Rare/Import

Gene Coleman and The Tabadol Project outlast bombs, bad luck and bad weather and finally make it to Philly.

by Shaun Brady

experimental

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The saga so far: The Tabadol Project, named for an Arabic word meaning "exchange," consists of two weeks of concerts, workshops and discussions in six locations featuring five Lebanese musicians, curated by local improviser/programmer Gene Coleman. The series was originally scheduled for last July, but the outbreak of hostilities with Israel scrapped musicians' travel plans at the last minute. Tabadol finally kicked off last Wednesday on the campus of Ohio University, after a bit of weather-related delay.

"The curse of Tabadol, we're calling it now," laughs Coleman about the string of bad luck, from the Israeli army to Mother Nature, that continue to threaten his plans even as he sits on the tarmac waiting to fly to Cleveland.

Coleman's involvement began when two Lebanese musicians, trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui, performed at a 2004 festival he produced in Berlin. The following year Coleman traveled to Lebanon with the help of State Department funding, and upon his return heard of the Exchange Visitors Program, an initiative to bring foreign musicians, artists and educators to the States.

It may seem strange that the U.S. government is extending its cultural outreach to such an uncommercial and typically off-radar form of expression as music. Coleman points out that while the State Department "doesn't have a reputation for being much of an advocate for that sort of thing, there is, of course, a high interest on their part in supporting artistic exchanges between American artists and artists from Arab and Muslim countries. That's one political framework around this thing that definitely influenced their consideration. So irrespective of their precise understanding of the artistic content, they can see that this is clearly something valuable."

More critically, Coleman insisted last July that this project could not have happened without the government's involvement. Regardless of whether funding could have been obtained from other sources, the difficulties in obtaining visas and overcoming bureaucracy would likely have proved fatal. That fact has only been emphasized by ensuing events.

Besides Kerbaj and Sehnaoui, the other Lebanese participants are bassist Raed Yassin, altoist Christine Sehnaoui (Sharif's wife), and oud player Ziad El Ahmadie. Despite the presence in the mix of a traditional instrument like the oud, Coleman finds little influence from traditional music in the experimental sounds coming from the region. "Lebanon has no real standing tradition of experimental art," Coleman elaborates, "which is largely a Western idea. Now you have all these young artists doing very experimental things, and then you've got all this traditional music activity going on, and you'd have to say there's not much of a relationship between them at all. So the question is, does this couple have a future?"

Indeed, in recordings involving the Lebanese musicians, there's little in the intricate interplay and textured abstractions that is untraceable to European improv. A, recorded by Kerbaj, Yassin and Sharif Sehnaoui in 2002, is a remarkable trio CD with sustained passages of surprising invention and a tightly bound sense of control that rarely lapses in intensity. Still, there are few links to the country of origin other than moments of drone and repeated rhythmic figures that are likely only recognizable if you're searching for them.

When it came to planning the Philadelphia portion of the project, Coleman wanted as much local interaction as possible. To that end, he enlisted Dustin Hurt, whose experimental music booking organization Bowerbird has flooded the city with experimental music from local and visiting artists since its inception last year. The pair have planned four events involving local musicians, including panel discussions, dance and video programs, and, of course, plenty of music.

"There's a heightened sense of importance," Coleman said, reflecting on several months of dealing with the political issues. "The circumstances under which these people lived in the past and are living now becomes an interesting point of contemplation for America — the idea of artists trying to get by in conditions like that, wanting to pursue an artistic vision and wanting to have some kind of a normal life despite all these difficulties. So I feel like the opportunity to get them to the States and get people to know more about them and their situation is just underscored because of what's happened."

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

The Tabadol Project, Thu.-Sun., Feb. 22-25, various times and venues, www.tabadolproject.org, www.bowerbird.org.