MEME and ME

     I moved to Chicago in late 2006. If memory serves me correctly, it was 2007 when I first heard about the University of Chicago Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (MEME). My friend Zaven Tokatlian told me about MEME and sent me an announcement for their first concert of the season: The Turkish Concert. I knew I had to attend, though I was not sure what to expect.
     The concert took place on a late Sunday afternoon in November. I was surprised the concert was free.  It was in a stately old hall in the grand architecture of the University of Chicago. The word ensemble led me to believe that the group was going to be small, like the kind of band I was used to playing in. I was surprised by the number of chairs on stage. There were at least thirty chairs. The program booklet informed me that it was their 10th Anniversary year. I believe the concert was called A Night in Istanbul. In looking at the instrumentation and selection of pieces to be played, I was even more intrigued and excited. They were playing several classical Turkish selections with an orchestra of violins, violas, cellos, Middel Eastern percussion, clarinets, and a variety of Turkish instruments including kanun, ouds, and sazes. The even had a chorus of singers. I was a fan and very much enjoyed recordings of this kind of Classical Turkish and Ottoman music but I had never seen a live performance. Furthermore, I had actually wanted to play in such an orchestra.
     I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. For amateur and avocational musicians, they had a great sound.  A few of the musicians were quite talented and even world class.  Case in point is Issa Boulos who was the director of the orchestra and was one of the oud players in the ensemble. I knew nothing about Issa and had no expectations, until he played a taksim, an arhythmic improvisational introduction one of the pieces. I was blown away. What a talent. When I asked around my circle of musicians if anyone heard of Issa, my friend Ara Topouzian told me he was well known in Arab circles and was a beast of a player. I could certainly attest to the latter.
     After the concert, I went up and talked to the musicians. I learned that MEME was a student and community ensemble. The students could get one credit hour for participating. The community players ranged from people who loved and wanted to learn to play Middle Eastern music to very accomplished players of Middle Eastern instruments. No one, that I could tell, was a beginner on their instrument. Furthermore, it was open to anyone with an interest.
     I was certainly interested. Two things, at that time, stopped me from joining the ensemble. First, I was in a corporate job that had me working late hours and traveling enough that I could not reliably attend their weekly practices. Secondly, everything was written out as one would expect. Everyone had sheet music in front of them. I had not read music since 1965 when I was 12 years old. I was beyond rusty. Bottom line? I didn’t pursue joining the ensemble.
     I did attend the Arab concert in 2008 and a few Turkish concerts in the following years. Each time I attended, the desire to play in such an Ensemble grew stronger.
     At the end of 2008, my corporate responsibilities came to an abrupt halt with the Great Recession. While I had the free time, way too much of it, I was not thinking of MEME. I was thinking of getting work, starting a consulting business, and securing some adjunct teaching positions provide some income and keep me busy.
     While I was not thinking of MEME, I did participate in a few workshops on Middle Eastern Music at Chicago’s Old Town School of Music in the summer of 2014. At one workshop, I met Wanees Zarour, a leader of the workshop along with Ronnie Malley, a most excellent oud player, who I already knew. I learned that Wanees was now the director of MEME having been in the ensemble for many years. He took over from his uncle, Issa, who moved to Kuwait to teach in a music academy there.
     By chance I was working on learning, by ear of course, the Longa Ferafeza composed by the well known Egyptian composer and player Ryad Al-Sunbati. I thought Wanees or Ronnie might be able to help me with some of the passages I was struggling with. Wanees was more than happy to give me some pointers. After the workshop, we talked in general and about MEME specifically. I expressed both my desire to play and my trepidations due to not actually having read music since 1965. He encouraged me to give it a try.
     As I had just landed a full time teaching position at North Park University in what I call my encore career and had Thursdays free, which was the practice night, I decided to try the Turkish concert in the fall of 2014. I figured I should know some of the music which would help me learn to read again. I went to the first practice unsure. I did already know some of the music like Yuksek Yuksek Tepelere and Uskudara Gideriken. This helped re-enforce my learning to read again. I felt OK. I got stronger each week, and after seven practices and a dress rehearsal, I achieved the goal of playing with such an ensemble in a concert of Turkish folk and classical music. There were 35 or 40 musicians of varying skill. I was somewhere in the middle. Jim Stoynoff, a most talented clarinet player, was already a friend and it was great seeing him every week. I made new friends, felt part of the ensemble, and it was good. The concert itself? Forget about it, there were 350 people in attendance, and was everything I expected it would be. 

     I was not not able participate in the Persian or Arab concerts that year.
     The next year I participated in the Turkish Concert again. It was even better and more fun than the first year. It was great seeing all the musicians again. I have played in the Turkish Concert for four years running now. In the concert, I even played an Ussak taksim before Bu Akşam Gün Batarken Gel. I was feeling most professional!
     In the 2015 -16 season, I decided to give the Persian Concert a try. Again, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I did not know the music and therefore had some fears again. Sure, it was different, but there was a piece, Gole Sangam, that I already knew. It was like the second practice and I was hooked. It was a challenging and fun piece called Khazan by Parviz Meshkatian that hooked me. In the last practice before the concert, Wanees passed out another piece. It was rather slow and easy. I was happy I could kinda sorta sight read it. I was feeling good about reading music. I was not able to play in the Arab concert as I traveling to China to teach and would have to miss the concert.
     In the 2016 - 17 season, I was able to play all three concerts and there were no more fears of any kind. In my first Arab concert, I fell in love with a Farid Al-Atrash song, Ahbabina Ya Ein, and have been playing and humming it ever since.  

     I has been a real pleasure being part of MEME. It is really wonderful group of musicians and friends. We practice seven weeks in a row from 7 to 9:30, and sometimes later.  We have a dress rehearsal on Friday night and play the concert on Saturday of that seventh week.  It is great fun and great camaraderie to finally play the concert in front a full house that is alway enthusiastic.

     This season, the 2017-2018 season, is the 20th Anniversary of MEME. For each concert, we are doing the best of Turkish, Persian, and Arab music that MEME has performed.
     The next concert is February 24 at 7 pm and February 25 at 4 pm at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th St, Chicago, Illinois 60637. It is the first time MEME is doing two shows of any concert. The Persian Concert is that popular. Follow MEME on Facebook