The Birth of Desert Bridges. Honeymoon at Fustat Wadi El Gemal Desert Nature Reserve, Egypt, 2010. Photograph by Ahmad Hayman, Egypt
By Rubina Singh
Bridging cultural gaps and creating symphonies of inter-cultural understanding and appreciation in Doha and beyond, is a project aptly called ‘Desert Bridges.’
As the name implies, the project aims to engender cultural understanding through the medium of art and is founded and produced by a talented couple currently working and living in Qatar.
The projects’ founder and director, Harvard graduate Anna Gritching Solder is a singer, songwriter, as well as being a graphic and design research enthusiast and a highly respected professor of Architecture at Qatar University.
Her partner in life and in the project Cheo Jeffery Allen Solder is an accomplished musician and poet in his own right and together the talented husband-wife team have set upon a journey to build bridges between different cultures through the medium of music and art.
Cheo’s poems have been included in the recently published Liberation Poetry: An Anthology.
A book of his poetic prose, One4Debrovahs is being published later this year as well as a theatre piece of the same name, is to be staged in Boston very soon.
Desert Bridges has performed internationally at various esteemed international music festivals. On the occasion of the opening of the Swiss Embassy in Doha, Desert Bridges staged a concert at the Qatar National Theatre, made possible with the patronage of The Ministry of Culture and with support from the Swiss Ambassador.
Excerpts from the interview....
What inspired ‘Desert Bridges’?
I believe every project is a constellation or synergy of ideas and opportunities. From 2010 onwards, it seems that after travelling East and West, we were being drawn to the Desert...of Africa, Arabia, possibly Asia. It was a very new territory for me, as I am from a mountain village. I then befriended the oceans, as my father was a sailor.
The desert was an unknown territory but when we spent our honeymoon there, in Egypt, and slept under the stars, in the peaceful silence close the southern borders of Egypt, I began to understand and “see” the desert. At first glance, one can see a large expanse of seemingly hostile, dry and lifeless landscape. But after a while, one begins to notice the subtle life and the habitats that thrive there as well as its magnificent beauty.
The Qatari, Egyptian and Moroccan Desert cultures represent rich, varied and ancient forms of music that are based on very similar spiritual and cultural roots. To a large degree, they have all sprung from the same African roots at different times in the distant past. Similarly, the nature of improvised western music, often termed “Jazz”, has at its heart, the African influence as well.
What do you hope to achieve through this project?
Desert Bridges aims at juxtaposing and encouraging musicians from distinctly different cultures to set aside their cultural beliefs and experiences and unite in the creation of something new, unexpected yet unifying.
In bringing musicians of different origins and training into direct contact with one another, allowing them to explore how they might join in song, perhaps even creating a new way of singing, we are demonstrating that through trust and collaboration we are able to build new creative structures where we all can flourish.
The music of Desert Bridges is improvisational in nature, and is about how to find a new song with new voices. We hope to bring about understanding and co-operation between people from different cultures. In particular the project aspires to strengthenties between Qatar and Switzerland through cultural exchange.
What does the project mean to you personally?
For me, this project is a continuation of my previous musical projects: Border Meetings — improvised music around the concept of borders and overcoming them — and Sufi Moon, a project with Swiss jazz and alphorns and Qawali musicians. Desert Bridges is in the same spirit, but with my husband Cheo, it is a totally new approach and also reflects both of our personalities. In our work together, him as a poet, writer and improvised musician and myself as an architect and musician, we work on creating connections, building bridges...
My architectural research has focused on overcoming border conflicts through landscape and urban design and these musical projects are also about overcoming differences.
What are some vital aspects of this project?
The work and music focuses on common spiritual elements — universal love, praise and prayer — and the multi-cultural music combines the various rudiments into a fully integrated whole that is improvisational in nature while still retaining the varying elements of diverse cultures.
The project proposes annual encounters between western trained improvisational musicians with musicians from the desert cultures of Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and beyond, with a possible expansion to the deserts of Rajasthan in India.
What is the most crucial element to the success of such a project?
In order for musicians from distinctly different cultures to play together, it is imperative that they put away their preconceived notions and open their ears and hearts to one another. They are all bringing a different and sometimes even conflicting body of knowledge to the union and must discover how to use that knowledge to create a new and cohesive whole. It takes a quietening of the spirit, a subverting of the ego and a willingness to often be quite uncomfortable, to be in totally new territory and to take chances that might not even arise in their normal settings.
For the audience, to witness such a joining and to celebrate the unique results is to learn that all people can find a way to communicate, if we lead with our hearts and spirits. Instead of isolation, we are encouraging coming together to create a new world, one where compassion, trust and generosity are the tools we use.
Why do you think ‘Desert Bridges’ is needed in the community?
At a time of deepening divisions worldwide, either through political, economic or spiritual differences, it seems necessary to create reminders that we are all one people, all one family. Desert Bridges is one such reminder.
Apart from performances, what else does this project encompass?
We have finalised the CD Recording and DVD editing, which we will be releasing on our website very soon. We will also have an event to thank our sponsors and auction some artworks to fund our next projects, and also to fulfil one of our missions, which is to help musicians to attend schools or workshops.
We are also working on a concert in Switzerland to continue building bridges between Switzerland and Qatar.
What has been the greatest challenge so far?
I believe any event or performance is a challenge, especially if you are performing, producing, fund raising and also doing the graphics and logistics. Also, musicians and artists all have their personalities, so you have to deal with many different dynamics, but that is what makes the experience and the music interesting.
The greatest challenge is continuing to believe in our project, in our mission, and in music as a cultural and spiritual bridge.
What does Art mean to you?
Art has a deeper purpose beyond sensation, in either the act of creation or in the witnessing.
The artist seeks understanding of some aspect of life and strives to demonstrate that understanding through the medium of their art.
The audience seeks to understand the message and to take away something from the art that has lasting value for their own lives. This relationship is a key to the validation of the intense struggle that often accompanies great art. The artist has something to say. Sometimes the message is a confirmation of something already known and sometimes, it is a new addition to the body of knowledge that comprises our collective wisdom.
Art is also dialogue that is not bound by restrictions of verbal or written language and can be understood, experienced and perceived by anyone irrespective of what linguistic, geographical, national, social background they may be from.
More information about the project is available at:
www.myspace.com/cheojefferyallensolder
http://synchrovisionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cheo-jeffery-allen-s older-mind-heart-spirit-his-story
http://www.america-reloaded.de/engl/veranstaltung4.html
Sunday
conversation
In our work together, him as a poet, writer and improvised musician and myself as an architect and musician, we work on creating connections, building bridges...
1 Desert Bridges Concert at the Qatar National Theater, April 2013.
2 Cheo and Anna performing at the Swiss Embassy.