Published on October 9th, 2012 | by Caesar (Kuwait Music)
By Nur Soliman
Near the end of summer, Caesar put up a post on why there?aren?t?so many female participants up on Kuwait-Music, or other places in the local online cultural space. This got me thinking about all those talented, thoughtful women I knew who were quieter than they should be, but not just them ? I thought about just about everyone else, that silent, intelligent reader who?doesn?t?comment on pages, that guy in the audience who really dug (or hated) that performance he went to, but?didn?t?tell anyone, or that musician who really wanted to share her insights on the local classical scene but?didn?t?think it was worth it: everyone who?didn?t?speak.
Because I work and have a diminishing grasp on my social life, I forgot all about that until the fall came back. The cultural season returns while the weather toys with our affections, and goes from breezy mornings and pleasant, cool evenings in the week to humid, warm weekends. Along with the return of fall television and the curious appearance of thick cable-knit sweaters in many stores (when all I still really need is a thin shirt to beat the heat), along with the beginning of the school year and the end of summer, art galleries start putting up work for opening shows, local bands start advertising their gigs around town, and visiting chamber ensembles start flying in for concerts.
This is the time of year when I start hunting around the house for any blank yellow notepads left over from before the summer which have been collecting dust, clearing out the photos in my camera, all ready for the season and for my reviews. Every year, I probably write notes for about sixty or more various events ? this includes lectures, exhibitions, conferences, concerts, and other performances. I write in those notepads, or in little Moleskines that fit in the palm of my (outstretched) hand so I can write in the dark (during concerts), or in the empty margins of concert programmes or exhibition leaflets. And then I go home and try and figure out what I was writing this whole time, trying to relive those movements of Cesar Franck, or to remember the precise shade of blue in that painting.
??????????????? Out of those sixty or seventy collections of notes, scribbles, sketches, and out of the thousands of photos I take, about twenty articles are completed and written (if I can make deadlines or dedicate enough evenings after work to finish them while the event is still relevant). And out of those twenty articles, I will only send out perhaps ten, and only three or four will be published. I have found amazingly supportive patrons in Kuwait-Music and a few others, but it is hard to say the same of other publishers who I have to persuade to flirt with the idea of publishing reviews in the first place.
??????????????? So why do I write reviews that not many people read? Why do I write reviews for publishers that continue to sound perplexed as to why I?ve submitted these strange pieces of writing for them to squeeze into a few columns? Why do I apologetically smile at staff photographers of newspapers while I position myself at an interesting angle in front of a sculpture or canvas with my tiny little silver Panasonic while they are trying to get the more important shots of guests, or keep trying to alter my camera settings to capture the motions of the musicians in mid-performance, spotlit in the dark? Why do I write when I?m not sure that anyone would want to read about a concert that?s happened, not one that?s going to happen?
I don?t write because I want to cover events simply because they happened. I don?t write re????? views because they are press releases for after the fact. I don?t write reviews because I hope that the performers (or patrons) think favourably of me. I don?t write because I can use the marketing, becoming a favourite of those who perform (or exhibit) and so on, currying favour and writing about my friends in ways that can only flatter them. Don?t get me wrong, I usually try and make the most of all events I go to (unless they were a nightmare, in which case I write scathing reviews that sadly ? or maybe fortunately ? are never published) because I genuinely want to see what?s positive about these efforts. But I want to write truthfully, and recapture the entire experience as it was, and I want to share what I thought of the experience in how it contributes to the meaning of culture and genuine artistic activity in Kuwait.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Most importantly though, I write because I care. I write because I love music, and I love the arts and culture. And I know other people do. I may not know these people, and they sure don?t know me, but I need to write and I want to articulate this experience to others.
??????????????? My angle may be quite different to yours. I?m a woman (okay, a girl), I no longer play any instruments, I have my own set of personal beliefs that may be different to yours, I?m an English Literature major and love Star Wars, the Hobbit, and Dungeons & Dragons as much as the next guy, and prefer watching British television. Most of what I write is about classic music, both Western and Eastern, as well as jazz, traditional music, and indie music. I can listen to Palestrina or Benny Goodman all day, but I?m not into B. B. King or Herbie Hancock. I don?t listen to Madonna or Usher, but I listen to Oasis and U2. I wade into dangerously hipster and only-foreign-films-please territory here, but I love Simon & Garfunkel, Noah & The Whale, and George Brassens, as well as traditional Persian, Chinese, and Central Asian music. So when I conclude that the only Arabic music I listen to is Mustafa Said or Abdelwahab, Um Kulthoum and Fairuz, you can see where I?m coming from! Or maybe you can?t.
??????????????? But that?s why I want YOU to write! I have my own opinions that I try and frame in ways that can reach the biggest audience and include as many of us as we can, by trying to invite you to be part of that experience, but I?m just me, and I want to hear what YOU think, what all these silent audience members really thought, and maybe told their family and friends about when they got home that night! Will your opinion change what goes on in the public performance sphere? I doubt it, but that doesn?t undermine the importance of writing and getting your voice somewhere out there, in freshly-printed ink in a magazine or on the pages of Kuwait-Music or your own blog, or even just commenting on blog posts and status updates ? even those comments can mean a lot, if you write them with genuine, honest, and respectful intention and want to join this conversation to help.
??????????????? Speaking means a conversation can be initiated, and it keeps our participation and engagement in this scene alive when we write exactly what we think of a performance. Did you think the performance was mediocre? Say so, but tell us why! Did you have a fantastic evening? We all need to hear it, the musicians especially. Whatever you think, get it out there and let?s see how much we all have in common.
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