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Morgenland Festival

Ibrahim Keivo & Morgenland All Star Band © Philippe Frese
Ibrahim Keivo & Morgenland All Star Band © Philippe Frese

After a one week guest tour of Kurdistan/Iraq by 65 musicians from nine countries, things continued almost without a break in Osnabrück.

Guests 2013

Hussain Al Adhami Ensemble
Bassem Hewar
Saad Thamir
Beshar Al Azzawi
Sepideh Vahidi
Shabnam Parvaresh
Aynur
Kayhan Kalhor
Salman Gambarov
Cemil Qocgiri
Dima Orsho
Kinan Azmeh
Jasser Haj Youssef
DJ Ipek
Morgenland All Star Band
Amir ElSaffar
Morgenland Chamber Orchestra
Naci Özgüc
NDR Bigband
Ibrahim Keivo
Wolf Kerschek
Najem Wali
Matthias Caspari

With seven concerts, a multi-faceted film programme and two talks, the main focus of the Festival lay on the cultural diversity of Baghdad, both in the past and the present. The opening evening saw a performance by Hussain Al-Adhami and his ensemble. And in the second half of the concert the Morgenland All Star Band accompanied the Iraqi singer Beshar Al Azzawi and the Iraqi-American jazz trumpeter Amir ElSaffar. A further highlight was a late-night clarinet improvisation by Kinan Azmeh and Shabnam Pavaresh.

The presentation of the short film “Baghdad – My Hometown” was certainly one of the most moving moments of the Festival. Three young musicians from Baghdad, who all played for the first time with the Morgenland Chamber Orchestra, filmed their everyday life in Baghdad. Together with the film producer Günther Wallbrecht they edited the material they brought with them, and the result was a very personal contemporary document about life in a city which can seemingly find no peace.

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