Awakening
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General Info
Year: 2012
Duration: c. 22:10
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Jamshied Sharifi
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - $175.00
Movements
1. Maghreb/Bouazizi/The Uprisings – 8:20
2. Reflection: Let Each One Hear Her Own Thoughts – 6:20
3. Ahead: The Real Transformation Has Barely Begun – 6:50
Instrumentation
Full Score
Piccolo (dbl. Flute)
Flute II-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
Eb Clarinet (dbl. Bb Clarinet)
Clarinet I-II-III
Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone I (dbl. Soprano Saxophone)
Alto Saxophone II
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Trumpet I-II (dbl. Flugelhorn)
French Horn I-II
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano (dbl. Electric Piano)
Contrabass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
- Bass Drum
- Snare Drum
- Tom-toms
- Piatti
- Suspended Cymbals
- Triangle
- Bell Tree
- Finger Cymbals
- Temple Blocks
- Cowbell
- Tam-tam
- Mark Tree
- Crotales
- Whip
- Riq
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Awakening was commissioned by Fred Harris, Music Director of the M.I.T. Wind Ensemble, in 2012. Fred suggested to me the then-recent events of the Arab Spring as a subject for the piece, and envisioned the use of Arabic and Middle Eastern musical material in its composition. As I’ve been interested in and involved with Middle Eastern music for the last twenty-five years, this felt like a perfect fit.
Incorporating Arabic maqam (modes or scales) into a Western ensemble is not a straightforward undertaking. Most of the modes include pitches which are not equal-tempered; some of the notes in the scale are “in the cracks”, so to speak, of the keys on a piano. While many avant-garde classical and jazz musicians can play microtones, I felt it was unrealistic to ask a large group of college students to attempt to acquire those techniques in a short period of time. I decided early on to limit the musical material to equal temperament; to choose modes that would evoke Arabic music without microtones; to write with the modal approach found in Arabic and Middle Eastern music; and to limit the use of functional harmony, which is primarily a feature of Western music. It was not my intention to write a traditional piece of Arabic music, nor has that been my approach in any of my work. It is my hope to create something informed and inspired by music from the Middle East, but nonetheless a natural expression of my undeniably hybridized musical experiences.
Awakening is in three movements: I. Maghreb/Bouazizi/The Uprisings, II. Reflection: Let Each One Hear Her Own Thoughts, and III. Ahead: The Real Transformation Has Barely Begun. The first movement gives us a sense of place, utilizing maqam Hijaz (a mode often associated with the deep desert), and continues in a somewhat programmatic fashion, touching on the tragic event that ignited the protests, and continuing into the propagation of the revolutions. The second movement is a respite; a chance to contemplate what has happened. And the third hopes to energize and inspire the work that is to come.
I was, like many, moved by the events of the Arab Awakening. For those of us with Persian heritage who watched the earlier political protests in Iran, initially with hope and then with bitter disappointment, the early successes of the civil movements in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya were especially gratifying (although that optimism has for the most part not been borne out by subsequent developments). But something in the Middle East has undeniably changed. And I hope to honor that shift in this piece.
- Program Note by composer
Composer Jamshied Sharifi wrote Awakening in 2012 for the MIT Wind Ensemble. In 2015, Sharifi was joined at MIT in concert with the MIT Wind Ensemble, Frederick Harris, Jr., music director, MITWE alumni and guest performers. MIT WE’s premiere of this piece is the subject of the 2014 Emmy-winning documentary Awakening: Evoking the Arab Spring Through Music, that aired on PBS.
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Gustavus Adolphus College (Saint Peter, Minn.) Wind Orchestra (James Patrick Miller, conductor) – 11 November 2018
- The College of New Jersey (Ewing, N.J.) Wind Ensemble (Eric Laprade, conductor) - October 2018
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Frederick Harris, Jr., conductor) – 28 April 2018
- Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Eric Laprade, conductor) -17 April 2017
- MIT Wind Ensemble (Fredrick Harris, Jr., conductor) – 17 March 2012 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Awakening (2012)
- Ornament of the World (2018)
- To the Light, to the Flame (2015)
Resources
- Awakening: Evoking the Arab Spring through Music.
- "Great Ideas Change the World." MIT School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences. Accessed 9 April 2017
- "Jamshied Sharifi." Arts at MIT Accessed 9 April 2017
- Jamshied Sharifi, personal correspondence, July 2020
- Jamshied Sharifi website Accessed 9 April 2017