„It’s not a refugees’ orchestra. It’s Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra“
Analyse eines Gesprächs mit dem Orchestergründer Raed Jazbeh: erste Einblicke
RJ: […] You know, now we have many different ideologies in politics and the religions. And we would like to unite all the Syrians. So we put the war out, the fighting out and start to unite together. We focus about the culture, about the music. So, this project I think is the first project for all the Syrians, so Syrians are welcome in this project. So, I don’t say: ‘Okay, if you are … if you have the same ideology you are welcome, if we are against each other you are not with us!’ No! (3) It’s open for all! It’s not important if we are friends. It’s not important if we have the same ideologies. So, it is very important to (tabs with his fingers on the table) unite and it is very important to start a first step for the peace because if we don’t unite we’ll fight forever. MM: Yeah, that’s sure. So, and what about the cooperation with other musicians in Europe? RJ: Exactly. So sometimes we have an invitation from some orchestras, so like, for the second concert last year after the first concert we had an invitation from the Lüneburger Symphony Orchestra and they would like to do a cooperation, a concert with two orchestras – half Syrians, half Germans – and two conductors – one Syrian conductor, one German conductor – and the program half German music and half Syrian symphonic music. And this is a kind of cooperation. And also sometimes we do some, like, this cooperation with a chamber orchestra of us, like, fifteen to twenty musicians with other orchestras or other projects. So, we are open to work with any person, it’s not… when I say Syrian musicians or Syrian music or Syrian orchestra I don’t mean Syrian nationality and I don’t mean Syrian borders – I mean Syrian culture. The Syrian culture’s age is more than 7.000 years. It’s very, very old. The first music notes were discovered in Syria. So, we focus about culture. It’s not about the nationality, it’s not about the religion, it’s not about the borders because the borders always change. You know, Germany from one hundred years is different, Syria also, and after the war they may change. So, we care about culture because this … we believe about humans and earth. We don’t believe about nationality or visa or countries or borders because the true fact is we don’t have borders. |
Ein weiterer Auslöser, das SEPO zu gründen, lag für Raed Jazbeh in der täglich größer werdenden Zahl in Europa lebender syrischer MusikerInnen. Das Orchester soll daher für diese eine Plattform darstellen, um sich (wieder) zu treffen und (erneut) gemeinsam zu musizieren.
When I arrived at Germany in 2013 I noted that many, many Syrian musicians live in Europe – not just Germany, in Europe in general. And every day more and more musicians, so our number bigger and bigger. So I say: We can maybe start this project, so this… I mean, Syrian symphonic orchestra in Europe. (B2, Z.9-12) (*7)
Diesen verbindenden Aspekt des Orchesters hebt Jazbeh in einer weiteren Passage hervor, die seinen scheinbar apolitischen Kunstbegriff vermuten lässt. So stellt er das Trennende politischer Ideologien dem Verbindenden von Musik diskursiv gegenüber. Dieses verbindende Moment von Musik greift ihm zufolge erst durch die Ausklammerung (gesellschafts-)politischer Ereignisse.
[…] we would like to unite all the Syrians. So we put the war out, the fighting out and start to unite together. (B2, Z.77-78) (*7)
Dies ist insofern bemerkenswert, als meines Erachtens Musik stets in einem spezifischen gesellschaftspolitischen Kontext zu verorten ist. Folglich ist das SEPO gerade durch die aktuellen gesellschaftspolitischen Geschehnisse bedingt zu verstehen. Inwiefern dieses Orchesterprojekt tatsächlich dazu beitragen kann, im Sinne einer Narration fernab von Krieg, Brücken zwischen SyrerInnen und zu Menschen anderer Herkunft zu schlagen, bleibt abzuwarten.
Magdalena Marschütz ( 2017): „It’s not a refugees’ orchestra. It’s Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra“. Analyse eines Gesprächs mit dem Orchestergründer Raed Jazbeh: erste Einblicke. In: p/art/icipate – Kultur aktiv gestalten # 08 , https://www.p-art-icipate.net/its-not-a-refugees-orchestra-its-syrian-expat-philharmonic-orchestra/