Berklee India Exchange

Managing Director: Clint Valladares
Artistic Director: Annette Philip
Assistant Manager: Rohith Jayaraman
Assistant: Lydia Renold

Globally acclaimed Palestinign cellist, Naseem Alatrash is an accomplished classjcally trained concert artist
and improviser in diverse styles who has earned a reputation for fearlessly broadening the horizons of the
cello on the world stage.

After studying at the Edward Said Natjonal Confervatory of Music in Palestine, Alatrash was awarded a
full scholarship to attend the Berklee College o I\/Ius#c in Boston where he went on to achieve the highest
honors in cello performance plus a Master's degree from Berklee's Global Jazz Institute.

A soloist, recoro[ing? musician, chamber musician, and teacher, Alatrash has been featured at France's
Nancy Jazz Festival, Lebanon’s Beiteddine Festival, the Kenned%/ Center in Washington D.C., London’s
Royal’Albert Hall, and at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Currently he tours with Danilo Perez's "The Global

Méssengers,” oud virtuoso Simon Shaheen, and Amir Elsaffar’s “Rivers of Sound.”

Vasilis Kostas is an acclaimed laouto player from Epirus, Greece who has been featured at Carnegie H?II
Montreal \{azz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival and WOMEX. He is as(%raduate of the Masters Program of the
Berklee Global Jazz Institute and has shared the stage with Simon Shaheen, Antonio Serrano and Tigran
Hamasyan. His groundbreaking performances on the laouto open new horizons for the instrument in both
the Greek traditional and jazz worlds. Vasilis will be featured in'a new collaboration with Grammy Award-

Wlnning pianist Danilo Perez's “Global Messengers” as well as an upcoming duo recording with'master
clarinetist Petroloukas Halkias.

Bright C?Iors ona Darl# Canvas is a reflection of dajly life that represents ?ome in _Palefstlne. Based on

stofles o Palest#ma_n refugees, the suite expresses the intense emotions of war, bemlgt orced from one's
ome, and the feelings of sorrow living in the diaspora. The piece ends with "Risala,the Arabic wor

|’]or Iettetr or message, and is an unusual ceremonial dance celebrating finding a new home and shared
umanity.

KALESMA ("The Calling”) conveys the err}ptional_sta es refugees encounter while fleeing from the Middle
Fast to Euro_F)e.Ihe pigce is a prayer - to tfind thejr calling in this Wo#’ld_and or the chance to build their
lives again. The following lyrics are sung during the maif melody of this composition:

Earth my mother, sea my sister,

You opened paths for us to reach the light,

To fill the neighborhoods with smiles and hugs
With nests of happiness.

"The Soul of the White Ant’ is the title of a remarkable book published in 1937 by South African naturalist

and writer Eugene Marais. Marais lived for some time in a remote region of Transvaal where he conducte
is study of the white ant, or termite. The book reveals their astonishing coordination, communication,

and hiefarchy. Marais’ observations led him to formulate his theory that the termite nest is similar jn every

respect to the organism of an animal: the workers and soldiers resemble red and white blood cells,

Wh|I||e Ehe fungéle gardens are the digestive organ, and the queen tunctions as the brain, controlling the

collective mind.

In this suite forfstrlng orchestra | have sought to convey aspects of life in the termltarx that contribute

to the notion of a group soul and that most captured my imagination. For example, the white ants tend

to construct their fest by creating tu#nels and chambers ysing arches. Even when Marais divided the
termitary with a steel plate _cuttlngto a se%_me t of the colony, they healed the divide in perfect symmetry
on each’side of the pl]gte withoyt 1»he benetit of sight or apparent c”orr%munlcatlon. In tribute to this trait,
I've used the image of the arch in torming the ovérall "architecture” o

Further architectural innovation from the white ant is their use of Ion? tunnels or arteries that bring cooling
and moisture from deep below the surface of the earth, and which attimes open and close to the outside
air by industrious workers to control the temperature and humidity of the nest. In music, scales and
arpe_%glos tend to evoke the rising and falling momentum of nature and it's great fun to mimic various
qualities of ant motion with the stfings.

Acknowledging the exquisite role-sharing "teamwork” of the white ant, I've used a rhythmic device
known as "hoc _etlngE throughout the suite. "Hocketing” originated with African drum_mln%_and was

first introduced into European music in French motetsof thé 14th century. It involves insefting spaces
"hochet” is French for hiccup!) in a melodic line to draw the ear toward motion in a second contrapuntal
ine. (A handbell ensemble is an extreme example of hocketing. ]ln_ the suite, | L}Lse ho_cketlng to share the

rhythmic drive equally among players and to acknowledge thé& Atrican origin of Marais’ study.

Another wonder was the nurturing maternjty of the queen, Marais observed that the queen experienced
Paln when birthing, and made the correlation between pain in childbirth and her guarding and nurturing
he baby ants, notat all common in the insect world. The connection between lové and pain has been
rightfully explored by every poet and crooner in the history ot the world, and in the suite it has inspired
the warmth of harmony and melody you may feel at times:.

Yet another aspect of the white ant is jts relentless activity, Marais never found an instance of rest or sleep
in these creatures and the suite is similarly restless and pulsative.

the suite.

While the piece is performed without pause, it is “divided” into two sections:
l. The Termitary, Healing from Within, Maternity, Mysterious Communication
Il. Warriors, Workers, The Nursery, Finale