Return to story

Zade reaches out through music

May 11, 2006 12:50 am

By EMILY GILMORE

Jordanian composer and pianist Zade was scheduled to perform a house concert for friends in Maine the day of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Needless to say, the concert was postponed.

Zade, an Arab and a Muslim, was a bit nervous when he fulfilled his obligation shortly thereafter, but he was so heartily welcomed that he was inspired to embark on a house-concert tour of the United States to promote cultural understanding.

"That experience [in Maine] was so overwhelming," Zade said last week in a phone interview from Los Angeles.

He had been in Washington the day before to make a presentation at St. John's Episcopal Church Lafayette Square, and he was to return to the city the next day to make the final preparations for this stop on his Roads to You: Celebration of One World Tour, an extension of the house-concert tour with the same goal of building cultural bridges through music.

Zade and nearly 35 other musicians from 18 countries will perform Saturday at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium. The Carpe Diem Community Choir also will perform.

The show will anchor a week of workshops and house concerts, presentations and discussion forums, all conducted by the performers in an effort to connect with each other and the community.

The musicians--who were chosen for their leadership ability, as well as for their musical talents--have been busy since Tuesday, and they will remain in D.C. until May 16.

Zade said he feels musicians have a responsibility to facilitate communication because they speak a language that "doesn't understand religious or political boundaries."

"A lot of people from different countries respond to music no matter where it's coming from. It goes directly to the heart."

Queen Noor of Jordan, who has been one of Zade's supporters since he studied at the country's National Music Conservatory, is a patron of the tour. Berklee College of Music in Boston, where Zade also studied, and Seeds of Peace, an organization that empowers young people in conflicted regions to further peace, are sponsors.

"I really feel that to try to make a difference, we really have to begin with the younger generations," Zade said. One thing the tour focuses on, he said, is framing peace work and cultural exchange in such a way as to make young people want to be involved.

At 26, Zade is passionate about his mission to combat ignorance and help others realize that human beings "are all the same." He speaks quickly, carried away by his excitement.

He is glad that he can make a difference "in a very humble way" through his music. It's all part of his belief that people must look beyond themselves to contribute to the greater good.

"I think as human beings, we have a tremendous responsibility to ourselves, toward our God, or whatever we believe in, and to our communities," he said.

The Roads To You Tour, which will travel to Houston later this month and to Los Angeles in June, is Zade's largest undertaking so far, but he's learned a lot performing more than 200 shows in small towns across America.

It was this grass-roots support that sent his first two albums to the Billboard charts, he said. The current tour will feature selections from his third CD, "Beautiful World," which was released May 2 through digital outlets and will be released officially on May 23.

The album features some of the Middle East's best musicians, and it is the most ethnic-sounding album Zade has produced.

"I think it was more of a natural progression for me," Zade said.

The first album blended elements of Middle Eastern music with Western classical music, and the second added a Latin twist, he said.

"With the new album, I think I went back to my roots in a lot of ways."

He said he hasn't faced any obstacles in the United States because of his heritage, and he feels it is a "blessing" to be from Jordan because the country's leaders are well-liked here.

There was one incident on a train in Europe during which a woman labeled Zade a terrorist once she found out where he is from. He felt shocked, angry and alienated by the experience, but he also was galvanized.

"It just gives you more reason to do what you're doing," he said.

In the future, Zade will continue with the five-year strategy of bringing the Roads To You Tour to several cities a year, and he will launch a music appreciation program in Jordan, Lebanon and Quatar.

He also is itching to get back into the studio for album No. 4.

"I love to write music; I love to perform," he said. " I find myself the happiest when all I'm doing is writing music, orchestrating and seeing it come alive."

To reach EMILY GILMORE:540/374-5426
Email: egilmore@freelancestar.com Read her blog at fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=3