09 May 2007
REVIEW
BEIRUT: To look at them, you wouldn't imagine Rima Khcheich and Tony Overwater have much in common. The diminutive Lebanese vocalist, whose local performances are as anticipated as they are rare, is steeped in classical Arabic music. With seven CDs to his credit, the lanky Dutch double-bassist has a distinguished career as a jazz composer and improv musician.
During their performance on Saturday evening at the Monnot Theater, however, the two revealed a profound musical relationship. The duo ran though a selection of jazz-inflected Arabic classics, original material from Khcheich's most recent CD "Yalalalli," with a brief diversion into classic jazz.
Overwater was a prominent contributor among the multitude of personnel on "Yalalalli."
"We were thinking about making all the songs on 'Yalalalli' duets," Khcheich said after the concert, "but we felt we weren't ready yet."
Khcheich has said that performing classical Arabic music with jazz accompaniment is difficult and completely different from working with an Arabic ensemble. The intervals in jazz music are not the same as those in Arabic music and the modalities of Eastern and Western improvisation are also different - though Overwater has taught himself how to play Arabic quarter notes on stand-up bass.
"When you perform classical Arabic music, the orchestra provides the vocalist with everything she needs in terms of pitch and rhythm," Khcheich has remarked. "When you sing with jazz musicians, the vocalist and musicians are doing something different - working separately in parallel."
This "working separately in parallel" quality was evident on Saturday.
For the most part, as during "Bikefini," Overwater's accompaniment was kept minimal, a low murmur providing the sonic groundwork for the vocalist's pyrotechnics. Though neither is flashy on stage, both Khcheich and Overwater are intensely physical performers. The vocalist's left hand was seldom still. At times it seemed to be moving in time to an absent Arabic accompaniment. At others, when elevating her voice through upper-register ornamentation, it gestured upwards as if to usher the notes into the proper pitch. It was at those points in the concert that one could discern appreciative groans issuing from the male voices in the audience.
Though the bassist played with a score, his intensity suggested he was not simply going through the motions of playing notes. Overwater kept himself in the background for most of the show and it was only when Kcheich left the stage that one realized how similar their styles were.
His chosen solo piece was Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" and it was obvious from the moody rendering that the bassist wasn't reading the music off the page. Rather it seemed to issue from inside, channeled through his hands to the strings of the instrument.
For what was assumed to be the final tune on the program, "Atamana," Overwater produced his bow for the first time in the evening and delivered a sonorous introduction. He then abandoned his instrument and left the stage to Khcheich. Rather than singing "Atamana," she gave up a passionate a cappella version of the Umm Kulthoum classic, "Sahih."
Murmurs of recognition trickled through the crowd. It was a bravura rendering, one marked by rapturous applause each time she paused between movements. If the ecstatic moaning - and the echoes of hushed sing-along - meant anything, "Sahih" was the highlight of the show.
Khcheich and Overwater expressed doubts that they were ready for an album of duets. Based on their onstage chemistry in this concert, and the audience's response to their interpretations, it seems they're now about ready.
