Documentation of Music Production for Beyrouth

Transcription

Last Conversation, Xerox-Transfer Litho. ©2001 Joshua Mosley
Documentation of Music Production
for Beyrouth
(a nine minute computer animated opera)
Joshua Mosley
Assistant Professor of Animation and Digital Media
Graduate School of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania
Produced in Beirut, Lebanon, July 18th – Aug 2nd, 2001
Table of Contents
1. Preface
2. Research Grant Proposal
3. Storyboard
4. Lithograph Studies
5. Email Correspondence with Collaborators
6. Production and Collaboration Journal
7. Images of Beirut – Archival and Contemporary
8. Final Grant Report
9. Animation Stills with finalized subtitle transcription
10. Production Credits
Preface:
This journal was written to document my first trip, and my families first return since my
grandfathers departure in 1920 at age six, to Beirut, Lebanon. The primary intent of my trip was to
produce music that would accompany animated film Beyrouth.
The animation was inspired by a poem I wrote two years earlier. The verses of this poem
were partially inspired by the dialogues between my grandfather and I. More precisely; the poem
was inspired by how dialogues are now managed in my own mind when contemplating behavioral
rules of humanity. For example, I used love, religion, appetite, faith, and energy as subjects of
debate for the acts of the opera. These topics are common in all religious texts. I think of this
animation as an imaginary, operatic, debate between my grandfather and my great-grandfather.
Maybe this was a conversation that could have formed a thinker like my grandfather; an
idiosyncratic, agnostic, person who was a member of the Flat-World Society, a debate club, and
who recently proclaimed that "maybe", might be the most reasonable response from intellectuals
who face life’s questions.
When I decided that the work would be sung in Arabic as an opera, near the seaside in
Beirut, I contacted Dima El-Horr, a friend from graduate school who has returned to Lebanon to
live and produce independent films. Dima offered to assist in coordinating this music production
trip. Dima introduced me to Rabih Mroueh, a very interesting playwright and musician who also
lives in Beirut. Both Dima and Rabih made the collaboration with composer, Toufic Farroukh,
unimaginably fruitful.
I would like to thank the University Research Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania
for their support in this international collaboration. The experience of producing music in such a
special place, with such wonderful artists, has not only contributed to this work, but has also
instigated new friendships, and dialogues between nations. I also thank Dima El-Horr, Rabih
Mroueh, Toufic Farroukh, and Ghada Ghanem for all of their contributions, intense focus, and
warm hospitality.
New Media Collaborative Art Forms
A Proposal to:
The Research Foundation
Office of the Vice Provost for Research
212 College Hall
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19105-6381
November 2000
Submitted by
_______________________________
Joshua Mosley, Assistant Professor of
Computer Animation and Digital Media
Graduate School of Fine Arts
207 Meyerson Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6311
Tel.
Fax
Email
(215) 898-3257
(215) 573-2459
jmosley@pobox.upenn.edu
2. Abstract
The principal aim of the proposed study is to negotiate successful creative collaborations with artists of other
disciplines. The completion of this research would yield an exquisite eight-minute computer animated opera. The
digital work would be a composite of human performance, computer animation, and original music. This work requires
the exploration of original cutting-edge processes of computer animation. The proposer would collaborate with a music
director, seven vocalists, a sound engineer, and a small film production crew.
3. Amount of current research support
XXX
(This covers production equipment that would be used in this research.)
4. Other pending proposals for the same project
None
5. List of research support received during the past three years
None
6. Curriculum vitae including publications for the principal investigator
See Following Pages
Background - Contemporary Collaborative Work in Cinema
We are approaching a new Renaissance, in which artists and scientists from every discipline are meeting in the creation
of fantastic new media art forms. Hybrid works incorporating new languages and ideas of theater, music, computer
engineering, cinema, genetic engineering, astronomy, painting, biology, architecture, animation, poetry, and literature
are emerging. Many of these works over-consciously tote the interdisciplinary aspect of their works as being
revolutionary, some may prove to transform our lives.
The value can be quantified in several ways. We can think about the value of the work itself, which when viewed by a
general audience, allows for interpretations that tend to explore human culture in the said work as a complex,
interrelated network of metaphoric ideas. Secondly, by creating new formulas of expression in these works, we
revitalize our methods of research. These collaborations offer opportunities of discovery for finding the role of digital
media in fine art practices. Thirdly, when we collaborate with masters of other media, possibly from other nations, we
deepen the implications of our research and expand the language of our work. And finally, by collaborating we find the
opportunity to make fantastic large-scaled works, consisting of interlocking, well-crafted components.
A striking example of cross-disciplinary dialogs that reiterate parallel themes is in a recent work, Monsters of Grace, by
Phillip Glass and Robert Wilson. Monsters of Grace, an opera written in the 70's by Glass, is inspired by the lyrics of the
13th century Persian mystic Jelaluddin Rumi. In 1998 Glass and Wilson contracted a computer animation company,
the Kleiser-Walczak Construction Company, to "collaborate" in the creation of a theatrical opera consisting of live
music and stereoscopic large-projection computer animated scenes. For Wilson, this proved to be “one of the most
embarrassing things in my life.” (Salon, June 99) Wilson was very displeased with his collaborative relationship with
Kleiser-Walczak because the incorporation of this technology proved to render the creative process immalleable. This
is indicative of the experience artists have when working on high-tech projects managed by commercial agents. The
conflict is a struggle between the streamlined creative process of the industry, and the free form, less economical,
creative process of the independent artist. A solution might be in finding a creative process protocol for collaborative
communication.
Mathew Barney’s recent series of well-funded, highly regarded films, Cremaster 1-7, have succeeded in supporting a
very visceral and sculptural vision. Barney, a contemporary sculptor, has been endowed for the past decade with the
opportunity to work with a professional production crew, composers, costume designers, animal trainers, landscape
architects, and actors. The finished works are stunning, enduring artworks. Nevertheless, Barney’s collaborative
relationships are different than those formed in the production of Monsters of Grace. Glass, Wilson and Kleiser-Walczak
join to discover parallel visions. Mathew Barney curates members with specialized skills and particular aesthetic
sensibilities towards the creation of a monolithic vision.
Description of Proposed Research
The principal investigator of this grant is a practicing studio artist who has created short poetic films combining various
media such as digital sound, digital video, film, original music, and computer animation. The completed works have
been exhibited internationally in digital film festivals, animation screenings, contemporary art galleries and in newmedia conferences. Recent artworks exhibited by the proposer have been recognized for both their technical
craftsmanship and their conceptual sophistication.
The proposed digital work would be an 8 minute musical animation. The operatic work would quiver with call and
answer chants between an "actual" twelve year old human actor, and a computer generated donkey. The libretto, a
short poem of seven stanzas, was written in the spring of 1999 by the proposer.
One summer evening in Beirut, a boy enters his last philosophical dialogue with a donkey beneath a moon-lit willow
tree. We see beautiful animated shadows cast across the set by the swaying movement of the willow branches. They
exchange their beliefs on the human relationships with decisions, faith, appetite, patience, observation, spirit, and finally love.
As we listen to these chants, we see abstracted underwater sequences with large swimming turtles, we watch a blackeyed pea prancing on the rim of a bowl of "hoppin-john", and many other rich, dream like montages.
Act III - Appetite
Donkey: current and raw oats, red dots so soaked
Boy: bring a bread, vigil and thigh
Donkey: celery, roll peas, cold fibrous root
Donkey: andouille, black eye, and chive
Donkey: sip wine, surrender flight
Boy: choose carefully, and right
Donkey: when you were thinking….
Act IV – Patience
Boy: on the leaves
Donkey: of weeping willow trees?
Boy: of their weight and lightness
Boy: of their lines of kindness
Donkey: root tips crest fallen feathers…
Boy: sorted thoughts sing.
Although the lyrics were originally penned in English, they have experienced the intentional residual effects of an
english-spanish-english translation. In this cinematic exploration of very particular relationships and meaningful
environments, the translation of language signifies the transformation of ideas as language is reinterpreted during our
travels, immigration experiences, and between the generations of our families. This personal exploration of a youthful
immigration and a newly forming consciousness is at the heart of Joshua's thinking. The lyrics will be translated to
Arabic, music will be scored, and the opera will be sung by seven qawwals. The recorded performance will become the
soundtrack for the animation.
Innovative Technical Aspects
This production of this work would require original technical inquiry.
• The natural swaying motion of the three dimensional willow branches will be achieved by a combination of
computer programming and virtual reality simulations. The simulations operate on the behaviors of dynamic
forces such as gravity and wind. Maya, the animation industries' most powerful open-architecture software, has
been used in the production of recent feature film special effect simulations. The proposed work will combine
Maya's tools with original animation processes.
• Develop techniques which combine real actors with computer animated actors (Digital Compositing).
• Develop personalized characteristics and effective techniques for lip syncing for virtual actors (the singing donkey).
• A continued exploration in the language of film montage and digital non-linear editing.
• The soundtrack will be digitally recorded, mixed, and mastered.
Specific Objectives
The objectives of completing this work are:
• The publication of the proposer’s work in established venues, (e.g. in digital film festivals, animation screenings,
contemporary art galleries and in new-media conferences), will strengthen the international reputation of the
University of Pennsylvania in its high level of integrity towards digital media research.
• The interaction of the collaborating project members spans nations (Canada, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Pakistan, and
the United States) and span disciplines (film lighting, direction of photography, language translation, music, and
computer animation). These aspects provide for productive dialogues which have great potential for expanding
our understanding of culture, and our developing languages of integrated media.
• The exploration of strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration will be documented and applied towards further
research in collaborative work.
• Computer animations are quite common. Passionate, concept-driven computer animated works are a rare art. The
completion of this digital film incorporating cutting-edge animation technologies would be a prized
accomplishment.
• The process of working on this animation will allow the proposer to contemplate the pedagogical placement of
digital media in the school of Fine Arts.
• Exploration of Innovative Technical Aspects (above) that are useful for further work and in teaching
• The production of this work will help in gaining future funded projects because it would serve as a component of
future proposals, and it will naturally suggest new directions for further research in this field.
Time Frame
The digital film would be released August 20th, 2001.
Implementation
The implementation of the work would include its submissions to international festivals, conferences, and galleries.
i don’t recall Jesus was magic
who might think he was?
im the son of leah, the son of bakri
Don’t say that.
was your father an ass?
im the son of a servant to the royal court.
did your father dream or suffer?
current and raw oats, red dots so soaked
bring a bread, vigil and thigh
celery, roll peas, cold fibrous root
andouille, black eye, and chive
sip wine, surrender flight
choose carefully, and right
when you were thinking….
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
on the leaves
of weeping willow trees?
of their weight and lightness
of their lines of kindness
root tips crest fallen feathers…
sorted thoughts sing.
Act IV – Patience
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Donkey:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Act III – Appetite
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Act II - Faith
Shots of Leaves swaying breeze
Dust Blowing in a Circular Pattern
Arabic Numerals flying
Slow tempo
Arabic Numerals Intermingle
Graphic L shaped water appears
Close shots of the shadows,
more graphic images.
Sequence of Shots of the willow leaves swqying
in the breeze.
Music can be faster tempo
The Black-Eyed Bean runs around the bowl of
rice and jumps wildly and then
Makes one extremely big leap into the sky..
Circus like animtion
Medium tempo
Boy and donkey sing, we see faces
Music begins and then vocals begin,
Starts slowly like a breeze of wind.
Slower tempo
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
june dillow willow, the time is set and actions are still
still though what sir? what might happen?
we make decisions . . . things may change.
and bad decisions, who makes those?
it must be decided to think of a decision as bad
I disagree
(silent nod)
Willow tree leaves against dark sky
Act I - Decision
and what will observations bring
as we watch simple things
energy transformed?
no, . . . energy; redirected.
you are thinking about work
the world does not lose energy
hmm - ‘spent’ but not lost
Act VII – Love
Donkey: love is the resistance of flow
Boy:
(silence)
Donkey: and, flow is present always
Boy:
and love is not?
Donkey: love leaves in varying amounts.
Boy:
and then?
Donkey: and then it returns
Act VI – Spirit
Boy:
do you think of your life from a distance
Donkey: no I am very subjective
Boy:
Do you mean, that you are not a thinker?
I don’t mean to insult you
but do you mean your are acceptive?
Donkey: no I am not a thinker, I am subjective to flow
Boy:
where is the resistance?
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Boy:
Donkey:
Act V – Observation
Return to willow trees and dust.
Med - slow tempo.
Med tempo
Back to boy and donkey scenes
of them singing
Med - Slow tempo
swims through water made of L shapes.
An articulated bus
(with an accordian joint)
Underwater scenes begin and bus appears
Email Correspondence
Nov 16th - July 17th
2001
Date:
From:
To:
Message:
Nov 16,
2000
Frederick
Moffet
Joshua
Mosley
hello josh,
I am happy to hear that Five O'clock Shadow has a life outside of SAIC.
I often show Lindberg to my classes, they really enjoy it and they can't
believe it was produced at the school. Things are pretty good here, i am
quite happy and aware of it for once, which is refreshing. Dima got a
big grant from France to make her next film, it is so exciting, her
email is:
elhorr@hotmail.com
Keep me posted on your work (academic and artistic). I sometimes go on
your web site to see if there is any new work that i should know of.
take care
F
Mar 30,
2001
Joshua
Dima ELHorr
Dima,
this is joshua from saic..
is this your email? I have a film project in process
that will be partly taking place in beirut this summer..
let me know if this is you, and we
can catch up..
Joshua Mosley
Mar 31
Dima
Joshua
dear Josh,
Yes, it's Dima. Hope all is well. Give me details about your project, dates...
Waiting. Take care.
Dima
Mar 31
Joshua
Dima
Dear Dima,
Its is very nice to hear from you!
I hope you doing well,
ive only heard little bits from Frederic.
My latest animation/film project has been going on for about 18 months now. I
wrote a poem a long time ago, and began animation tests . Just when the project
really started to get up to speed, it was the time to apply for full time teaching jobs.
I applied to 23 universities, and found myself traveling and teaching without sleep for
6 months. I did well, and finally in the end, I accepted a tenure track position as
assistant professor of digital media and animation at the University of Pennsylvania.
So this is good, I'm happy here in Philadelphia.. now, I am dying to work on this
animation because I have been smothered by this transition, and ... I have the
summers free to make my work !
Better yet, I recently received a Research grant from the university, to fund a
collaboration w/ other filmmakers and musicians.. I am very interested in how this
project will twist and turn as the collaborations are formed.. The grant is primarily
to fund the production of the soundtrack, to fund travel (in that process), and any
remaining funds could go to fund film / video production, and any distribution
costs.. I plan on applying for more grants once I do a little more research.
The animation takes place near The American university of Beirut, where my
grandfather grew up.. His house is supposedly still occupied although we own it,
Correspondence with collaborators – Beyrouth 1
Date:
From:
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Message:
however - forget about that, I would like to translate the lyrics and produce the
music in Arabic. I want to find a musician to write the music, and then a group of
vocalists 2-4 to perform the music with instruments. one of the vocalist would be a
young super talented soul-full boy..
The 'content' of this poem is a fictional last conversation that my (nobody will know
this) grandfather is having with a donkey.. Biographically, (for your info), my
grandfather's father was killed in a train explosion (an attack) and his mother (a
Sephardic
Jew), who had been formally skilled in making women's hats in France, knew that
her husband had been killed, wanted to remarry to support the kids and not be
lonely, but could not prove to the state that she was actually widowed, because the
death was not documented well... Needless to say, this positions the boy in a very
isolated place, cared for daily by his catholic nanny, he has long braided hair, when
he stands on his toes he can see over the wall around the house and see the sea... He
is surrounded by these serious issues, and yet his world is falsely insular and
contemplative, and in the back of his mind, very deep in the back of his mind, he
actually knows very much of the truth. The donkey is a common character in Goya's
etchings 'disaster of war', that has seemed on target for this animation since the
start.. ...
I really feel like I would like to have your help w/ this. This would be a paid
collaboration. I can see now that I would need someone like you (in a sense a
collaborator) who could serve as a consultant (conceptual / logistical), liaison, and
translator for the production of the soundtrack in Beirut. This would involve finding
the musicians, finding a music writer (if this person is not also the performer), a
music recording space or studio, and then being present during the production as an
assistant director. The date that the actual recording could take place could be
scheduled anywhere from may 24th to july 24th.. the Ideal timing would be mid
june..
let me know any if you have any thougths..
and i can fill in details...
take care, joshua..
see the accepted grant application here:
http://www.joshuamosley.com/Beyrouth/researchgrant.html
see images / test renders from the animation here:
http://www.joshuamosley.com/Beyrouth/
April 2
Dima
Joshua
Dear Josh,
Congratulations for the tenure contract. Hope that It will meet your expactations.
It's with a great interest that I read the "synopsis" of your new project and I'll be
more than glad to help but the ideal time for me would be after mid June because I'm
preparing a new short film and the shooting is schedueled for June 11 till the 18th. I
have a friend who is a musician and will probably be interested in working with
you..Anyway, I can put you with lot of contacts here, don't worry about this. Let me
know if the time is okay with you...
good luck,
Dima
Date:
From:
To:
Message:
April 5
Joshua
Dima
Dear Dima,
Wow! I'm very excited about this..
How would it work if I scheduled my visit from the 21st to the 30th?
also - just curious, are you familiar w/ the area around the American University?
Joshua
April 27
Joshua
Dima
Dear Dima,
are you busy with your project? did I scare you off?
I have been really tied up with the critiques at the end of the semester.. I would like
to make reservations soon if you would be willing to help. If the dates were bad
(june 22 -30) then we could push it a little later..
thanks, I hope you are well,
Joshua
May 09
Dima
Joshua
Dear Josh,
Sorry for this long absence but I was in the village where I'll be shooting my film. It's
a small village where acess to the internet is quite impossible. Now that I'm back to
civilization, I'm catching up on the numerous Emails I recieved during my absence. I
might be going to Paris right after the shoot and be back mid july. So mid July would
be perfect for me to help you out in your film. The musician will be definetly in
town by this date cause he is going to Austria in June. Anyhow, hope this date fits
yours and YES, I'm more than familiar with American University area. It's were I eat
my daily delicious crepes.
May 13
Dima
Joshua
Dear Josh,
I sent you an E.mail 3 days ago and I wonder if you received it. I'm skeptic about it
cause I never got a reply from you. To be brief, I was in the village where I'll be
shooting my film, and it's a small village with NO ACCESS to the internet. I'm going
to be free in MID JULY, starting the 14th and I'll be more than glad to help you out
in your film. I talked to the msusician and he's going to be in Lebanon as well. Hope
this date suits your plan.
Take care,
Dima.
May 13
Joshua
Dima
Dima,
This sounds very good, Im sorry I did not get back earlier, I was very glad to hear
that everything was well. Your project sounds like interesting work, I remember
when you were making 'the street' you also went and met the towns people before
shooting the film.
I have finished with school this week, and have just begun to work full-time on this
project. I will begin looking for a flight to arrive just after july 14th; I think I should
stay for about a week if that would be ok.. I will write again tonight to tell you what
I find, and to give you more details on the budget and payment from the grant for
your collaboration and for the musicians..
It would be helpful to know your shooting dates so that I will know when you will
again be without access to internet..
I will write soon, take care,
Joshua
June 2
Joshua
Dima
Dear Dima,
Date:
From:
To:
Message:
I have my tickets!
I will arrive in Beirut on the 18th of July, at 1:35,
and I depart on the 25th at 8 am.
I will be in spain until June 11th; but if anything comes
up I will be checking e-mail..
hope your film is going well,
joshua
July 04
Dima
Joshua
Dear Joshua,
I'm back to civilization. I'm actually in Canada visisting Kim. I''m in Toronto at this
time and you can reach me in the mornings at the following number:
(416)340.8855.
Hope you are well and your preparations for your trip are being smoothly finalized.
a tres bientot.
Dima.
July 06
Dima
Joshua
Dear Josh,
It was nice talking to you this morning...
The following is the Rabih'sm Email: rabihm@hotmail.com.
Hope all will go well with your project...
Take care and don't hesitate to call me...
send me your phone number if you want.
Take care.
Dima.
July 07
Joshua
Rabih
Dear Rabih,
I have heard wonderful things about you through Dima, I loved your music in her
film 'the street'!
I was a student with Dima in Chicago at the Art Institute. Since then I have been
working with computer animation. The project I have been working on for the past
2 years is based on a poem that I wrote, it is about messages that might have been
given to my grandfather by his father. The messages are the stanza's of the poem,
they are generalizations about things such as food and love, family and religion.
My grandfather was born in Beirut in 1914, and supposedly left with his mother
when he was 6 because she wanted to re-marry after her husband was killed on a
train bombed by the Turkish. He lived near the American University, near the water
(so that if he "stood on his toes he could look over the wall towards the sea" ). This
thought is only inspiration for the project.
I estimate that the animation will be 7 minutes (based on the length of the music). I
have two animated characters that will be singing on screen, (* a younger male
voice, and an older male voice), and I imagine that this would be like an opera, sung
in Arabic with instrumental accompaniment. I have been listening to traditional
Lebanese music while working on the animation, although I know little about this
music. I would appreciate it very much if you could recommend CD's or musicians..
I will be in Beirut from July 18-25th and I would like to rehearse and record the
music during this time.
Please let me know first of all, if you are interesting in collaborating. (please excuse
my extensive email introduction)
Date:
From:
To:
Message:
For the music production, I received a grant that I hope will be sufficient to cover
the production of the music and compensate (you?) for your collaboration. I will list
what expectations I have below, so that you might be able to tell me if some of the
sound recording, or performing roles could fall under your position. Also I would
like to have a realistic estimate of rehearsal hours to help estimate payment - and you
might have a recommendation on how much to pay the musicians and yourself...
I look forward to meeting you, and thank you for your time..
sincerely,
Joshua Mosley
------------------------------------------------------------------------Host / Liaison / Translator - Dima Elhorr
------------------------------------------------------------------------Lead Composer/Translator/Musical Director/( Lead singer?)
(you?)
Compose music for the lyrics.
Meet 3 times for 3 hours to discuss concepts and progress..
Would work w/ 2 vocalists on 3 rehearsals for 3 hours each.
Directs final Recording session - 3 hours.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Instruments (2 ? Oud and percussion?)
2 rehearsals for 3 hours each.
Final Recording session - 3 hours.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Vocalists (2 male, one young, one older)
3 rehearsals for 3 hours each.
Final Recording session - 3 hours.
Will perform in the final recording, and will not take royalties.
One of the performers will be about 12 years old. (a young soloist)...
------------------------------------------------------------------------Sound Recording and Mixing Engineer
Will set up recording space or studio and record performance and archive sessions (8
hours)
This could be on ProTools - and also on DAT (or DAT only)
July 08
Rabih
Joshua
Dear Joshua
Dima has told me about your project,and I was expecting your e-mail..
I read your e-mail and I find the story is interesting ..and I would like to work with
you on the music, but between July 18 and 25 I will be busy..
I am preparing a play with my students to present it in July 26, so if you decide to
come in July 18 it would be difficult for me to give you enough time...
But on the other hand I will help you to find a good musicians and good singers and
good studio...
By the way I have some points to clear them :
Did you already translate the poem into Arabic ? if not, do you have an idea who is
going to translate it?
In all cases you have to send it as soon as possible because you don't have enough
time-(Today is July 8)-in order to see who is going to translate it and who is going to
Date:
From:
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Message:
compose its music.
what is the duration of the music? is it 7 minutes or less?
you want two instruments : Oud and Percussion...two male singers one of them is
young (about 12 years old) and the second is older ? is that true?
Do you expect to finish the project before july 25? at this moment I can tell you that
each musician takes 75$ per hour in studio( while in rehearsals it is less than 40$ and
sometimes it maybe free, with no charge). as for the studio: a very good studio costs
60$ for one hour including Mixing Engineer..of course we can find good small
studios with less than 60$...(maybe 40$) As for the composer ,I have no idea cause it
depends who is going to compose it...but maybe we could find a composer who also
plays Oud so that means we can make a deal with him for the whole project .. I am
sorry cause I can't be responsible for this work but I can help in a way, and of course
if you come to Beirut I will not leave you alone , but I will try to be with you in my
free time...
so waiting to hear from you..
I wish you all the best
Greetings
Rabih Mroue'
July 09
Joshua
Rabih
Dear Rabih,
I am sorry to hear that this time is bad for you because I am locked into these dates,
however, I really, really- appreciate your help!
The poem has not been translated to Arabic yet, and I am asking for help from Dima
on the translation. As you have said it might be best to find the person who will
compose the music as soon as possible and have them exposed to the lyrics also? I am
sending the poem in the next email so that we can get started right away. If you
would have time to compose prior to the 18th (i understand you are busy), or if you
might be able to find someone who can start working on this now (who does play
oud), please let me know.
I estimate that the music will be seven minutes based on the number of words and
tempo of the music. The animation is very flexible so the song's length and pacing
will eventually determine the editing of the image. The voice of older character
would be somewhat husky, the voice of the younger character would be lighter and
youthful. The age of the younger singer could vary (10-15 i imagine...).
The cost of the performers and studio is reasonable. I would like to reserve time in
one of the 60$ studios for the last day or two once we have other details worked out.
I have a sample track by Melhim Barakaat (i have posted at the link below) that I
have been using for testing the lip sync of the characters, I like several aspects of this
song - the varied tempo, and especially the singing about 50 seconds into song..
During this slower tempo solo, do you know what instruments are used?
http://pobox.upenn.edu/~jmosley/melhimBarakaat.rm
I would appreciate it greatly, if you could help me in finding a composer that I could
work with if you think that you would not be able to compose prior to that week, (it
would be great if I could speak with this person via email or phone. )...
Joshua
Dima
thank you again so much for your help,
Joshua
Hello Dima,
Date:
From:
To:
Message:
I have begun communication w/ Rabih. He has been very helpful, although it seems
like he will be busy preparing for a concert w/ his students during the week I am in
Beirut. He has offered to help as much as possible, and I thought it would be good to
copy the emails to you so that you stay in touch.
I am forwarding the poem to you and Rabih, and I was wondering if you could work
on the translation of the poem to Arabic with me?
I would like to work w/ you on this because the words will not be a direct
translation, i trust your advice, and it will require a little discussion. If this is ok, i
would also forward an annotated version that tells about the associated images, and a
little about my intention in the phrases...
hope to hear soon,
thanks,
joshua
my phone # is 215 735 2934 (in case you need to call)
--------------------------below is my first letter to Rabih:
see letter above
July 08
Joshua
Dima and
Rabih
Below are the lyrics, divided into seven stanzas / verses. The name of the verse will
not be conveyed in the music..
See Storyboard for Lyrics
July 09
Rabih
Joshua
Dear Joshua
I just got your two e-mails...
I want to know how much you want to pay for the translation ...
unfortunately , I can't do it myself cause I am not a good translator...but I will find
someone good...I think the poem needs someone very good in Arabic as well in
English ....so I just want to know how much you can to pay for it in order to tell the
one I will see...
Don't worry if you don't have much to pay...just tell me and I will help you ...but I
think we should start from this moment...
sorry I couldn't open the web page to hear Milhem Barakat's song , try to send it to
me again...
I will think about a good composer who plays Oud at the same time but I have to
show him the lines in order to know what we are talking about...
we will start step by step...
I will start by translating the lines into Arabic...
and at the mean time I will think about who is going to be the composer...
that's it...
waiting to hear from you..
all the best
Rabih
July 09
Rabhi
Joshua
Hi again
I forgot to tell you that there is two options for the translation :
1- The literary Arabic which we call "Al-Fousha" , and which all the arab countries
Date:
From:
To:
Message:
write ,read and speak...but it is the official language, it is like you want it to be
serious..
2- the lebanese dialect, which is arabic spoken by the lebanese , it could be
understood by all the arab countries ...it is like you don't want it to be so serious...
so you have to make your choice..
best regards
Rabih
July 09
Dima
Joshua
Dear Josh,
I recieved the poem and I can start working on the translation. It's definetly better if
a composer starts working on the music before the 18th. I already sent Rabuh an
E.mail asking him about this matter. I should also get a second opinion about the
tansaltion just because my written Arabic is not as good as it should be but don't
worry about it
we will stay in touch
Dima
Dear Josh,
you can reach me at the following phone number: 514. 927.9559 (Kim's Cell phone)
take care.
Send me the associate images.
Dima
July 09
Joshua
Rabih
Rabih,
I would prefer that the poem is translated using the lebanese dialect (eh miya?).. I
could pay for the translation, no problem, although Dima has just begun to work on
the translation herself, I will speak with her in the morning about this and email you
very soon.
I reposted the barakaat clip using quicktime at this address..
http://pobox.upenn.edu/~jmosley/melhim.html
Joshua
July 12
Joshua
Rabih
Hello Rabih,
I just spoke with Dima, she told me about the arrangements that you have been
working on making with this great composer and poet - it all sounds wonderful, and
I have my fingers crossed .. I can make a payment to the poet, please ask him/her to
keep track of how much time they spend in the translation, and I will arrange the
payment after I arrive, next wednesday!
thanks again!
Joshua
July 15
Dima
Joshua
Josh,
The following is the E,mail adress of my friend who agreed to rent you his
appartment.
emirK@future.com.lb
Take care. Dima
July 17
Joshua
Dima
thanks dima, i contacted him, see you in beirut at the airport... Joshua.
BEIRUT ARRIVAL
Production Journal
July 18th - August 1st
2001
Color Video Stills ©2001 Joshua Mosley
Archival Photos from Blantchford Collection and the Moore Collection
held at the American University of Beirut
Date:
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Entry:
July 18, 2001
Airplane
Joshua
After stopping in the Charles de Gaul Airport in Paris, I departed for
Beirut very early in the morning. This flight was the last six hours of
the journey. From the plane, I could see various countries, although I
couldn’t decide what countries I was looking at. Eventually, as the
plane was descending, the Mediterranean Sea became visible, the
coastline of Beirut, and finally, I could see identifiable landmarks, like
the Pigeon Rocks. I was very excited at this moment, and thought
that this was the most exciting trip that I had ever taken because it
had been so long since Grandpa Edmond had left, and I was curious to
see what had changed here, what might be the same, and very
interested in what aspects of this culture might have been carried into
my life through my connection.
July 18, 2001
Airport
Joshua
Dima
Ola
Farouz
Meena
I arrived at the airport at 2:30 p.m.; Dima would arrive at the airport
at 4:30, so I waited at the tourist center for her arrival. When she
arrived, I met her friends and we drove through the city to Emir’s
house, where I will stay for the next week. The city is halfdilapidated, very noisy and the cars swarm around on the roads,
coming from every direction when we cross the street. I was nervous
about carrying the equipment; I brought a Digital Audio Recorder
with a new stereo microphone, a DV camera, and my laptop
computer. The apartment was small, and $700 a month, which for a
period of one week, I agreed to pay 1/4 of the rent. I took a nap, I
had serious jet lag from my flight, and I had to account for the
Portland, Oregon to Philadelphia to Paris to Beirut trip that had
transpired. After this I took a walk around the coast and through the
nearby neighborhood. Along the coast many guards with machine
guns were standing, people were fishing on the rocks with very long
fishing poles, and the traffic was very difficult to cross. Later when I
asked Dima about the soldiers, she said they were guards for the
Prime Minister, who often swims there. I then bought juice and
water for the apartment and organized my equipment and recorded
part of the evening prayer.
July 18, 2001
Restaurant in
the
reconstructed
square.
Dima
Joshua
Dima picked me up for dinner at 8, and took me to the newest
reconstructed area of town, Beruit's Central District, Place d' Etoile.
This area, and most areas of Beirut were destroyed during the war,
and were in the process of being rebuilt. At this restaurant we ate
Kibbeh with vegetables and pine nuts mixed in, with cucumber and
Production and Collaboration Journal – Beyrouth 1
Above is the first image I saw depicting Beirut before my excursion.
Below is a video still. This lighthouse was built before my grandfather left Beirut in 1920.
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yogurt to put on top, we had “regular bread” which was very thin and
came with meat spread thinly, we had bitinjaan ma'al, a mixture of
onions peppers and aubergines (eggplant), and a small dish of beets
toped with slices of oranges. After dinner we walked around in this
square, looked at the Roman baths nearby that had been discovered
during the renovation, and we talked about the war, revitalization,
and a little about the religious issues of me being here.
July 19, 2001
Morning Walk
on Al-Hamra
Street
Joshua
I needed to find breakfast on my own, and I couldn’t sleep any
longer, so at 7am I went looking for food. After walking about a mile
the stores began to open, and I finally had options. I chose a
"manaesh" from an open storefront with an oven, and they put it in
the oven for three minutes and then give it to you. It is a round flat
piece of bread about 8 “, on top of it is thyme, a sour spice, sesame
seeds, olive oil, and half of it has a salty finely ground cheese. After
they bake it a little, they put cold fresh vegetables on it and roll it up.
If you eat it with tea you have it without the vegetables. The options
were tomato, something like pickles, and mint leaves. So I chose only
the fresh mint leaves. It was delicious. After this I walk for a couple of
blocks and found Al-Hamra street (which is supposedly the “touristic
street” in the old downtown. I didn’t think it was touristy compared
with any other city. I stopped at “mishka” a coffeehouse where the
“intellectuals” drink coffee. I had Turkish coffee with sugar and sat
and watched people outside, I couldn’t tell if the other people there
were intellectuals, they were also looking at the people outside.
July 19, 2001
Morning
Sound Record
Joshua
I went out thinking that I could record some city sounds and some
sounds of large vehicles for the bus movements, it turns out that I
needed the directional microphone because the city is loud, and has
so many sounds. I made some recordings at locations a block away
and then came home and cooled off.
July 19, 2001
Café near
Future TV
television
station
Rabih
Dima
Joshua
Dima picked me up at 11 in the morning; I hadn’t had much sleep,
because I was jet lagged from the flight. We drove East towards the
television station, picked up Rabih, and went to the café. On the way
Rabih tells us that he has the translation of the poem with him, Dima
asks how is it, and Rabih says very poor. This is disappointing because
we had hired a poet to do the translation, and it had been made very
literally. We sat inside of this café (a nice, air-conditioned café) and
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reworked the translation line by line. It was necessary for me to tell
what my intentions were with several of the sections, and with
several of the metaphors. I hadn’t realized how many multiple
meanings I had built, how many references I had been contemplating,
and how long I had been working on this project (2 years). When we
translated the Act about food for example, their was no word for
andouille (sausage); which is an important ingredient in Hoppin’
John, the Cajun rice and bean dish. I was under that assumption that
this was Andalusian; and Andalusia was a region in Spain (or Peru?),
and it tasted like the sausages that I ate in Spain, and my grandfathers’
mother was a Sephardic Jew who’s family was from Spain. Maybe the
donkey is telling the boy that he will find pleasure in this sausage; it is
from his roots. Long story short; no word for andalusia so we need to
change the poem, and make something else meaningful in its place.
The word for black-eyed pea was only used when referring to a dish
that contained chickpeas. So we made the chorus of the song include
the name of this dish.
I felt confident by the look on Rabih’s face every time we resolved
one of the seven sections, I was impressed with how focused Rabih
was, and I respect him very much. Many alterations to the poem
were made, which I was expecting. I was surprised how it was
necessary to draw the images created by the poem through different
methods. It was not possible to say energy or magic, for example
because the meaning would not be a direct translation, and the new
meanings by a roughly approximated word would be clumsy. So,
Rabih and Dima suggested several (starts with a p) and new
metaphors that seemed to approximate the meaning. The meeting
lasted 4 hours and we finished the first draft of the translation.
July 19, 2001
Dima’s House
Dima
Mother,
Sister, Niece,
Nephew
Brother, Ola,
Joshua
We drove to Dima’s for a late lunch. During the drive we traveled
from what was once called West Beirut (where I am staying (which
was mostly a Muslim area, to East Beirut where Dima grew up and
still lives. Dima is Muslim and she said very few Muslims lived in East
Beirut before the war, and that during the war, her family moved to
West Beirut because her school was there. The ‘red line’ was the
dividing line through the city, which was implemented as barrier
during the war. It seemed like 50% of the buildings along this strip
had been renovated. Those buildings that had not been renovated had
On Mount: Chapel and rear of Post Hall, Syrian Protestant College, Beirut. Built 1891
Later named American University of Beirut
PH 1/213 Blantchford Collection
Studio Sarrafian Bros. Beirut
My grandfather may have been taken to this
chapel on campus of the American University
by his nanny.
On Mount: The Chapel Interior
PH 1/214 Blantchford Collection
Studio Sarrafian Bros. Beirut
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no paint, no windows, and many times no walls. The surfaces were
perforated with gun and shell shots, all of the corners of the structure
were rounded and chewed on by gun shots, like a piece of wood in a
rodents cage. The streets around these areas were relatively clean,
and it was evident that renovation on many structures had been
started, and was moving slowly.
Dima’s house was near the hill about 20 minutes away. It was a 10story building; her family had one of the floors. The house was filled
with Victorian style furniture, portraits of her father, photographs of
her sister as a bride, and smaller photographs of the family. The
family had a driver, who would run various errands outside of the
house, and two house helpers who were Sri Lankan. Dima’s mother
was nice, but didn’t speak English and was fairly quiet. For lunch,
Dima’s mother presented several dishes, a rice dish, with pieces of
lamb, cinnamon, and yogurt to put on top. Okra with various other
vegetables and subtle spices, and flat bread, and beer. After this meal,
I became so tired, I slept for a couple of hours on their patio which
overlooked the city. I then met Dima’s sister’s family, who was as
quiet as her mother (but then again, I wasn’t talkative), and her
brother who was friendly and talkative.
July 19, 2001
The café on
the sea
Rabih, Dima,
Toufic,
Meena, Ola,
Joshua
We then drove to the café near where I was staying in order to meet
the prospective composer, Toufic Farroukh. Toufic is a well-known
Lebanese musician who lived in Paris most of the time and who has
published several CD’s and who has written music for film. Rabih and
Dima felt that he would be easier to work with and more accessible
than Charbel Rouhana. He was very friendly and seemed to be a
listener, and he immediately reminded me of Lou Mallozi who
seemed to be good when working with people. Rabih read him the
poem in Arabic, and sometimes Toufic would repeat the lines of the
poem and either clarify or listen to how they sounded. When they
were finished, I played portions of the animation on a LCD screen
from the video camera, and Toufic was most taken by the movements
of the donkey. He giggled. Later Dima said that the movements were
very true to life and uncanny. I was concerned about my demo
animation because I was unsure of the content of the music, and felt
that the donkey singing this content with the over the top gestures
might be offensive. It seemed ok.
Rabih and Dima working on the translation.
A panorama composed of three images from the Moore Collection, Børre Ludvigsen, 970818
The view from Dima's Balcony. During the civil war, her family watched shelling from this vantage point.
The view from the apartment
that I was renting near Al-Hamra
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We spoke a little bit about the timeline of the project (basically oneweek), and about the instruments involved (percussion, oud, and two
vocalists). Toufic suggested a couple of other instruments. Toufic also
said that he wouldn’t be able to actually begin until the 24th, although
he would start thinking on it immediately, and unfortunately I had
been planning on leaving on the 25th. I decided at that point that with
any composer, it was certain that my trip would need to be extended.
We began to negotiate the price. He wanted me to make an offer for
the entire project. He wanted to know how much I had available. I
offered $4000. Toufic said that this would not be enough to produce
the song, let alone. I asked how much, he proposed $7000, and said
that with this amount he would only be able to take $500 for his labor
after the studio costs, and payment to the musicians. I told them this
would probably be too much for my budget, and that I would need to
think about it, and hear several samples of his music before making a
decision. He was ok with this, he wanted to read the lyrics again, and
think about them. We decided to meet the following morning at
11am.
July 19, 2000
American
University
Beirut
July 20, 2000
Morning walk
July 20, 2000
Sea Side Café
Dima,
Meena, Ola,
Joshua
After the meeting, Rabih had a meeting with his friends, and Dima,
Meena, Ola and I drove to the American University of Beirut (5
minutes away). We stopped at a popular eating place, I had a
shwarma sandwich – pita bread with roasted lamb, and many other
toppings. After this we went to a local bar closer to where I was
staying, and met a couple more of their friends. We had Mexican
beer, a local beer on tap with lemon juice and salt on the edge of the
glass. Rabih refuses to call it a Mexican beer.
I found a different place to eat that bread, then I went to the internet
café, checked email, and downloaded mp3’s of Toufic's music. I liked
some of the tracks and decided that I would hire him for the project if
he was interested.
Toufic,
Dima,
Joshua
I hired Toufic to compose and produce the music for $7000. To be
completed by August 31st. He played his latest cd; I was very excited
about it because it was a mixture of classical Arabic music with jazz
(trumpet, saxophone, and some electronic sounds. I didn’t think that
Neighborhood where I stayed
Private Beach
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I was looking for this, and I thought the saxophone was not right for
the piece, but I was interested in his contemporary experimentation,
and thought that this could bring a lot of appropriate qualities of
collage and variation to the finished work. I told him what I enjoyed
about several of the songs to specify what I was looking for. He told
me that he felt that many of the translation decisions that Rabih had
made were great, and that he appreciated this.
July 20, 2000
Café
Dima,
Dima's
Editor,
Joshua
We went to a different café that Dima goes to when she is working on
her film planning. Dima called her travel agent to extend my flight,
and her friend met us there. Her friend was an editor in LA after she
went to USC for filmmaking. Again, we stayed at this café for about 4
hours, and this seemed very natural, people would really hang out at
these places for a long time. I went home, and to the internet café,
and made plans for Dima to pick me up at 9pm.
July 20, 2000
Restaurant
near the AUB
Rabih, Dima,
Meena,
Meena’s
Sister, Ola,
Joshua
Rabih and Dima picked me up, I told Rabih how happy I was working
with Toufic. We ate at a small place near the American university of
Beirut. Rabih and I had a drink called arak; it tastes like anise seed,
and is milky white. At many of these bars, they serve a plate full of
slightly pickled carrots, with bowls of sesame seeds, roasted peanuts,
and olives. Then we ordered several things this leafy vegetable
(between spinach and arrugula) with that lemony spice and a light
dressing,Tawoak? it was a mixture of tomatoes compressed cooked
yogurt (like feta cheese) cucumbers (very small here) and it tasted
roughly like a Greek salad. Then very spicy Armenian sausages and a
little sour (you are supposed to eat this with the flat bread, and
another salad mixture that was better than the first (which was hard
to top), I was really going crazy with this food. I definitely will come
back to this place.
July 21, 2001
Morning Walk
Joshua
I went early in the morning to buy water because I was extremely
thirsty, but the stores were closed. I returned later, and then rested.
Then went out and bought sandals. I was extremely tired today. I
rested until 7 p.m. and went out with Dima and her friends to the
café in the new downtown that we had met at before.
July 22, 2001
Beach
Sunday
Dima, Ola,
Joshua,
Dima picked me up at 10:15, and brought me a sweet bread item
Fisherman on the rocks near AUB
Postcard
Me at the American University in Beirut
The rocks near the American University of Beirut
My grandfather remembers eating Kibbeh here with his nanny.
Protools software used in the recording studio
Ghada Ghanem singing
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Rabih,
Lena
Entry:
with sesame on the outside, and some kind of cheese on the inside for
breakfast. We drove south with Ola to a beach almost near Sidon.
Rabih and Lena came, although they drove with other people. The
water was warm and salty, the beach was hot, and we paid about 10$
to enter the beach club. It had a swimming pool, clean sand,
hundreds of beach chairs and umbrellas, with thatched tops, and
popular Cuban music, cigar smoking, probably 1000 Lebanese
people, Africans maintained the grounds, and it was really hot. This
was a beach for the affluent Lebanese people who were concerned
with their appearance, many of the women had the popular lip lining
tattoo and silicon injected shaped lips.
In the afternoon, it became so crowded they stopped letting people
in, and they started playing dance music, essentially MTV dance party
music. In the morning I went for a quick swim, to avoid the burn of
the jellyfish, who have multiplied due to their predators, the turtles,
who have become endangered because they have been choking on the
plastic bags, which look like the jellyfish. So I didn’t swim, because
the turtles couldn’t tell the difference between a plastic bag, and a
jellyfish. I had kebob with steak and fries, and drank tamarind drink,
with small grapes, and pine nuts in it (supposedly a classic Lebanese
drink). For the rest of the time, I found a shady, grassy area and slept
all day.
Later Dima and Ola and I went back to Dima’s to make spaghetti, and
I was sort of in a bad mood, because I had been so hot, and now the
idea of spaghetti seemed wrong. After dinner, we went to the deck
and talked for a long time about Dima’s film, and filmmaking, and it
was the best conversation we have had. Dima then drove me home.
July 23, 2001
American
University
Today was my first walk along the coast, and to the American
University of Beirut. My grandfather, Edmond Mosley, formerly,
Edmond Moussali, formerly Edmond Eskinazi, lived in this
neighborhood until he was six years old. He was born in Lebanon in
1914, and left with his mother in 1920 for the United States. I
wanted to find his house, and see the places that he saw when he was
very young. He told me when I was young that we still owned a
house in Beirut, and that the soldiers occupied the house. He said that
when the war was over, we could look for the house. He told me
The House I thought could be my grandfathers.
Upstairs windows
Front Gate
Looking through the front gate
Side balcony, also there was a balcony in back.
The back of the house faces the ocean.
Looking through the front fence. Notice the
small pool on the right (he described this).
A closer view of the pool.
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before I left for this trip, that he did not know the address, that no
addresses existed at that time, that he had no photographs of the
house, the only exiting photos and memories were the portraits and
text in his biography.
July 24, 2001
Morning in
Internet Café,
and Starbucks,
First Listen to
music
I stayed at the net café all day and uploaded images from the trip so
far captured from digital video. I worked on email. I am able to hook
up my computer to their internet, which is useful, because I can work
at the apartment, and upload changes to my web site, and responses
to my email at the end of the day. I also tried net2phone and made
some calls, it is an internet telephone that can call regular telephones
(10 cents a minute to the U.S.). The delay was shorter than on some
long distance lines, and the sound was actually preferable. After this I
went to Starbucks, I was tired of all of the smoky cafés and wanted a
place to wait while the apartment I was subletting was being used for
a television show production. I was here until about 4pm, and made
changes to my web site. I noticed another woman with the tattooed
lip liner and realized that it really looks odd because there is a 1/16”
strip of normal colored flesh between the red of the lipstick, and this
1/16” dark umber colored line. So it is easy to see from 10 feet away,
that this woman has a line drawn above her lip. She also had fake
eyelashes on that were strongly curled, and hair that was dyed black,
many women have bleached blonde hair.
At 4:30, I went to the vocalist’s house to meet her and Toufic, who
had also invited this young man, probably around 26. The vocalist
was Ghada Ghanem, a Lebanese woman who had studied music and
singing at the Lebanese National Conservatory and also at Rice
University in Houston. She sings mostly opera, but also classical
Arabic and Russian. She had worked in New York until a couple of
years ago, when she moved back to Beirut. They had been rehearsing
the lyrics during the day, and Toufic had composed the melody.
Toufic played the music on a small bazook, and they sang. I felt very
good about Ghada’s voice - she is playing the part of the boy. I
thought the other vocalist was too flat, and not a very powerful singer
next to her. After he left, we all agreed that he should be an older
man, as I had requested before. It would be ideal if his voice was
scratchy, he could be a bit off key, and it could be very crunchy. They
agreed. We had trouble with the translation of act 5 and act 7. Toufic
felt that the meaning had been lost on 7, and Ghada couldn’t make
sense of the usage of "energy" in act 5. We spoke about the meaning
On Mount: Syrian Protestant College (later named American University of Beirut)
PH: 1/204, Blantchford Collection
On Mount: Obeservatory-Syrian Protestant College, Beirut. Built 1874
PH: 1/210, Blantchford Collection
Studio Sarrafian Bros, Beirut
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of energy in the translation to Arabic for about 30 minutes. We were
looking for alternatives that would keep the overall meaning of the
poem congruent with the meaning in English. As Ghada said, “ you
are complicated.” I learned something about my writing style that I
found interesting during this conversation. I was targeting
meaning not with the individual words nor the individual
lines, but rather I think I had been making meaning (for
myself anyway) by the way that one line’s image would
dissolve into the next lines image. Often the friction of one
would turn the other, and the meaning would float on the
top of the text as it was read. I don’t mean to think that I am a
poet, or skilled with doing this writing, but I realized that I enjoyed
how I had crafted my words, and realized that it was impossible for
me to achieve the same effect with the translation. What will be
possible however, is for the music to be produced, and then in
response I will have Dima translate these lyrics back to English. In
response to this experience, I will continue to produce the images,
and edit the images with the music, and I hope that the work-at-large
will operate like the poem, with a meaning that transcends any
specific node, and progresses like thoughts that pass in the state of
contemplative thought. The thoughts in this case meditate on the last
conversation of this departing boy.
I returned home and digitized the rehearsal, then edited it with
ProTools to remove the page turning and discussion. I compressed
the audio to upload to the internet so that I could send the draft to
friends and family.
July 25, 2001
Walk to
Pigeon Rocks,
AUB, and
surrounding
Neighborhoods
Me
I took a hot walk south along the seaside to Pigeon Rocks and shot
video along the way. During the walk, the music was repeating in my
head and I felt good about the progress of the last meeting. Most of
the seaside walk has private beaches built onto it with security guards
wearing camouflage and holding machine guns. In these areas, there is
either a 7-foot high fabric wall, or a fence so that pedestrians cannot
see the beach, these also block the view of the ocean. I then walked
back north along the seaside to the American University of Beirut,
and video taped more houses in the surrounding areas. I went to the
archive section of the library, and the visitors center. The archives
told me that they had a photography collection by a professor named
Grotte de Pigeon (Beyrouth)
PH: 1/190 Blantchford Collection, American University of Beirut
Pigeon Rocks, Video Still
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Moore, which ranged from 1895 to 1905 and many of the photo’s
included the surrounding areas. The collection is on their site, so I
looked at all of the images (about 90) and picked out the ones that
related to my search for grandpa’s house.
After this, I went to a bookstore and read a little about the history of
architecture of Beirut in order to see if I could date the houses that I
was looking at by their style; and then I continued to comb the
streets. I found a small school, in a two-story building, which was a
candidate for his house. I returned to the apartment, digitized many
of the photos, and then went out to dinner with Dima, Farouz, Ola,
Rabih, and two others who were friends with Ola. I chose the place,
because I wanted to eat the vegetable kibbet again. I listened to their
conversations and tried to pick up some basic Arabic words. Shukra
(thanks), Kiffic or Kiffuc how are you, MirHH (good, bien), and kil’lil
(all of us). Dima told me that Toufic has found an older man for the
singer, and he feels that the voice is very good. We will start
recording on the 27th at 11 a.m.
Again I worked on internet at the café before returning home. When
I got home, I set the alarm for 3:45 am because I wanted to record
the morning prayer that begins at 3:55 (near my apt. and echoes
through the neighborhood). The prayer is amplified by many
mosques, and the time ranges (people tell me it is within the hour).
Sometimes you can hear two different soliloquies simultaneously. The
speaker that the prayer is sung from is posted on a high tower at a
mosque across the street. Tomorrow morning I will try this again,
but I will go down to the street because I have too much air
conditioner sound in the recording from the balcony. I’m interested
in this prayer, because practically speaking, it begins before most
Muslims wake up, and I’m sure that they hear it in their sleep. This is
involuntary meditation (as far as I’m concerned).
July 26, 2001
Home,
Starbucks,
Dinner,
LAU
After several calls from Dima and a call from Toufic, we settled on
technical setting for the recording studio. The Lebanese television
standard is called PAL, I would have guessed that it would be
SECAM, because the French colonized Lebanon. The French
television standard is Secam, the British standard is Pal, and United
States is NTSC (many other countries adopt these formats).
Mosaic from 1963 on apartment building
The shadow of willow leaves
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Manufacturers like Sony produce variations of this video equipment
for all of the countries. One issue was the frame rate, which seems to
be an irrelevant issue because we are producing music, however, if
we set the program for the correct frame rate, it can continued to be
used in conjunction with the images of the film, when making the
final touches, at the very end of the production. So the Pal frame rate
per second is 25, NTSC is 29.97. The United States has a faster frame
rate (smoother motion), and the Europeans have better image
quality. I chose 29.97 because I am producing this for DVD, and for
HDTV. There are many options within HDTV for frame rates, but I
will look into this later, and I don’t think its critical now. Another
issue was the sample rate, I chose 48 kHz because it works with
HDTV, DVD, Film, and my editing system.
After this I went to Starbucks to eat breakfast and work on the
journal. Starbucks is the most expensive place to hang out, the lure is
that there is no smoking, comfortable chairs, and it’s an escape from
the city. Then I went to the net café (smoky, dingy place) to upload
yesterdays’ images.
Rabih’s play was tonight. I called Dima so that we could arrange a
meeting place, and we ate at this place with her friends for the third
time. I had Fatoush salad. After this we went to the Lebanese
American University to see a play that Rabih had produced with his
theatre students. It was roughly a story after Antigone; the way that
the play was produced clearly showed how brilliant and
contemporary Rabih is as an artist. The student actors were ok,
although many of Rabih’s friends say that his other plays using
professional actors were much better to watch.
July 27, 2001
Starbucks,
Recording
Studio,
Farouz
Concert
Dima,
Phillip,
Toufic,
Charbel,
Ali,
Ghada
Farouz,
Ola, Dima
I went to eat this mango tart at Starbucks again, I’m addicted to it,
and I feel really comfortable every time I go to Starbucks because all
of the noise of being in Beirut disappears. Dima picked me up for the
studio; we were a little late and when we arrived Toufic and Ghada
were laying down a guide vocal track for the musicians that day.
Toufic had previously laid down a midi piano track and with ProTools
we were hearing the metronome. The recording studio was nice; the
sound booth was a good size and had a side chamber for simultaneous
independent recording. The control booth was large and had a blue
Toufic conducting in the studio control room.
Turkish coffee is delivered twice a day
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leather couch that I sat on all day. We primarily used ProTools,
however the studio contained all kinds of digital equipment like Adat,
hard disk recorders, and video sync equipment.
After Ghada finished the guide track, I showed her the sample
animation tape on the video camera screen. She said she thought the
imagery was beautiful, and told me that we should keep in touch so
that we can work together again. As we were talking, Toufic was
directing Ali Alkhatib. In laying down to tracks of tambourine
percussion for each of the 7 acts. Ali used two tambourines, one was
about 9” in diameter, and had cymbals around the outside rim, the
other was about 14 inches and made deeper sounds. Ali was really
great to hear, and he was so animated to watch with his body
movement, I think he improvised some, and seemed to be able to
come in on time when they would rerecord particular measures of
the recording. When he was finished, Charbel Rouhana arrived.
Charbel is one of the musicians that Rabih suggested I use as a
composer and he is listed as one of the top musicians in Lebanon in
my guidebook. He seemed gentle and friendly; and brought his oud.
Toufic told me that Charbel is one of the most renowned Oud players
in the country, and that he only records solo with the one exception
of working with Toufic because they are good friends. Toufic also
told me that typically Oud players record in one pass, and do not
layer their tracks, however, Charbel likes to record two layers of
Oud to highlight certain areas. The recording session lasted from 11
am to 6 p.m. By the end I was very happy with all of the playing, and
ready to get out of the studio and get some fresh air.
Dima, Ola, and Farouz picked me up from the studio and we drove
towards to Bettadine, a small town in the mountains, for the Farouz
concert. We didn’t have tickets, they are impossible to get, the show
sells out because Farouz is the most famous singer in Lebanon. Our
plan was to meet people who would let us sit on their roof and watch
the outdoor concert from above. We arrived, parked and took the
shuttle bus to the castle where the concert would take place. We met
a man who had an extra balcony, and many people just like us were
sitting. We were a half-mile away, I could see the stage, but Farouz
was just so small, it was difficult to see her moving her arms. The
music was more mello than I expected. During intermission, Farouz
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(the friend of Dima who was named after the singer) decided that we
should go down and see if they would stop us if we entered the castle
for better seats. They didn’t stop us; we bought some wine, and
found some empty 10th row seats. Near the end of the concert, we
moved even closer, and could see her eyes. Her poise and character
was amazing; she was so still while she sang, any movement with her
arms or hands was very stiff, yet elegant. Her head didn’t move at all.
July 28, 2001
Recording
Studio
Ghada,
Philip,
Toufic,
Rahim
I woke up, and did my morning internet Starbucks routine then
headed off to the studio in a taxi. Dima has a lot of family events
happening, a family member passed away and she is babysitting the
kids today. I arrived at the studio at 10am to meet Ghada, Toufic, and
Philip. We spent 3 hours on Ghada’s final recording. I video taped
the performance to keep track of her head movements for the
animation. I was surprised to learn that the head movements seem
much more important than the mouth movements, because the tilt of
the neck seems to relate to the pitch of the sound. For each of the
seven sections we went through a process; first Ghada would listen
and sing to practice, we would record this. Toufic would have some
comments, and would play the keyboard to instruct what notes were
problematic in that section and Ghada would listen. Then she would
attempt to sing the whole section (about 45 seconds). After this
Toufic would review the recording, and make a mental note of the
sections that needed improvement. If a phrase was incorrect, Philip
would set up an insert edit; with ProTools he would select the phase,
and then Ghada would sing with a 10 second lead-in and the software
would coordinate the punch-in and replace that phrase. Sometimes
we would go through this process three or four times, each time,
with subtle improvements.
Then Ibrhim Jaber arrived, he was another percussionist who brought
many drums ranging from 24”x4” to 10” as well as a Moroccan drum
for between the legs, and several noise making shakers. I think Toufic
was interested in adding a variation of instrument references because
he felt like the culture here was really comprised of so many layers.
During this recording the spectrum of the orchestration really filled
out; some of the shakers were in the higher pitch, and those large skin
drums, were very low pitched. I asked for some accents around the
references to Goya’s son of a civil servant to the royal court, and
Ali Alkhatib, the percussionist
Toufic working with Charbel Rouhana playing Oud
Neh Player, Samir Sablini
Sound Engineer - Philip Tohme
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some deeper sounds in the bus section (he also added Moroccan drum
here). I think the last act, love, was greatly helped by this recording.
Food really started to move. As we were leaving we discussed the
remaining work. Sunday night would be the Neh, and the Male
vocalist. Monday would be left for the mixing.
July 29, 2001
Today I went to the national Museum of Beirut. I took a taxi to the
museum. The museum has two floors, huge objects on the ground
floor, and very small objects on the top floor, and few between in
size and delicacy. I found the glass work to be the most interesting
because you could see the materials gestural form in the handles, and
the colors were more delicate than the Egyptian glass perfume
bottles. I then went home and watched TV, and loaded some of the
recording studio footage into the computer.
At 8pm our recording session resumed. First was the Neh recording.
The most famous Neh player, Samir Siblini, did the work, and Toufic
did much less directing that ever before. The neh player improvised
the end section, and Philip was in a better mood around Samir. I have
a strong feeling that Philip is not so keen on this project, and was
really impatient in the last session. He is very good, I feel, but doesn’t
see the project in a positive light because of either (low pay (unsure),
my direction, or lack of expected potential for the project to be seen
in venues as large as other work he does). Ghada arrived with her
friend to watch the session with the donkey.
The donkey showed up, and my first impression was that I hoped that
he wasn’t the donkey because he was jubilant and goofy, and the
donkey needs to be much more real and not an actor. Ghada’s
performance seemed genuine to me, and even though she is obviously
not a young boy, I feel like she could be the voice of the boy (not
literally speaking). This guy was also getting over a cold, which
complicated the matter. After recording 2 takes of the first section;
Toufic asked me what I thought of his voice in the studio among
Ghada and Philip (sonically isolated from the donkey). I said that it
was too nasal and he was still congested. Toufic broke into a long,
slightly stressed conversation in Arabic with Philip, and I began to
worry a little. Toufic asked me to go into the hall with him, and he
convinced me that the singer would be better when his voice cleared
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up, and we agreed to record Toufic as a scratch track, then work on
the mix tomorrow, and then add the singer in a week or so without
me being present. Although I agreed, after we reentered I felt like
this wasn’t a good resolution, that something wasn’t right. Toufic said
something to the singer, and then Philip played back the track, and
then Toufic went into the booth to record the guide track. I thought
he had explained our resolve to the singer in Arabic, however, the
singer thought Toufic was taking over his part for some reason
(because he was sick I guess) and was very put off by the situation. He
left for a short while and came back pretty stressed. I was stressed
because I had no idea what had been communicated, and it wasn’t my
role to get involved.
As Toufic sang, I began to hear the two parts and imagine the
characters, and really felt that this donkey needs to have a very
natural, non-affectatious voice. Needs to be an older man. After
Toufic finished, I entered the booth for a private conversation with
Philip and Toufic about what was left to be done in this studio. We
needed a) a rough mix, b) a voice only mix, and c) an archived
session.) Then I told Toufic that I was still unhappy with the singer,
and that we needed to talk about this more. So Ghada, Toufic and I
went into a private conversation and resolved that we would tell the
singer that he was cut from the project because his voice does not fit
the character, and we would look for another, and hopefully audition
the new candidate before my departure in three days. Toufic gave
me the name of someone to listen to. This was not easy for Toufic,
but he was insistent that we are decisive about this, and I agreed with
his way of doing this. I think it was a case where I was right and
Toufic knew it, although, he would have settled for this guy in order
to finish the work. I must be persistant when it really is important; I
think I did ok. Ghada drove both Toufic and I home.
July 30, 2001
We were supposed to do the mix today, but did not because the
studio had been booked. I don’t know why Toufic didn’t arrange
otherwise. Ghada called in the morning and told me that there was
another singer that we would listen to in the evening. I spent the day
watching television. And went to the internet café to do some work.
At 6 I ate dinner at kibbob-ji and while I was there I ran into a friend
from Chicago that I did not expect to meet here. Hala grew up in
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Beirut, although she is now living in Chicago. We talked about
meeting on Wednesday.
Ghada picked me up, Toufic was with her, and we drove about 30
minutes north to the house of the prospective vocalist in Tripoli. He
and his wife greeted us and served, juice, coffee, cookies. He didn’t
speak English, was also jubilant, but older. His voice was roughly the
same, and the bigger problem was that, Toufic told me afterwards, he
didn’t sing in the Lebanese Arabic dialogue, he was an opera singer.
According to Toufic, it would have taken a week to train him to sing
this piece and he didn’t have the time. I was very uncomfortable at
the audition because we were in this person’s home and I was unable
to determine the stage of the negotiation. Occasionally I would tell
Toufic what I thought about the voice, and then they would return to
what seemed to be heavy socializing in Arabic.
So we returned to Beirut, and Toufic told me that we could meet
another guy the following day who sang the type of classical Arabic
music, a clear voice. Ghada said that he sings like the people who sing
the prayers from the mosques. I brought up this point that I liked
some texture in the voice, Toufic thought I meant something like
Tom Waits and said that would be impossible to find, its antithetical
to what makes a singer here. I wasn’t really clear in my mind that
night. After this, we dropped off Toufic and went to the Virgin
Megastore to look for the cd of the singer we would meet the next
day. We couldn’t find it. Then Ghada took me to the house of her
friends who run a new organization that supports young independent
filmmakers who need more affordable access to equipment. They
were interested in hearing about grant money that could be found
through the United States, and in talking about exchange programs
(teachers and students) and festivals which we could arrange.
I went to the café to write about this donkey problem and as I was
writing, I realized that both of the Donkey candidates had been
Maronite Christians; When meeting both of them, there was
something that seemed very wrong about their personalities for the
character. How did I know they were Maronites? The first guy had
mentioned something about singing Christian music, something about
Mary the mother of Christ, and the second had a large figurine of
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Mary standing on the top of the cabinet in the living room. I did not
consciously make a judgement with these observations, however, I
did find something wrong when I heard them sing and later recalled
these symbols of Mary. Christianity should not be associated with the
donkey in this piece. These people were sugarcoated, no deep sense
of science, math, and many other characteristics that I find appealing
in the music and mentality of the Muslim singers I had heard in
recordings. I couldn’t have explained this Toufic, I needed to talk
purely about the acceptability of the voice; he was understanding with
the first candidate (being sick and jubilant was enough reason), and
the second didn’t work out because of the language problem.
July 31, 2001
They used the house again to day for the television show. I went to
Starbucks to write; the email server is down all day. At noon Toufic
called and told me to pick up cd-r’s and go to the studio for the rough
mix. I found a computer store in Al-Hamra, and took a 45 minute
trip to the studio (usually takes 10 minutes but traffic was still, and
the cab was very, very hot. We worked on the editing the spaces
between the 7 acts, and also cutting down the time by removing some
of the repeated lyrics, and some of the musical interludes. We started
with almost 9 minutes and cut it to 8 minutes. This took about an
hour, then we spent about 20 minutes on the mix because Toufic will
work on this more after we have recorded the male voice, and then
they burned the files on to a disc for me to take. I asked for one file
with voice only (so I can clearly see the amplitude of the singing when
working on the animation and another with the music, so that I can
listen to it and think about the overall piece.
After this we went to the pub where Dima and I have eaten many
times, the Lebanese owner of the pub was a singer in Egypt for many
years, and became wealthy. After this, he returned to Lebanon and
opened this pub, and retired from singing. Toufic told me before we
met that he seemed very calm on the phone. He was gentle,
hospitable but not overbearing; and I didn’t detect the Maronite
syndrome. He sang some of the lines of the poem after listening to a
cassette, and I felt like his voice was much more genuine and would
fit the part; Toufic agreed and we hired him. I felt so happy leaving
the bar; Toufic and I made contact arrangements and a rough
schedule that he would finish this within a week and then send it to
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me.
I went to dinner at this place that I have had my eye on all week. It
said it was an Argentinean steak house; although it also said it was a
pizza place, and I saw people eating continental breakfast there this
morning. In any case, it looked non-Lebanese, and I was in the mood
for something different. The waiter was Maronite, and was a fanatic
about the west. He wanted to immigrate and talked about all of the
tensions between the Catholics and Muslims; and all of the struggles
of young people who fall in love outside of their religion. I told him
that all places that you can live, and all religions that you can have,
contain good and bad aspects. I told him that I could see why he
would be interested in the United States after we talked more about
why he was restricted here.
I am glad that tomorrow is the last day. After listening to the mix a
couple of times, I am happy with what we produced here.
August 1,
2001
On my last day, I watched television, and invited Dima over to help
me translate the lyrics back to English. While doing this, we notated
the time cues so that I wouldn’t get confused if I add subtitles, and it
would be easy for me to re-reference the meaning of the words (and
some of the meaning changes that had come with the translation. I
took one last short walk around my neighborhood, and then ate
dinner with Dima at the same restaurant that we ate at the first day. I
ordered exactly the same meal.
Dima dropped me off at the airport at around midnight. I was dying
to leave by this point, and was so happy when I eventually landed in
Paris the next morning.
Moore Collection of Photographs at the American University of Beirut Library
(used in this section)
This collection of black and white photographs passed through various peripeties before it landed in Jafet
Library at the American University of Beirut. Dr. Moore who was teaching at the Syrian Protestant College (which
later became American University of Beirut) between 1892 and 1915, took many photographs of its campus, Lebanon
and the region. The negatives were on glass plates and had become the property of another professor who had to leave
the country in a rush due to the Second World War, and thus left them behind.
They were placed in the attic of Van Dyck Hall and completely forgotten. In the 1960s, the attic was needed
for expansion and had to be emptied. Thus the glass plates were rediscovered and salvaged. They were cleaned,
repaired and identified by Dr. Raif Nassif, later Director of the School of Medicine and the Medical Center, who
presented them to the Library. Prof. Franklin T. Moore was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1868. He graduated
from Princeton with a B.A. in 1891. His friend and classmate J. Bucher who had joined S.P.C., described for him the
place with so much interest and enthusiasm that it made him decide to share his friend's overseas adventure. F. Moore
joined the College and was asked to head its English Dept. He later left to the States to earn an M.D. degree from
Jefferson Medical College after which he rejoined S.P.C. and chaired the Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Physiology. He became reknown as a brilliant practitioner. He married Ethel H. Jessup, had five children, and spent
the rest of his unfortunately short life in Beirut. He passed away in 1915.
Franklin T. Moore was a man of many talents. All who knew him had but excellent words for him, best
summed up by Prof. W.B. Adams in his obituary: "An able, clear and forceful teacher, an accurate and skillful
physician, an indefatigable worker". He also added: "Moore was an excellent photographer. He was the moving spirit
in the camera club in his hometown. He brought out from America an excellent camera and took many artistic and
beautiful views in Lebanon".
This collection of campus views, buildings, classes, activities that we present here is a part of his work which
extends to cover Lebanon and its mountains, Syria and Palestine. We cannot but note the photographer's keen sense of
observation, his love for the detail, his balanced angles; his concern for architecture, environment, people and
pedagogy. It is a testimony of his time and a treasured legacy to us.
Asma Fathallah
AUB, May 27, 1997
The collection has been digitized by Al Mashriq in collaboration with the AUB Jafet Library, Special Collections
and Archives.
The E.W. Blantchford Collection of Photographs held at the
American University of Beirut
(used in this section)
INTRODUCTION
In 1924 Mrs. Howard Bliss presented to the Library of the University a collection of photographs on the
Middle East mainly, with a few on Europe. She named it "E.W. Blatchford Collection" after her father's name Eliphalet
Wickes Blatchford (for details see following page on Donors of Collection) who, with her mother, had collected these
photographs during their travels. They were probably bought as souvenirs or as our present postcards in remembrance
of countries and places visited.
It is an interesting and important collection covering the period between ca.1880 to 1900 and depicts various
aspects of the countries portrayed. We find in it landscapes, mountains, lakes, rivers, agricultural items and geography
of places; as well as historical monuments , archeological sites, buildings and architectural details. Also present are
regions, cities, towns, villages, streets and houses; as well as scenes of daily life and age old skills, for example, sellers,
merchants, water carriers, and scenes of economic production such as wheat, sugar canes, pottery, etc. There are also
photographs of many populations, various people and different ethnic groups. Pictures were taken mostly outdoors or
inside buildings and houses but there is a number of them shot in studios.
This Guide
This Guide is divided into three parts: a "Summary of List" to give a bird's eye view of the arrangement of the
collection and its topics; the "List" itself which is a listing of each photograph, its number, description, location or
subject, photographer, and the number of the photograph in his catalog; and finally a detailed index of 1494 entries
with various possible access points to each item.
Arrangement and contents of collection
The collection (eight hundred and one photographs) is arranged by countries listed according to Dewey
Decimal Classification. They are subdivided by cities, towns, sites; then people, activities and other subjects. There are
52 photographs on Europe (France, Italy, Malta, Spain, Belgium, Greece), 1 on Mecca, 83 on Turkey, 1 on Cyprus, 32
on Syria, 87 on Lebanon (note that Syria and Lebanon were one entity at the time the pictures were taken, but are
separate in List for ease of consultation), 214 on Palestine (including 141 on Jerusalem), 7 on Jordan, 315 on Egypt and
14 on Tangiers. Three photographs have duplicate numbers (6, 39, 168).
Description and classification of photographs
The title of each photograph is transcribed as it appears on it. When no title is provided, the explanatory
caption found on the mount is listed, preceded by the phrase "On mount". When there is none, or it is inaccurate, or
clarification and identification are needed, a new description was added by the author. All captions not taken from the
photograph itself are placed within square brackets.
The classification or numbering of photographs is made of two parts: the number of the collection itself which
appears at the top of each page is "Ph:1". It is followed by the listed sequential number 1, 2, 3. Complete numbers will
read thus - Ph:1/7 , Ph:1/15 , Ph:1/712 ... Numbers followed by "s" indicate photographs of smaller size than the
standard; and by "l", photographs of larger size (4l, 39l, 341l).
Physical description of photographs
This is a collection of albumen prints. They vary in size. The standard measurements are approximately 23 x
28 cms. mounted on 28 x 35.5 cms. cardboards; a few with smaller sizes and only three are larger. There is one
oversize triptych of Jerusalem panorama (Ph:1/293) by Dumas. The majority of pictures are sepia , four are colored
(309, 429, 454, 525) and only one (105s) is in blue tints.
Photographers represented in this collection
Many of the important photographers of the late 19th century in the Middle East have their work represented
in this collection which includes four hundred and forty six signed photographs by twenty photographers. They include
important names such as Bonfils, Dumas, Sarrafian and relatively less known ones such as Dupré and Amodio. Their
work in this collection range from one photograph (Melkonian) to one hundred and seventy nine photographs (Bonfils).
Some of them are morespecialized in specific areas than others, such as Beato, Zangaki and Sebah in Egypt. A complete
list of their names is found in the index under "Photographers in the Blatchford's Collection", and a detailed index of
their work under their individual names.
New Media Collaborative Art Forms
Final Grant Report
October 2001
A final report to:
The Research Foundation
Office of the Vice Provost for Research
212 College Hall
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19105-6381
Submitted by
_______________________________
Joshua Mosley
Assistant Professor of Animation and Digital Media
Graduate School of Fine Arts - Department of Fine Arts
The Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall Rm. 112
200 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6229
Tel.
Fax
Email
(215) 898-3257
(215) 573-2459
jmosley@pobox.upenn.edu
Overview
The principal aim of this study was to negotiate and participate in collaborations with artists of other disciplines. The
grant recipient collaborated in Beirut, Lebanon with a music composer, two vocalists, five musicians, and a sound
engineer. The completion of this research has yielded a nine-minute computer animated opera. All of the work related
to this project required the exploration and integration of original cutting-edge processes of computer animation and
digital sound production.
Completed Objectives
All the proposed objectives were completed:
• The publication of this work in established venues, (e.g. contemporary art museums and conferences, preliminary
examples listed below) will strengthen the reputation of digital media research at the University of Pennsylvania.
Passionate, concept-driven computer animated works are a rare art.
• The international collaboration contributed to cultural exchange among both nations (Lebanon and the United
States) and the disciplines of poetic translation, music production, and computer animation. The dialogues
resulting from this collaboration contributed to the members' understanding of culture, and further developed our
international languages of integrated media.
• Documentation of the process is in the form of a journal about the exploration of strategies for interdisciplinary
collaboration, which may be useful as a reference towards further research in collaborative work.
• As a result of this research, this faculty member has been able to instigate important curricular changes and
introductions regarding digital film incorporating cutting-edge animation technologies. The recipient has added
new concepts to animation courses, and will implement a new course in 2002.
The Budget
The University Research foundation provided a generous half portion of the proposed budget. The expense of the
international production exceeded the awarded budget, and the recipient incurred the difference. A highly reputable
composer, highly reputable musicians, and a tight production schedule added to the cost of the music production.
Implementation
The music production was completed by August 15th, 2001 and the animation was completed on October 1st, 2001.
Beyrouth has been curated to premiere in its first public screening installed for a two-month solo exhibition at the
Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania opening December 7th 2001. Beyrouth has also been
submitted for curatorial review to dozens of city and private contemporary art museums around the world.
The documentation of the work has been compiled in the printed format of this journal and in a lecture format. The
lecture will be presented this fall to the School of Engineering, and in the Graduate School of Fine Arts. In the spring,
the lecture will be presented at the Association of Art Historians Conference in Liverpool, England.
summer clear willow
no time, no noise, no sense
what
what might happen?
we make decisions . . .
we plan things and things may change
and bad decisions,
who makes those?
it must be decided
to think of a decision as bad
I do not have
the same point of view
I do not remember
that Jesus was magic
Who might think he was?
I do not remember
that Jesus was magic
Who might think he was?
I am the son of Leah
the son of Bakri
Don't talk like this
Was your father an ass?
I'm the son of a servant to the royal court.
Lyric Transcription and Stills – Beyrouth
was your father an optimist,
a pessimist,
or an opti-pessimist?
Chickpeas, Beans
everything was mixed together
the color has altered
Chickpeas, Beans
everything mixed together
the color has altered
bring the bread and chicken drumstick
radish, mint, cucumber, lettuce
oh mister black eyes
sip wine, surrender flight
choose carefully and right
when you think and say. . .
on the leaves
summer clear willow
from their weight and their lightness
their lines of kindness
root tips crest fallen feathers. . .
sorted thoughts sing.
and what will observations bring
what do they benefit
when you notice
small things, big things
light transforms into energy
no
everything changes in its own way
it preoccupies your mind with work
do not be worried
it will not leak
it will not drip
filled up, emptied
do you think of your life from a distance
no, I am very subjective
do you mean that you are not a thinker?
I don't mean to insult you
but do you mean that you are acceptive,
perceptive,
an optimist?
I'm, I am not a thinker,
I put my head among the heads
Every philosophy has
a flaw
love
all love
love all love
love
turned my life upside down
love
changed me
where is love
where is love
where is love
where is love
love
leaves
in varying amounts
and then?
and then?
what love
what love
what love are we talking about?
Production Credits
Animation and Lyrics by
Joshua Mosley
Music Composed by
Toufic Farroukh
with special thanks to
Ghada Ghanem & Rabih Mroueh
Vocalists:
Ghada Ghanem & Rabih Al Zaher
Oud:
Charbel Rouhana
Ney:
Samir Siblini
Percussionists
Req: Ali Alkhatib
Djambe & Bendir: Ibrhim Jaber
Bendir & Perc: Toufic Farroukh
Sound Engineer: Philip Tohme
Music © 2001 Toufic Farroukh
Collaboration made possible by:
International Liaison - Beirut, Lebanon
Dima El Horr
Poetic Translation: Rabih Mroueh
Supported in part by the
University Research Foundation
of the University of Pennsylvania
©2001 Joshua Mosley
Production Credits as they appear in the film Beyrouth

Documentation of Music Production for Beyrouth

Transcription

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