Baghdad concert is one of the most curious and interesting things in the life of Franco Battiato. Held in the Iraqi capital on December 4, 1992. An initiative of Peace, of commitment, a cultural meeting in which some traditional Iraqi song texts were reinterpreted by the artist.
The show took place at the Iraqi National Theater and the Sicilian artist was accompanied by the I Virtuosi Italiani orchestra and the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra. The conductors were Mohammad Othman, Antonio Ballista and Giusto Pio. The concert was part of the Iraqi Children’s Humanitarian Initiative A Bridge to Baghdad. A work that seen so many years apart makes explicit the meaning of the entire musical work of Franco Battiato. Baghdad concerta meeting of cultural peace
The Baghdad Concert is a meeting of apparently distant cultures, but which can mutually enrich each other. It is the manifesto that cultural synthesis makes beauty and knowledge exponential. The hostilities of the first Gulf War, which began in August 1990 and ended six months later, had recently ceased. Harsh economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq with disastrous consequences on unarmed civilians who lacked basic necessities and medical care.
The concert was broadcast on television to raise funds for Iraqi children. Battiato had no political aims, I declare it explicitly: “The purpose of my visit to Iraq was humanitarian, because I do not find it right that a people should suffer for sins other than him; but it is also true that I believe it is right to give everyone a chance for redemption, for murderers to become saints ”. Baghdad concert , the memory of the people responsible for Un Ponte per
The news agency Sir, interviewed Alfio Nicotra and Angelica Romano, the two national co-presidents of “Un ponte per”, who remember Franco Battiato, who died at 76 years old. “A great and brilliant artist but also an extraordinary man of peace who does not hesitate to use his prestige and notoriety to violate the senseless embargo against the Iraqi people”.
It was December 4, 1992 – explain the leaders of the voluntary association that has been operating in the Middle East for over 25 years – and Iraq and its people were banned by the international community. He asked us to collaborate on his dream, that of holding a concert in Baghdad. It immediately struck us as a beautiful idea and we made all our contacts and strengths available for the concert to take place. Without his firm will we would never have succeeded ”.
“It was an exciting, beautiful concert – continue Nicotra and Romano, always interviewed by the Sir agency -, in Italy it was broadcast live from the Baghdad National Theater by Videomusic. The notes broke the fences, crossed the wall of hatred, uniting peoples with music. Battiato himself remembered, without hiding his emotion, the emotion of private Iraqi musicians, due to the embargo, of sheet music, reeds and strings for violins. The piano itself in the concert was tuned to 440 instead of 442 for fear that everything would skip. Franco Battiato and his interpretation of Fogh in Nakhal
At the end of the concert, Battiato performed in Arabic Fog El Nakhal, a very popular song in which an impossible-to-reach love is sung. It was extremely exciting because it was the moment in which the union of peoples was perceived. Fogh In Nakhal
Fogh in-nakhal fogh ya ba
fogh in-nakhal fogh
medri lama’k khaddak ya ba
medri l-ghomar fogh
walla marida balini balwaw-inshidni l-batran ya ba
lesh wajhak asfar wajhak asfar
kull marad ma biyya ya ba
min dard il-asmar Above the palms, Franco Battiato
On the palms, up there
on the palms, up there
I don’t know if it’s your cheek that shines
or the moon, up there.
I don’t want to, but the pain torments me.
The insolent one asks me:
“Why is your face yellowish
?”
I have no disease:
I suffer for that dark person
who imprisons me with his sweet eyes.
by LyricFind Baghdad Concerto never released on CD
The Baghdad Concerto, considered one of the most evocative live performances of Battiato, highlighted the interpretation of songs such as Solo ((from the opera Gilgamesh) and Fogh in Nakhal, which were re-proposed by Battiato in other Battiato albums. Fogh in Nakhal, literally “over the palm trees”, is a song of the Iraqi folk tradition, in Arabic language. It was re-proposed by Battiato in his album Caffe de la Paix, released in 1993.
The concert has never been released on CD, however some pieces of the Baghdad Concerto were published in other collections such as L’ombra della luce, Racconti d’Oriente, released in 1997. L’ombra della luce was again published in the European version of Anhtology – Our Souls, while The King of the World is featured as a bonus track in the 40th anniversary edition of The Era of the White Boar. Baghdad concert , the event that was broadcast by Videomusic
Via: Youtube No Damno
