject after “I studied the work and was impressed.” This came after the Iranian side contacted the Lebanese embassy in Tehran, which reported the matter to the interim government Minister of Culture, Abbas Mortada. Earlier Mortada assigns his office manager Hussain Ajami to coordinate the completion of the matter, and informs Al-Hajj of the presidency of the Higher Institute of Music, and obtains the approval of the Board of Directors. And if he repeats the experiment soon, Andre Hajj explains that it is possible to host a Lebanese program in Iran after a while, in the hope that “we will also host Iranian artists in Lebanon.”

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