This season, programmer Jaïr and the new resident artist Haroun Iqbal will be engaging in a dialogue – in the form of letters. They will be asking each other questions about music, their practice and the world around them, in a constant back-and-forth. A dialogue that unfolds gradually over the course of the year.
Have you read the opening lines of this letter yet?
#Story
Letter 1 ✨ Introducing resident artist Haroun Iqbal
Hey Jaïr,
I certainly remember that day!
When you’re a musician getting ready to perform, the focus quickly shifts to sales pitches and social media. Like many musicians, I struggle with the idea that I have to sell myself. For me, music is an auditory expression of love. By the time I’m able to ‘sell’ music, it has already dragged me through a valley or made me dance on peaks. It’s a shame to slap buzzwords on it then.
Connection is the essence of our humanity. So why wouldn't I seek a genuine connection with people in the sector, instead of just emailing an elevator pitch? Let them fight to monetize our attention.
Haroun Iqbal
Meanwhile, we play songs for one another about how painful true love can be, and how we all sometimes feel like we don’t belong. I honestly don’t know what else I can do in this struggle. But we’ve been coming together through music for thousands of years, and it feels good.
Apart from the fact that there does indeed seem to be an endless stream of music appearing and that streaming is pushing everything towards mediocrity, there is another thorny issue. Making music costs an enormous amount of time and money, and every possible revenue model seems to be collapsing. Whereas fifteen years ago you could still finance the production of an album with CD sales from a previous album, you’re now quickly running out of money. Of the audience that still buys anything, some opt for vinyl, others for CDs, but neither option covers the costs anymore. At the same time, new releases are constantly expected to fuel ticket sales campaigns. Ironically, we are living in an age where releasing music is more democratic than ever, yet at the same time it is once again becoming the preserve of the middle class, because the necessary investments are not within everyone’s reach.
Personally, I love everything involved in making a record, but I also value sustainability. So we need to keep looking for new possibilities. As an artistic coordinator and jazz/global promoter, do you see an alternative to the perpetually loss-making model of releasing a record? What else could you work with within a concert venue like Ha Concerts? What exactly do you need?
For me, Ha has always been a place where you can go as a music lover to discover new music.
Haroun Iqbal
At the same time, I often miss concerts, simply because there are so many of them. There’s so much to see within an hour’s commute, and on top of that, there’s so much buzz surrounding concerts.
In that respect, I think there’s one thing that will never change: word of mouth. A friend who gets me excited about a concert remains the main reason I’ll leave my cosy, comfortable sofa in the evening. Concert-goers everywhere: bring a friend!
Bassekou Kouyaté en Amy Sacko ontmoeten was een droom, en daar blijf ik dankbaar voor.
Muzikanten uit de West-Afrikaanse griottraditie worden van kindsbeen af ondergedompeld in muziek. Een Belgische muzikant heeft zijn 10.000 uren misschien bereikt tegen zijn 23ste, in de griottraditie gebeurt dat gemakkelijk een achttal jaar eerder. Je merkt dat ze elke noot spelen met ongelooflijk veel kilometers op de teller.
In my career as a musician, I want to showcase as wide a range as possible: singing with strings on ‘Haroun’s Heartbreak Hotel’ featuring Helena Casella, an album release with my jazz quartet Iqnovara featuring Pakistani sarod maestro Asad Qizilbash as a guest musician, and hopefully also my project with Bao Sissoko.
Five years ago, I was bitten by the bug for this tradition and started playing with Bao. That’s why Guitari Baro, who are coming to town on 5 June, are such a treasure to me. I hadn’t found a single album in which a guitarist plays traditional tunes. I actually had to travel to Senegal to hear how they do it, when I could just as easily have waited for Guitari Baro to come to Ghent!
Best wishes,
Haroun
This conversation will continue throughout the season and will therefore be updated. On to letter 3!
