Swiss musician ponders an ‘Arabic touch’ for new album

By Salman Siddiqui/Staff ReporterSwiss musician Eliana Burki is working on a CD that will incorporate voices and instruments from the Arab world.In an interview with the Gulf Times, Burki said she has always been fascinated with the Arabic music.The artist is in Doha to collaborate with musicians from world over who are performing from the platform of Desert Bridges, an NGO-based in Geneva that has began a music project in Qatar. The young star plays the very unique Swiss alphorn instrument, which is a labrophone, consisting of a wooden natural horn of conical bore, having a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. The instrument traditionally has been used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and Burki is credited with popularising it the world over through her own original compositions.“The feedback has been very good in Qatar. It is my second time here. For the people, you are very special because you have this big long horn, which is very different, so for everybody, it is a big surprise. Also the sound of the alphorn just touches your heart in a very special way,” she said.“I love Arabic voices, they’re amazing. Every instrument here is unique,” she said. Burki said it’s easy to collaborate with other artists from any part of the world only if you know how to do it. “For me I’m a musician, so I just jam. For me, I think it’s easy to get in. Of course it is hard to make a real song. But it’s a great process. It is easy if you know how to do it,” she said. Talking about her new CD that she’s been working on, she said: “I’m working on my CD and I think I am going to have some musicians from here to play on it. I will have an Arabic touch in my next CD. I took some Arabic voice lessons as well. I think it’s going to be just great when people hear that with the alphorn.”In the last years, Eliana has developed her own style of music, influenced by jazz, rock, funk and Latin, and especially by the many concert tours she has done throughout Europe, China, India, the Middle East and South America. Today she has her own band iAlpinisti, which has contributed some brilliant original compositions based on the unique sound of the Swiss alphorn.However, it wasn’t always easy for the artist, even though she began playing the alphorn at the very young age of six and performed a concert when she was just nine. “In the beginning it was very difficult…traditional musicians wrote to me saying that you can’t play this instrument differently. Firstly, they were like you’re a girl, you shouldn’t play this instrument. Secondly, you shouldn’t play jazz notes, because it is a traditional instrument and you have to follow the rules.”However, Burki continued to create her my own music and played many shows with her mother’s support, who herself is an accomplished piano player.She’s a role model to many Swiss youngsters and it is because of her that many have started to play the traditional instrument. She hoped that the Desert Bridges project carried on. “I hope that we are able to play as a group in other places in the Middle East and Europe like make bridges between different cultures.”She said her ultimate wish was to make people happy, no matter which place or culture they belong to. “I want them to not think about the politics and just fall in love with the music.” Eliana Burki performed with Desert Bridges in Doha at a concert held on Thursday  at the Qatar National Theatre.