Interview: Marcel Khalife

By Omar Afra

Illustration by Shelby Hohl

" I stand in solidarity with those millions who cry out as they protest against suppression and death. I am one of them, inseparably."

Most artists offer commentary on the world that surrounds them as a spectator. They are mirrors of their environment yet abstain from jumping head first into participation. However, there is a rare few artists who both serve as a mouthpiece for their environment and actually perform as active participants in their world. Few embody this direct engagement like world-renowned Lebanese artist Marcel Khalife. Despite Khalife’s own assertions that comparisons are ‘ludicrous’, by simplistic Western standards he can be summed up as the ‘Hendrix’ of the Oud, the ‘Bob Dylan’ of Middle Eastern social commentary, the Duke Ellington of composition, the Public Enemy of dissent, and the Willie Nelson of affection from his culture. His powerful song craft has captured more than 3 decades of joy and turmoil in the world’s most delicately complex region and he has done so at his own personal risk. He has been indicted in his home country on blasphemy charges, performed in bomb shelters during the perils of war, and stirred the pot every chance he has had. He has been a stalwart advocate of Palestinian rights all the while pushing his musical game to the furthest limits. A master Oud (comparable to a Lute) player, composer, and vocalist, Khalife has dedicated much of his work to setting to music the prolific poetry of Mahmoud Darwish. Darwish, who coincidentally died in Houston in 2024, was a great friend of Khalife’s and inspired a great deal of his work. On April 20^th, Khalife will perform at Jones Hall in Houston for the first time since his dear friend passed. To say the least, this will be a massive benchmark of an event. In anticipation of this show, he was kind of enough to answer some of our questions.

With so much of your work being centered on Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry, I wonder what the discovery and initial impact of his work did to you. How did this happen?

I am an avid and passionate reader of Arabic poetry in general and contemporary Arabic poetry in particular. Throughout the long years of my artistic career I have put to music and song the poetry of several prominent contemporary Arab poets. At the beginning, I never had the idea of putting contemporary Arab poetry to music and song. This was more dictated by circumstances and coincidences. I never thought of myself as a singer nor did I aspire to be one. I am first and foremost a composer and a musician. I realize myself in music more than in song. In 1976 during the Lebanese civil war, I was confined to my home in Amchit, Lebanon, because my leftist political views leanings were not to the liking of the dominant political party in my hometown. I was reading a new published poetry book by Darwish, when I wanted to try to put to music and song some of his poems that touched me deeply.

Eventually, living in my hometown Amchit and confined between four walls became unbearable. I left Amchit and drove all the way to Paris carrying with me little of what I need in clothing and my oud (Arabic lute) and music notes. I arrived in Paris to a friend’s house who when he listened to the songs that I have composed music to took me to a now defunct record label called “Songs of the World”. This was my first lyrical release based on Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry titled “Promises of the Storm”. Never in my widest dreams did I think that it will spread like wild fire throughout the Arab world, from the Middle East to North Africa. Within a year I found myself with my ensemble performing in front of ten of thousands of audiences across the Arab world in sold out Roman Amphitheaters and football (soccer) stadiums, and the rest is history.

Even before we got to know each other personally, I felt as though Darwish’s poetry, with its divine assertiveness and prophetic cadences, had been revealed to me and for me. I could nearly savor his “mother’s bread” that has become iconic to his readers. I could feel the eyes of his “Rita” as deeply as I could feel the pain that his “Joseph” suffered at the hands of his treacherous siblings, and I could identify with his passport, which I fancied carried my picture, just as personally as I could identify with his olive grove, his sand, and his sparrows. I felt that they were all, at a personal level, mine. Our respective corpora have grown to be reminiscent of each other, so that the name of each of the twain, instantly and without reflection, would evoke the name of the other. How very appropriate, for all of my musical milestones that punctuate my more than thirty five-year career, beginning with “Promises of the Storm” and culminating with “The Doves Fly,” are graced with the lyricism and poignancy that are uniquely Darwishian.

More than 35 years has passed since the release of “Promises of the Storm”. On April 20, I will kick off an 8 city tour of the US from the city of Houston, where my dear friend Mahmoud Darwish sighed his last breath, with the release of a new work, a double CD titles “Fall of the Moon” that is based on his poetry. It is in tribute to his legacy, humanism and prophetic poetry.

“And I adore my life because if I die I will be ashamed of my mother’s tears”- Darwish

Perhaps, this is the only time that Mahmoud Darwish felt ashamed and it is because he departed before his mother. He left her the tears to shed but not a poem to eulogize him with. Would you believe me when I say that poets do not die, but only pretend to?

As both an observer and performer of music, what has you most excited and inspired lately?

The popular Arab revolutions or the “Arab Spring”, as it is often referred to outside the Arab world. It is the revolution of the youth and the future. It is an idea, a vision of change and yearning for dignity and freedom whose time has come. It is music to my ears and soul. Yet, it comes at a high price in innocent human sufferings and casualties. Old dictators and despots fall hard and do not care if they sweep away their people whom they have oppressed and subjugated for the past tens of years.

I am confident of the final outcome, in spite of the ups and downs of the popular revolutions.

I stand in solidarity with those millions who cry out as they protest against suppression and death.  I am one of them, inseparably.  My blood is their blood, my voice is their voice, and my destiny is their destiny.

I sang for them, and they gave me the feeling that they were my kin from whom we derive strength to bring about the impossible. I am one of them, and I confront those who shed their blood.  I cannot betray their cause.  What is happening Arab, is both an epic and a tragedy – an epic that shall triumph in all Arab countries, and a bloody tragedy that desperately seeks to arrest history.

Venues in the US have attempted to force you out and put obstacles in your path to performance as a result of your advocacy the Palestinian cause, Right of Return, etc. You have often faced harassment by US authorities upon entry to this country. How does one interpret such ‘de facto censorship’ from within a country who lauds itself as free and democratic?

Power and authority on any level, whether on the level of states or institutions, private or public are inherently oppressive. Any modicum of freedom and democracy that any power structure lauds itself with, where not granted but were hard fought and won by long struggles of common people yeaning for a better life and a place under the sun. The powers that be will always attempt to roll back hard fought rights and freedoms, using all forms of manipulations and tools of media misinformation and censorship to distort reality to regain what they perceive as loss of power, authority and ability to dictate and govern by virtue of their political, social and economic prowess. This is why as common people we need to be always alert and vigilant and not resign ourselves to what has been achieved. We have to be always weary of authority and place them in check by exercising people’s right and power. I want to take this opportunity on the eve of my US tour to salute the popular grass root “Occupy Wall Street” movement that have drawn some inspiration from the achievements of the “Arab Spring”, but it is in itself and independently a legitimate popular grass root response to the economic meltdown caused by vulture capitalism, warmongering and invasions that has been pillaging and running amok worldwide.

When performing with your sons, is it ever hard to turn the ‘dad switch’ off and on?

Yes, of course. I am sure it was also hard for them to switch off and on. It was harder for all of us when they started touring with me at ages 19 & 20, back in around 2024. Now, it is no longer the case, they have their own projects independent and different of mine. They have matured musically and artistically and as human beings. They are my equals on stage, as all musicians who perform with me. You will experience all of that onstage at Jones Hall on April 20. We have a line up of 13 soloists and virtuosos who will each bring their musicianship and musicality to the program and the performance.

How has recent turmoil in the Arab world affected your composition? Does it serve as a catalyst or rather inhibit your work?

What happened in the Arab world is not “turmoil”. It is a genuine revolution for freedom in all its forms, dignity, human, political rights. No, it has not affected my composition. My lyrical works throughout the past 35 years expressed those aspirations. This is why I was banned in several Arab countries and continue to be banned in some. My songs have been chanted by protestors across the Arab world, because they are still very much relevant to the current conditions in the Arab world. The Arab revolutions has also giving rise to new young artists some of whom have paid with their lives expressing their dreams and hope for the future of their homelands and their countries. Thus, the Arab revolutions are neither an inhibition nor a catalyst. It is an inspiration and a motivation. It is also gives pride and meaning to my art and that all my hard work and perseverance all those years was not in vein.

I would like to close with a reflection by Mahmoud Darwish on my work, “In Marcel Khalife’s song, lyrics are like bread: there is clear utilitarian aestheticism. For example, when I used to declare my love for my mother from prison neither she nor I realized the effectiveness of this confession until the song of Marcel Khalife revealed this love to be more than just a personal relationship in a time of confinement. Marcel eliminated the gap created by the poets between poem and song. He restored to exiled emotion its rescuing power to reconcile poetry, which glorified its distance from people and was thus abandoned by them. Poetry, therefore, developed the song of Marcel Khalife, while Khalife’s song mended the relationship of poetry with people. With this, the people on the street started to sing, and lyrics need not a podium, as bread need not announce itself to the hungry.”

I would like to thank Free Press Houston for the opportunity to address its audience in this interview and hope to see you all at Jones hall on April 20.

For ticket information click here.

by Editor

Website