Hicham Chami was 8 years old when he started learning the qanun, a Mideastern zitherlike instrument with 75 strings, at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in his native Morocco. After graduation, he started getting attention playing Moroccan classical music in that country.
“Moroccan music is an overlapping of Berber culture, Sephardic Jewish culture, Arab-Islamic culture and Western European and African influences,” says Chami, 26. “The music really speaks to me.”
But Chami’s father, a violinist, thought his son needed a back-up plan, so he got a bachelor’s degree in marketing in Morocco and came to Chicago in 1999 to get an MBA at DePaul. “I barely spoke enough English to ask for more ketchup on my hamburger,” he says.
That changed when Chami went to an Arabic music retreat in Massachusetts in 2001. Now Chami has used his musical and marketing talents to launch Xauen Music, which produced his CD “Promises.”
“There is an absence of harmony in Arabic music,” he says. “Whether it’s a five-member music ensemble or a 60-person orchestra, every instrument plays the very same thing.”
At a weekend event called “From the Middle East to the Midwest,” Chami’s Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble will perform with the Anda-El East-West Orchestra. The show unites artists from the Arab, Jewish and Persian communities.
Chami is also slated to play with the Trio Mizan, a Mideast-meets-West ensemble. The program will include one of his favorite songs, with music by a wounded Israeli soldier, the lyrics by a wounded Palestinian boy who shared his hospital room.
“They realized that their lives were reduced down to the basic human condition of two people trying to survive,” says Chami. “The title of the song in English is `Time for Peace.’ A lot of people get very emotional when they listen to it.”
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“From the Middle East to the Midwest,” noon-8:30 p.m. Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. at Block 37, State and Randolph Streets; Hicham Chami performs with Trio Mizan, noon Sat.; and the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, 4-6 p.m. Sun.; free; 773-929-0224.