Monday, September 5, 2016

Lalun: Music out of this World and the Quest for Peace

World music band Lalun playing live
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a concert entitled “Lalun – Dreams from Andalusia and the Silk Road” at the Vancouver Playhouse. I was intrigued by this musical ensemble as they advertised themselves as a globe-trotting world music group that was influenced by music from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The individual members and their instruments looked equally eclectic; there was Liron Man who is originally from Israel but living in Spain and he was playing hand pans (?) as well as Lan Tung from Taiwan / Canada playing the erhu, a type of Chinese violin, and, last but not least, Canadian Jonathan Bernard on (various types of) percussion.    

I had a certain amount of expectations as I generally enjoy and often listen to world music. Entering the concert room, my family and I were lucky to find front-row seats. After a bi-lingual introduction (English and Chinese) that included a seemingly endless list of sponsors, basically a long string of Vancouver restaurants, banks, businesses, and what-have-you, the musicians took over the stage and wasted no words but jumped right into the music.

And I was immediately floored, meant in the best way possible! Their music was astonishing from the very beginning. The hand pans were basically strange-looking but beautiful-sounding large bowls with apparent holes in them. The Chinese violin had a wailing sound to it evoking dreams and images of Asian landscapes. In fact, after hearing her play on the erhu I was reminded of the handful of Asian movies (Raise the Red Lantern (1991), and In the Mood for Love (2000), to name a few) I had seen and felt inspired and compelled to watch more of them in the near future.

The percussion, which included hand drums and the occasional cymbals thrown in for good measure, added an interesting rhythm to the whole scene. Although I had initially thought that the band’s description was a little bit far-fetched and exaggerated, I must say that even with the first song, they covered more global terrain than I had expected.

This music in all its splendor also felt close to home. Being born in Iran, I felt there was a nod to Persian music, which was, in fact, the case. But it was even more than that because the tunes and instruments added different cultural hues to the whole undertaking. One of the odder choices, their final song of the day, ended up being a traditional Persian song, translated into Chinese, that the erhu player was singing and playing to, but again somehow and against the odds it actually worked.

The music was perfect fodder for my imagination and I could picture it as a soundtrack to various scenes of movies that were playing in my mind. Yet, in addition to that, I felt a certain sense of peace and calm. I attributed this to two different phenomena.

First, the music did not only have deep-seated roots and foundations but it was also played and presented with passion and love. It was during this performance that I felt that the musicians were in various ways baring their souls.

This feeling usually occurs when I am in the presence of what I consider genuine art. In movies, literature, or music, this means that I am presented with something very special that deeply resonates with me. It strikes chords in me and I feel that the work of art is not meant to merely please and entertain, not meant to rake in profits and fame, but was rather a type of personal expression or even confession, a desire that is deeply felt and true to the heart.  

As I was listening, I was mentally going through my own art, my writing that I have created, and longed that somebody somewhere would equally feel the love and passion I have poured into it. To me that is the very essence of art, to make others feel something profound, and I certainly felt that way with this outstanding concert.

The second phenomenon was more related to the content, the music, and its colorful influences. Here we had a perfect blend of longstanding cultures and traditions and it invoked that feeling of peacefulness to be one in and with the world. 

The traditions were woven into each other rather flawlessly like a monumental mosaic and it showed us that despite conflicts, pain, and suffering we witness around the world, there is also a binding force, a unity expressed through the soul of music that makes these worldly matters and issues insignificant, divisive, and unnecessarily destructive.

I could not help thinking about the constant and continuous conflicts in the Middle East, and I was aware of the fact that there was an Israeli musician and composer who had managed to create a bond between seemingly incompatible cultures of Jewish and Arab nations.

If only both sides could see their commonalities, the love and beauty that was expressed through each of their musical heritage and their tonal traditions, and that together, they could indeed create something that surpassed either side on its own, a thing of absolute intercultural beauty. I was reminded of that dream while attending this concert.

In fact, about halfway through, Liron Man, the handpan musician and composer commented on that very same idea of mine! He talked about his song called “Tierra,” Spanish for land or home, and how it reflected a mixture of different cultures, including Arabic as well as traditional Jewish music.

To my shock and surprise, the song ended with the traditional folk song “Hava Nagila”, which is translated as “Let us rejoice”, a fitting and uplifting ending to his song. Now I say “shock and surprise” because before the concert had even begun I had what I deemed a rather silly and perhaps even stereotypical idea that I should ask him to play “Hava Nagila” at some point. And here it was embroidered into this cultural musical hotpot. It was as if they had read my mind or I had read theirs, which either way was rather eerie (but again in a good way).

This concert given by the multicultural band Lalun was indeed a mind-blowing experience. The music itself was out of this world, but to have it transport us like a magical carpet not only across thousands of miles but through thousands of years of history is indeed indescribable. 

These musicians have traveled extensively and played music independently as well, but what I saw, heard, and felt in this one-hour concert is rare and I very much encourage all to experience it for themselves if given a chance.

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