Nawa Band at Oriental Landscapes festival in Damascus - فرقة نوا

Sufi Zikr from Aleppo "Nawa" is an ensemble interested in the revival and dissemination of muwashahs and qudud of two types, the religious and courtly, and the documentation of the rites of traditional dhikr in Aleppo, by comparing ancient documents with the heritage, so as to perform them with the maximum possible accuracy, while preserving the spirit and inspiration in their performance. Gathered together by the desire to perform melodies and rites dating back to before the first half of the twentieth century which are forgotten or distorted as a result of their depth and/or difficulty of performance, they chose tunes according to the evaluation of their artistic importance, both tonally and rhythmically, not according to their fame or age, so as to avoid falling into the trap of fossilized heritage or touristic folklore. The senior Syrians composers, such as Pesheng, Abu Khalil Qabbani, Omar Battsh and others, were the makers of a revival in music which became famous in their time; and today's interest in their work is an aspiration to a new revival that avoids the superficiality of consumerism and imitation in order to put our contemporary author before the responsibility of the place and time he lives in. The ensemble consists of two groups: one for muwashahs and qudud, consisting of three singers: Ibrahim Al Hajj, Mohammed Aminu, Khaled Hafez, and three players: Tarek El Sayed Yahya (oud), Fawaz Baqer (bass), Ibrahim Muslimani (percussion); the other for dhikr, consisting of three singers: Mohammed Muslimani, Mohammed Abed Qassab and Khaled Hafez, and seven "invocators": Fawaz Baqer, Ibrahim Al Hajj, Mohammed Aminu, Tarek El Sayed Yahia, Muhammad Haloubi, Bashar Al Sayed, Ibrahim Muslimani, founder and head of the ensemble.