منير عيسى نوري - Munir Allahwerdi

Munir Allahwerdi was born on March 15, 1926 in Basra, IRAQ. He was one of the early founders of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO), which began its activities in the 1940s.

ولد منير عيسى نوري في 15 آذار 1926 بمدينة البصرة في العراق ، وهو أحد المؤسسين الأوائل للفرقة السمفونية الوطنية العراقية التي كانت بداياتها في عقد الأربعينيات .ا

The following clip features an interview with Munir in Arabic. The clip is a small part of a one-hour interview recorded in Vienna on February 11, 2010:

أدناه مقطع قصير من مقابلة مع منير باللغة العربية ، وهو جزء من حوار دام ساعة وسجل في فيينا بتاريخ 11 شباط 2010 .ا
 

Fuad As-Saden Meets His French Daughter

After 45 Years of Separation, Fouad As-Saden, Iraqi Violinist, Teacher and One of the Early Founders of the INSO, Meets His French Daughter in Erbil, IRAQ

by Wefa

© Copyright Yasmin, 2009

Fuad As-Saden with Daughter Yasmin in Erbil

A French woman sent me an email on April 18, 2008 inquiring about whether I knew the whereabouts of Fouad As-Saden, one of the early founders and musicians of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO). She introduced herself as Fouad’s daughter whom she has not seen since 1964. She searched his name on the Internet and was directed to me through this INSO blog, which I have been maintaining for over three years. After we exchanged phone numbers and talked a couple of times, I emailed a large number of Iraqis requesting Fouad's tel. number.

Unfortunately, the number I had for As-Saden when I met and interviewed him in 2003 was not working in 2008! So it took us few weeks before obtaining his valid number. Yasmin, his daughter, contacted the French embassy in Baghdad to obtain his mobile number. Her first call to him was overwhelming having been after 45 years of separation and because they could not understand and hear each other well. She was uncomfortable with English and he was with French. As a result, I phoned him in Baghdad and had a conference call with Yasmin in Paris talking simultaneously. It was a touching voice reunion.

Theirs was an unsuccessful story of mixed marriages between easterners and westerners: The mother left Iraq with Yasmin and they never met with Fuad As-Saden again.

After several attempts of phoning her father and communicating with her half brother, Faris, in the UAE, Yasmin and her husband met with her half brother in the UAE on November 30, 2008. Later in Christmas of the same year, Yasmin’s son, Nicholas, visited Faris. Finally, Fouad As-Saden and his two sons, Faris and Zaid, met with Yasmine on November 13, 2009 in Erbil. This Movie-like reunion lasted for only five days. But for Fouad, it was his first trip outside Baghdad in 25 years!

About flying to Erbil from the UAE, wrote Yasmin, “We had to take a flight by an unknown airline company using an airplane without any logo on it to go to the North of Iraq. It was a strange and stressful situation for me. The flight was postponed for two hours, so we ended up flying at night over Iraq without any flashing lights! This added more stress. We arrived at about 8pm at Erbil airport”

Then she continued, “Zaid, the elder brother came to introduce himself at the reception. It was our first meeting! He was gentle, nice and very shy. He helped us with our luggage. I had stomachache, I felt nauseous, and my heart was beating very strong before going to my father’s house and his wife. I entered first and saw my father; he was sitting on a sofa and his wife was standing up with her arms open to kiss me. After that I sat near my father on the sofa and he took my head in his hands and kissed me. My stress disappeared immediately after our meeting ”

About her father, Yasmin stated, “My father has no teeth. He walks with the help of a crutch taking small and slow steps. Sometimes I was very sad, my emotions were very strong. My father was old, yet I remembered a different image from the distant past, forty-five years ago. I was not sad about my parents’ divorce because it was their concern, but about the fact that I always thought that my father did not care about me. However, after this reunion, I have the answer; he has loved me, and still does.”

© Copyright Yasmin, 2009

Zaid (left) with his father, Fuad As-Saden and Yasmin

© Copyright Yasmin, 2009

Zaid (left), Yasmin, Faris (right) and his mother

The case of Yasmin finding her father through this INSO blog was not the only one in 2008. On July 28, 2008, the German niece of both INSO musicians, Nuri and Ghazi Bahjat, wrote to me inquiring about her uncle's contact information in Baghdad after twenty-eight years of separation. These stories have added value to this blog. I look forward to document other positive stories.

Khatchatur Pilikian: Iraqi Opera Singer

Courtesy of Khatchatur Pilikian

* Born in Mosul, Iraq in 1939. Khatchtur lived and studied in Iraq, Lebanon and Italy. He left Iraq for Lebanon in 1951/52.

* Khatchatur I. Pilikian is a performing and recording musician (RAI-TV, RCA, Durium, Poetica), painter (Gentes Ars=People’s Art, International Exhibition Prize, Rome, 1961), and a research scholar/lecturer.

* After leaving his studies in architecture at Rome University (1957-1959), Pilikian pursued his art studies at the Fine Arts Academy and the French Academy, both in Rome, while continuing his music studies at Rome’s St. Cecilia Academy and Chigiana Academy in Siena.

* As a leading tenor, Pilikian was invited to Armenia, where he made his debut in 1961, singing the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini’s opera Tosca, at the Spendiarian Opera Theatre of Yerevan, conducted by maestro Yuri Davitian.

* In 1964, Pilikian created two roles in Mario Nascimbene’s TV-opera Faust a Manhattan, conducted by maestro Franco Ferrara and directed by Sandro Bolchi, presenting Italy in the International TV Festival Premio Italia 64.

* In 1970, an original poster in Kufic style, designed by K. I. Pilikian, publicised the First Poetry Encounter—a world conference on Arab poetry, held in Beirut.

* In 1973, Leonardo da Vinci on voice, music and stage design was the title of his research as a Fulbright scholar at Indiana University, Bloomington,

* In 1975, he completed the resident requirements for the Doctor of Music degree.

* In 1976, Khatchatur Pilikian joined the music faculty of Wayne State University (Michigan), where, in addition to his academic responsibilities as a pedagogue/performer with WSU faculty, Professor Pilikian designed and directed an original university radio WDET-FM series entitled HARC-The Heritage of Armenian Culture (sponsored by the Armenian General Benevolent Union—AGBU Alex Manoogian Cultural Fund).

* In Jan. 2002, he took part, as a tenor soloist, with Cahit Baylav (violin) and Hassan Erraji (oud), in the NAZIM HIKMET 100 Celebration Concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

* In April 22, 2006, Pilikian produced and directed his original Audio-Visual Libretto—Harmonic Synthesis of Armenian Poems and Music, for the AGBU 100 Anniversary, Montreal Chapter, Canada.

* Garod Books of the Gomidas Institute has recently published Pilikian’s latest book titled "UNESCO LAUREATES: Nazim Hikmet & Aram Khatchaturian"

* Khatchatur currently live in London.

* He was not affiliated with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO), but as an Iraqi who specializes in western classical music (whether composer, musician or conductor) and/or opera singing, he is featured here.

Listen to his performance here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7x0dfYwusw

Beatrice Ohanessian (1927-2008)

Beatrice Ohanessian

Pianist and composer

March 15, 1927 in Baghdad - July 17, 2008 in Minnesota
Courtesy of Bassim H. Petros

Fuad Ridha As-Saden & Fuad al-Mashta

This is a clip from the Documentary Film,

"Baghdad in Four Days"

Video taped in November 2003 in Baghdad
Produced by INEAS

The clip includes an interview with INSO founder

and viola player, Fuad Ridha As-Saden who was

teaching at the Music & Ballet School of Baghdad

at the time of the interview

and with Fuad al-Mashta who was a music

teacher at the above mentioned school and a musician with the

Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO)

Farid Allahwerdi -- Profile

Picture taken at the King

Faisal II Hall

on March 6, 1953

Baghdad Philharmonic Society

From left:

Vartan Manoogian-violin, Sandu Albu-violin, Julian Hertz- piano, Farid Allawerdi-viola and André Thoerè- Chello

Farid Allahwerdi (b. 1923 in Basra, Iraq- d. February 2, 07 in Bublin, Ireland)

A composer of modern music and a member of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). In 1948 he graduated from Law College of University of Baghdad. He studied composition in Paris, Moscow and New York. In 1950, Allahwerdi earned a diploma in violin and piano from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He then completed a Master's degree in Music Composition from The Hunter College in NY. His compositions include "Al-Mansooriyya" symphonic poem, which aired on Moscow radio in 1958, and 'Fantasy' for solo violin, and have been performed by many notable performers including Quatuor Margand, the Yasuda Ken-Ishiro String Quartet, the Moscow Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra, Najmi Succari, Vartan Manoogian and Igor Chernyavsky.

Allahwerdi taught musical eduaction, theory and instruments, mainly viola and violin, at Baghdad's Fine Arts Institute (for 25 years) and at The Academy of Fine Arts of Baghdad University (for five years). For over a decade, Farid also taught at the Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. He has received many prizes including the Prix D'Honneur de L'Ecole Nationale de Musique de Saint-Brieuc in 1952. In 1995 he was awarded Honorary Certificate from the Arab League of Music for contribution and promotion of Arabic Music

Allahwerdi lived in Dublin, Ireland, for four years until his death.

The Petros Family in Pictures

Bassim H. Petros - Profile

Bassim H. Petros (1934 - )

Born in Baghdad in 1934. He Joined the Fine Arts Institute in Baghdad in 1947 to study Cello under the Sherrif Muhi-ddeen Haydar (Turkish), Hagob Kouyoumidjian (Iraqi) and Adres Taurrer (French). He Joined the Baghdad Philharmonic (INSO later on) in 1948 as a Cellist. Established and presented with Munther J. Hafeth the-first-of-its-kind Baghdad TV weekly program (The World of Music). Bassim is a member of the Iraqi National Music Committee (INMC), the International Music Council (Unesco), the Arab Academy of Music (of the Arab States League) and the Iraqi Artists Union. For five years, he worked at the National Music Conservatory in Amman as Cello and Contrabass teacher and as a member of its orchestra and band. Currently lives in New Zealand.

Bassim's and the family's photos http://insonewsletter.blogspot.com/2007/04/petros-family-in-pictures.html

Dr. Sabah H. Petros - Profile

Dr. Sabah Hanna Petros (1932 - )


Born in Baghdad 1932. He was a member teaching staff in Radiology and Ultrasound for the 6th year medical students & radiology diploma doctors at Baghdad University (Medical City) from 1972 to 1990. He has written in national and international journals (in most of the Arabic countries, England, France, Belgium, United States , India & Japan) numerous articles (almost all original) on X-Ray and Ultrasound.

Also a graduate of the Fine Arts Institute (1945-1952 part time study) specializing in clarinet. Sabah's clarinet teachers were Mr.Hanna Petros (Father), Mr. Munir Allahwerdi and others. He is a former member in the National Iraqi Symphony Orchestra (INSO) as a clarinet player.

Sabah's and the family's photos http://insonewsletter.blogspot.com/2007/04/petros-family-in-pictures.html