The Production Unit

The Production unit at the ESNCM takes upon itself the production of high quality recordings for ESNCM and other Palestinian musicians. The productions have big educational values for the ESNCM students and the general public. These productions, mostly pressed in the form of CDs, come to fill a huge gap in the local market. There is a major lack of music production in Palestine, which is basically a pirated market of commercial music. The Production Unit aims at producing between one to three recordings a year. So far, four different productions have been released. 

So far, the ESNCM has produced five records, with two more to be released in 2005.  The productions are:

Ahmad Al-Khatib’s Solo Oud CD, was released in May 2005 by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine.  The first Solo Oud recording for Ahmad Khatib, the CD is a compilation of nine compositions while living in Palestine, especially during his life in Ramallah in April 2002.  Khatib has been unable to return to Palestine, and currently lives in Sweden working on obtaining his graduate degree in music.

I wrote the music here ... there in Palestine – the land of blood and wounds, on the sounds of gunshots, the rumbles of bombs and the shrieks of bulldozers.  While writing, I was also reflecting: “How can I write a note between two tears, and what tune will equate that of a funeral hymn that would console a mourning heart, or an orphan who lost his father or a child that died on her mother’s breast?”  But this is Palestine and these are its stories and its music amalgamated with the olive oil and vineyards of Palestine … its music that expands from joys to anguish.  Ahmad Al-Khatib, Ramallah, April 2002

Oriental Music Ensemble (OME)- Emm el Khilkhal: The OME is comprised of the Oriental Music Department teachers at the ESNCM, and this was the first of a series of CD's to be produced by the ESNCM.  The CD contains Arabic and oriental classical music performed by Suhail Khoury (Ney & Clarinet), Khaled Joubran (Oud & Buzuq), Ramzi Bisharat (Percussion), Habib Shehadeh (Oud) and Ibrahim Atari (Qanoun).

Karloma, the second production of the ESNCM, is another group from the Conservatory, where teachers from both the oriental and western music department got together to produce a mixture of sounds performing Arabic and oriental music.  Each piece in this CD is a well-furnished musical experience based on a simple melody.  Around this basic line is a plethora of images, intertwining sounds and playful ornamentations, which can be interpreted by the listener in many ways.  For more information, go to Karloma's website at www.karloma.com

“Palestinian Sounds” is the first of its kind to provide a profile of contemporary Palestinian music.  It features a spectrum of musical production by Palestinian musicians and groups in Palestine and the Diaspora since 1980.  “Palestinian Sounds”  includes 16 tracks from 13 different Palestinian artists, and was produced jointly with Yabous Productions in Jerusalem.
 

Bass Shwai is the first children's CD from the ESNCM, where four children, ages 9 to 11 (1 boy and three girls) sang 12 songs composed by Suhail Khoury for lyrics written by various Palestinian poets and writers.  Each song deals with a theme relating to children such as obedience, family, friends and so on, performed by the best music teachers in the ESNCM: Suhail Khoury on Nay and Clarinet, Ahmad Al-Khatib on Oud and Buzuq, Ibrahim Atari on Qanoun and Youssef Hbeish on Percussion and with guest artist Peter Herbert on the Contrabass.  Using traditional instruments, new oriental yet original tunes are produced, to some of which one can even dance the Palestinian dabkeh.

To purchase the CD's, please contact the ESNCM at info@ncm.birzeit.edu or by fax at +972-2-627-1710