Canto Migrando Story It Lives and Breathes
The area around Landwehrstrasse near Munich Main Station where I have lived since 1973 has changed decisively in the past twelve years to become an Oriental quarter. For quite a while there has been a Greek restaurant on the ground floor of my building where Arabs would frequently meet to celebrate and hold percussion jams. The rhythms made their way into my flat. Throughout my life as a musician, rhythm had been a concern of mine, and these “grooves” caught my attention. In 2001 I began making note sketches for an Oriental-oriented composition, and from the start there was no doubt in my mind that it would have to include string instruments and daraboukas, a form of hand drum very common in the eastern part of the world. In the winter semester of 2001 I took up my teaching position at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (University of Music and Performing Arts) in Munich, where my jazz and improvisation project for string instruments got under way in earnest. Before ten months had passed, I had already managed to train a small string ensemble to the point where with regard to special intonation and rhythmic phrasing the participants differed distinctly from most members of the major, world-renowned orchestras with which I had worked until then: they played the music I had composed in an authentic manner and with a sense of swing.
To them I introduced the rhythm section of my jazz quartet (Micha Blam from Belgrade/Tel Aviv, Imre Köszegi from Budapest, Edgar Wilson from Mozambique). Our first rehearsal at the university was joined by three Tunisian darabouka players from the Greek place on Landwehr Street, who were already telling me during our first coffee break that they could recommend better musicians than themselves. Two such musicians came to the next rehearsal and told me, in turn, that there was an excellent Tunisian percussionist living in Munich and it was him I would need.
Thus it happened that I made the acquaintance of Karem Mahmoud. The first time he played with us, we were so convinced by his masterful performance that he became one of “Canto Migrando’s” mainstays, and has remained that to this day. My contact with Seref Dalyanoglou, an oudh (Arabic lute) virtuoso of Turkish descent, was likewise mediated by other musicians. Seref joined the formation a short time later and, like Karem, became a very important partner.
As time went on, I expanded the ensemble into a large orchestra, worked on recruiting the best possible brass players, wrote parts for orchestra percussion (kettledrums, etc.), added a choir and, by the time the large version was premiered at the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre in Munich (conducted by my friend and colleague Ulrich Nicolai), it was a group of sixty musicians who enchanted the audience. Every one of them contributed the best he/she had to offer, and particularly the well-versed jazz musicians shared their experience with me by giving me valuable pointers.
The younger musicians kept learning more and more, the music kept getting better and better, and we have maintained a high standard to the very present.
Ultimately I was asked by the Ministry of Education to come up with a concept for involving teenagers from schools with high immigrant populations. I agreed, on the condition that we would present on stage only those young participants who on the basis of preparation in demanding workshops lived up to the professional standards of the formation within the framework of their parts in the music-making. That requirement has been met consistently to this day.
Not least of all, one of the most well-known German rappers Cajus from the group “Blumentopf” (with which a different cooperation project had meanwhile
developed) became involved when I asked him for a text.
The final version has now been completed a live recording carried out by the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Broadcasting). The result is accordingly not a studio recording it lives and breathes.
About Hannes Beckmann
Hannes Beckmann studied violin, composition and law in Düsseldorf and Munich. In 1995 he was appointed professor in Belgrade; in 2001 he was awarded a teaching position at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (University of Music and Performing Arts) in Munich.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung and the ARD (Germany¹s foremost public broadcasting
company) refer to Hannes Beckmann as “one of the world¹s best jazz violinists” and “a dervish on the violin”, and the rororo Jazzlexikon emphasizes his “impressive virtuosity”.
The New York Times, for its part, admires the jazz violinist Hannes Beckmann for his “direct vitality which leaves no room for misunderstandings”. In addition to his many jazz and Ethno music compositions, since 1984 he has been writing music for larger ensembles, as well as scores for symphony orchestra (“Europäische Suite”, “Kreuzwegstationen”, “Canto Migrando” and others). In the form of the electronic “samples” used by HipHop DJs, his music has also found its way onto international hit lists. Many a world jazz star has played in his numerous formations.
