MY INTERVIEW ON “Forum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Transnational”

I was pleased to be a guest of Dc. Fida’a Soubaiti, on her program hosted by the “Forum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Transnational“, on Wednesday, March 30.
After a small introduction by Dc. Fida’a about me and my background, I started with a presentation about my project The Lebanese Living Composers Channel, then Free Music Education for all initiative, then passed by CBCLEB and Orchestra AL Mokhayam, a beautiful youth orchestra that I founded in Choueifat and Borj Al Shemali Palestinian camp respectively.
The second part of my presentation was concentrated on my career as a composer and arranger, and taking a journey discovering the last musical compositions, awards, and projects, and what coming next including premieres, releases, and others.
The last part of the interview was full of discussion with the attendances around music topics and my music inspiration and classification.
Note that the interview was held in the Arabic language, via Zoom, and translated directly by Dc. Fida’a Soubaiti to the German language.

Following a text by Dc.Fida’a Soubaiti

“Wajdi Abu Diab (*1991 Lebanon) is a pianist and composer, as well as one of the youngest and most significant representatives of contemporary Arabic classical music. He has numerous compositions like ‘Crazy for Layla’, Tafa’il’, ‘Screaming from the Arctic Sea’, ‘The Dream Opera’, ‘Tod’s invitation to dinner. He designed various projects such as ‘The Lebanese Living Composers Channel’ and the communal educational program ‘Learn music in Arabic’.

Wajdi Abu Diab goes beyond the concept of musical identity to present the Arab musicianship in an innovative way and a new harmonious arrangement, on the one hand to address the western ear and on the other hand around the j to attract young generation, in which he presents traditional Arabic music in a modern way. Wajdi Abu Diab processed his work without giving up the basic atmosphere or falling into the trap of musical hybridization. In his latest album ‘Tod’s Invitation to Dinner’, he creates a dialogue dynamics between surreal poems and an “extreme” melody that represents a sound image of the gloom of ever-accompanied death.

This extreme relationship reflects a contradiction and attraction between death and life, manifested in the present extreme reality. This one forces the individual to accept what is not acceptable. We embrace the death that lives within us, after that only the option for dialogue and reconciliation and sitting at a table remains. It’s a dialogue with the inside before the outside, it’s the death invitation for dinner!

In this virtual meeting with composer Wajdi Abu Diab, we learn a new and contemporary style of musical composition and bring the theme of modernity in Arabic-oriental music to the table.

The date is the 30th March 2022 at 19:00 Berlin time.

To participate, email info@kunst-kultur-transnational.de. From the end of the day”

About Dc. Fida’a Soubaiti

Born and raised in Lebanon. 2000 Graduated in law and at the same time in music education with a focus on oriental singing in Beirut. In 2005 he moved to Germany and in 2007 began studying art history and musicology at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, which ended in 2020 with a doctorate.
Dc. Fida’a’s core competence is imparting knowledge about modern and contemporary art and the cultural history of the 20th century. This is done in German and Arabic, through (online) seminars, exercises, guided tours, artist interviews, and if necessary, explainer videos. My objective is, on the one hand, to impart specialist skills and to expand and deepen what may be required. already acquired theoretical and practical knowledge. On the other hand, I am significantly involved in the educational exchange and the artistic and cultural dialogue between Germany and the Arabic-speaking world.

Check also Dc. Fida’a Soubaiti History of Art and Culture Transnational website (Forum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte Transnational), which is a forum for art and culture mediation and advice on a transnational level.