Reflections of Palestine

One of the good news stories to come out of the despair of the first Intifada was how music guided a young boy from a refugee camp towards a more positive life. Ramzi Aburedwan first came to international attention when he featured as an angry stone-throwing lad in a widely circulated photo and literally found himself as the poster boy for frustrated Palestinian youth. He went on to become something of a celebrity at the Edward Said Conservatoire in his native Ramallah before being awarded a scholarship to study the violin in France: more recently he has played with Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and is now leading remarkable work in music education around the West Bank.

It would be wonderful to be able to say that his first album was similarly uplifting and arresting; sadly, however, it is a pleasant but rather unexceptional offering. On Reflections of Palestine Aburedwan ably plays the bouzouk (metal strung, long necked lute) and is accompanied by accordion, oud (lute), clarinet and Eastern percussion and elements from his own musical journey colour the compositions: it’s obviously near-Eastern in essence with some strong Gallic inflections and shades of Gypsy melody running though the mix. In spite of this, no really identifiable musical character cuts through and we are left reflecting that remarkable musicians sometimes make unremarkable recordings.