Issa Boulos

Last updated
Issa Boulos
Born1968
Jerusalem
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationColumbia College Chicago, Roosevelt University, Leiden University
Occupation(s)oud player, composer, music scholar
Employer Harper College
Website http://www.issaboulos.com/

Issa Boulos is a Palestinian-American oud player, composer, and music scholar.

Contents

Biography

Boulos was born in Jerusalem in 1968. He grew up in a musical family in Ramallah and studied music as a child, including the oud at the Institute of Fine Arts. [1] [2] In his early career, he created over 200 compositions and directed several musical groups, including a dance troupe called Al-Funoun. [3] [1] [4]

Boulos first travelled to the US in 1986. [5] After several visits to Chicago, he moved there in the 1990s and studied music composition, first at Columbia College Chicago and later at Roosevelt University. [1] [2] His teachers at the latter included Robert Lombardo. [4] In 1995, he became a US citizen. [1] Beginning in 1998, he directed the Middle East Music Ensemble at University of Chicago, which performed classical Arabic music and featured instruments like ouds, baglamas, nays, qanuns, and darbukkahs. [1] [2] [5] He also taught at the University [6] and founded the Issa Boulos Quartet, which played Arabic jazz. [1]

In September 2006, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra appeared at the World Music Festival for the first time where they and Boulos's Radio Maqam Ensemble performed some of Boulos's compositions. The orchestra also performed pieces by Tan Dun and Chen Yi. [7] [8] [9] In an interview later that year with the Chicago Tribune, Boulos described maqam as "a bunch of melodies that are congenial to each other. Kind of like having a love affair between two people who are tied together and there are certain rules that determine the relationship and movement of the sounds." [3]

Rif (Countryside) was released in 2007, featuring Nermin Kaygusuz playing Boulos's compositions for the kemence. The instrumental music was inspired by overlooked elements of the Mediterranean, including fig trees, soil, and dew. One track, "Raqsat al-Khityar", is about an elderly man dancing at a wedding after his wife's death. [10]

The following year, Al-Hallaj was released, which Boulos had composed based on the work of the eponymous Sufi poet. [10] [4] The album was recorded in Ramallah with several musicians, including two of his former students. Boulos contributed oud and vocals. One reviewer called him "an Arab-American intellectual powerhouse whose work is highly significant in maintaining musical artistry little appreciated by Arab societies." [10]

In the 2010s, Boulos headed the Arab Music Department at Qatar Music Academy. [11] [12] [13] He later co-edited an anthology about the music and culture of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, entitled Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation (2021). [14] [15]

Boulos has researched 20th century Palestinian music. [16] [17] He completed a PhD in ethnomusicology from Leiden University in 2020 with a dissertation entitled "The Palestinian music-making experience in the West Bank, 1920s to 1959: Nationalism, colonialism, and identity". [18] [19] [20] In his 2013 article "Negotiating the Elements: Palestinian Freedom Songs from 1967 to 1987", Boulos writes about influential Palestinian musicians, including Mustafa al-Kurd and the group al-Baraem. [21] [17]

As of 2025, Boulos is the Community Music Center Coordinator at Harper College. [19] [22]

Selected works

Scholarship

Boulos, Issa. "Negotiating the Elements: Palestinian Freedom Songs from 1967 to 1987". Palestinian Music and Song: Expression and Resistance since 1900. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. pp. 53-68. ISBN   9780253011060.

Hassan, Scheherazade, et al. Music in Arabia : Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation. Edited by Issa Boulos et al., Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021. ISBN   9780253057525.

Boulos, Issa. "Musical Diplomacy in Mandate Palestine from 1936 to 1948". Music and Cultural Diplomacy in the Middle East. Edited by Maria M. Rijo Lopes da Cunha et al. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2024. pp. 179-218. ISBN   9783031362781.

McDonald, David A.; Boulos, Issa. "Palestinian Music". Routledge Handbook on Palestine. London: Routledge, 2024. ISBN   9781003031994.

Music

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The world at hand". Chicago Tribune. 2004-05-14. Archived from the original on 2025-01-25. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  2. 1 2 3 Carnig, Jennifer (2004-11-04). "Middle East Music Ensemble: Group takes anthropological approach to music-making". University of Chicago Chronicle. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  3. 1 2 "International flights". Chicago Tribune. 2006-12-29. Archived from the original on 2025-01-25. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  4. 1 2 3 Romero, Angel (20 November 2018). "Artist Profiles: Issa Boulos". World Music Central. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Palestinians Vote in Presidential Elections; Interview With Ricky Martin". CNN. 2005-01-09.
  6. ↑ "Global Notes: Chicago Oud Masters Perform in Studio - WBEZ". WBEZ. May 5, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  7. ↑ "CSO's take on world music". Chicago Tribune. 2006-09-16. Archived from the original on 2025-01-25. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  8. ↑ Khoury, Suhail. "Palestine's Contribution to the World Music Scene". This Week in Palestine . Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  9. ↑ Kendrick, Peter Margasak, Monica (2006-09-14). "The Reader's Guide to the World Music Festival". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2025-01-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Asmar, Sami (2009). "Issa Boulos Brings al-Hallaj back to Life". Al Jadid . Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  11. ↑ "Global Notes: Music born from conflict". WBEZ. 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  12. ↑ "Tribute to a legend". Gulf Times. 2014-06-08. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  13. ↑ Toumi, Habib (2018-09-15). "Qatar concerts to foster music appreciation". Gulf News. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  14. ↑ Horowitz, Amy (2022-05-06). "Amy Horowitz - Review of Issa Boulos, Virginia Danielson and Anne K. Rasmussen, editors, Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation". Journal of Folklore Research Reviews. ISSN   2832-8132.
  15. ↑ Shannon, Jonathan H. (June 2022). "Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation by Issa Boulos, Virginia Danielson, and Anne K. Rasmussen, eds". Journal of Anthropological Research. 78 (2): 267–268. doi:10.1086/719316. ISSN   0091-7710.
  16. ↑ Samadani, Cecilia. "Middle Eastern Languages Department hosts lecture on 20th century Palestinian music". The Carletonian. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
  17. 1 2 Tsigka, Celia. "Soundwaves of expression: how music shapes social consciousness". Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dialogues . Retrieved 2025-01-26.
  18. ↑ "Alumni". Leiden University. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  19. 1 2 "The 'Disappearance' of George Kirmiz: Unravelling a Palestinian Musical Mystery". Palestine Chronicle. 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
  20. ↑ Hofland, Thomas (2024-01-19). "Brehony, Louis. Palestinian Music in Exile: Voices of Resistance". Arab Studies Quarterly. 46: 77–79. doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.46.1.0077. ISSN   0271-3519.
  21. ↑ "Of Course Lowkey Is a Target – Music Is Essential to the Palestinian Struggle". Novara Media . 2022-04-13. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
  22. ↑ "Music Center Coordinator Issa Boulos: Harper College". Harper College. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
  23. ↑ Al-Hallaj - Issa Boulos, AllMusic, retrieved 2025-01-26
  24. ↑ Catsoulis, Jeannette (2007-07-11). "Back in Iraq, Unearthing Old and New". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2025-01-26. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
  25. ↑ Rif - Issa Boulos, Nermin Kaygusuz, AllMusic, retrieved 2025-01-26
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