Palestinian oud trio combines poetry with music
Le Trio Joubran puts Palestine's oldest instrument, the oud, and the words of Mahmoud Darwish at the heart of its works.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Le Trio Joubran, cited among the world’s best-known Palestinian musicians, maintain that the two essential components of Palestinian culture — the oud and the verses of great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish — are central to their works.
“The oud, the music and the poems of Mahmoud Darwish have become an integral part of the Palestinian culture. We feel that we are sending a message of hope, joy and love to the world through our music,” Samir Joubran, the oldest of the three Palestinian brothers who make up the trio, told Al-Monitor.
The Joubran trio — brothers Samir, Wissam and Adnan — come from a family of musicians and oud-makers from the city of Nazareth in the Galilee. Their great-grandfather, Dib Joubran (1876-1951), was a sculptor and calligrapher as well as an oud-maker. Their mother was a singer and their father fabricated string instruments for Palestine and the Arab world. Today, Wissam, the middle brother, makes the ouds and the other string instruments used by the group. Wissam learned the skill from his father and also studied at the Antonio Stradivari Institute in Italy.
