Musical event takes note of where ‘Holland meets Hijaz’

JEDDAH: Visitors were taken on a musical journey stretching back more than 100 years this week, at an event centered on the Dutch people who lived in the Hijaz region of Saudi Arabia.
“From the archives of the past, Holland meets Hijaz” organized by financial services firm BMG Financial Group (organized by BMG Foundation).
The evening took place at the Jeddah Prep and Grammar School (JPGS) on Jan. 10 in the presence of Dutch Ambassador Joost Reintjes.
Amsterdam-based professor Anne Van Oostrum gave a lecture on the old Hijazi music and recordings made by the Dutch envoys to the region many years ago.
The oldest recordings of wedding songs of a female Hijazi choir, other music and poetry were made using Thomas Edison’s wax cylinders, which marked new technology at the time.
Oostrum took the guests back in time to the old days of Hijazi culture and presented vintage photographs and musical clips to bring back authentic songs to the memories of the Saudi audience, and introduce them to others present.
She offered a mesmerizing journey to the 1900s, when the Dutch Arabist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje was responsible for making what are now known as the oldest recordings of music and speech of the Hijaz. Hurgronje’s perception and appreciation of Arabic music are studied as expressed in his work Mekka (1888-1889) and in his commentary on some songs included in his collection of wax cylinders.
The JPGS and BMG initiative aimed to highlight the cultural aspect and bridge the gap between the East and West.( JPGS is school that hosted the event not an organisation with BMG Foundation).
Basil AlGhalayini the chairman of BMG foundation, wished that people could “put all differences aside and create a peaceful world for all of us and for the generation to enjoy the future.”
Speaking to Arab News, Jonathan Warner, headmaster of JPGS, said the evening had been a success. “I’m really keen to do more of this sort of event, because I’ve always believed (that) a good school should be and can be a cultural focus, and just like the BMG Foundation we have an opportunity to bring Hijazi culture and Saudi Arabian culture to many people of many, many different nationalities and enjoy the experience and learn from each other. That’s what education is all about.”
Mohammed S. Sayed Ahmed, manager of academic affairs at the education-focused Al Kafi Company, was among the attendees who enjoyed the evening. “We heard of this occasion on the history of Hijaz in the 18th and 19th century, so we came here to have an idea (of) what this subject is about, and it is a very interesting subject,” he said.
Oostrum told Arab News that what interested her in Hijazi culture was the poetry and external influence.
“This kind of music is very, very beautiful… here it is very strong and it is a combination of the two, music and language,” she added.
The JPGS students were also actively involved in the event, where some of them wore Saudi and Dutch traditional clothes, played piano, performed the Saudi, Dutch and British anthems, and others recreated famous Dutch paintings, such as “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” “The Milkmaid,” and “Woman Peeling Apples.”