Middle East Musicians collaborate on a ‘Peace Album’
Nearly 100 musicians from across the Middle East have collaborated for an album put together by Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian to promote peace in the embattled region. The album, titled “Middle Eastern”, consists of songs played by artists from Iran, Turkey, Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Egypt and Bahrain along with some musicians from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. “We have tried to use local instruments in the album because our priority was to highlight the native tunes of the Middle East,” Rajabian, 29, told Al Jazeera.
“For my research on Middle East music, I had been in touch with musicians from all over the region. I discussed the idea of an album with many of them and they showed a lot of interest.” Some musicians who participated in the project came from places ravaged by years of wars and conflict, mainly Palestine, Yemen and Syria. Most songs in the album, released last month by the Sony Music company, have been written by the artists themselves and produced by Rajabian. The album, which has 11 tracks, begins with a song from Turkey and ends with a piece written by the Iranian artist himself. “It ends in complete hopelessness,” he said.
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