The A. M. Qattan Foundation released Bishara Khell’s album “Distorted Reflections.” The foundation had commissioned this work to be performed at the inaugural opening ceremony of its new cultural centre in Al-Tira, Ramallah in 2018.
The album consists of nine pieces with music at the core of their subjects, messages and materials, and represents experimentation in the world of music, in a manner that tends towards abstraction from many familiar forms of musical expression.Khell described his work as trying to paint “a scene that is watched by eyes with pointed lenses, a scene that, compared to the original one, seems to be curved and distorted on every side, with shapes that do not resemble their shadows, shapes alien to themselves, and lines that do not know their path. Perhaps their anchors find their place to restore their forms in a healthy, just and righteous world, without rhetoric, and without metaphors in the clarity of thought, where there are no lenses, no eyes, and no sight."
This master music project was produced with the participation of 15 young musicians from different areas of Palestine; Eleni Mustaklem - Double Bass, Ameera Ishaq - Clarinet, Bishara Harouni - Piano, Joud Amous Qalaawi - Chello, Jalal Nader - Buzuq, Waseem Odeh - Oud, Hikmat Qimari - Oboe, Hussein Abu Alrob - Percussion, Carol Ibrahim - Violin, Luai Bishara – Arabic Viloin, Mahran Mirib - Qanun, Mohammad Karzoun - Percussion, Mahmoud Karzoun - Violin, Muntassir Jabbarin – Clarinet, and Rashed Zarour - Viola. Nine of these musicians were among more than eighty aspiring young musicians who were supported by the foundation to continue their music studies in leading universities and academies around the world.
Bishara Khell was born in 1968 to a musical family. He started to play the piano at an early age and learned to play the violin after. In 1987, he joined the Jerusalem Academy of Music where he studied music composition. He has composed many trios and quartets, in addition to several orchestral works. His works have been performed in Palestine and abroad,. He has won many awards for best theatrical music. He has also experimented with computerized music, including algorithmic music, which incorporates techniques of artificial intelligence (AI). In addition to films, he has composed music for over 100 theatrical pieces, including multiple local works. He founded VSTLivein 2017, a company which specializes in developing software for virtual musical performance.
- #4 "Park"
- #9 "Mascot"
- #6 "Party" at the opening of the new AMQF centre