The 2023 edition of Umsiyat will be a special edition, as it will try to reflect the spirit of Abu Dhabi as a UNESCO Creative City of Music. Over the past few years, the Umsiyat concert series has become an institution in Abu Dhabi, presenting leading artists and groups such as Trio Joubran, Lotfi Bouchnak and many more. It offers a high-level cross-cultural musical programme delivering a message of peace and tolerance.
The Chabab Tetouan Orchestra was founded in 2012 in Tetouan, the city in Morocco where Andalusian music is the best preserved.
The orchestra, directed by Fahd Ben Kiran, is composed by young singers and musicians from Tetouan, all of whom have a solid musical background.
Derived from Oriental-Arab music, this musical style developed in Andalusia, enriched by the contributions of the different cultures living in the Iberian peninsula, such as the Berbers, Arabs, Africans, Copts and Andalusians, a grouping of which Morocco has become the fundamental heir.
While ensuring the continuity of this art form, the orchestra also aspires to universal appeal enriched by the artistic contributions of other schools of music.
The instruments played by the Chabab Tetouan orchestra include the rebabah, a two-cord monoxyle Vielle, the oud, the violin, the qanun, the tar, a small drum surrounded by copper pins and the darbuka. Despite its relatively recent creation, the Chabab Tetouan orchestra has been active in its contribution to this musical form, and is recognised as one of the major actors in the traditional music in Morocco.
During more than a decade its existence, this orchestra enriched the Andalusian–Moroccan musical library and participated in the promotion of this enchanting traditional music through its numerous tours nationally and internationally.
Date: 13 December 2023
Time: 8 PM
Venue: Fahid Island, Abu Dhabi
Entry: Free
