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Dipti Nair
Doha
Music is an essential part of the Arabian culture, yet not many children interested in music are given adequate opportunities to learn or hone their talent. Neither do they get enough opportunities to showcase their talent or perform in front of a large international audience. The Qatar National Music Competition (QNMC) aims to remedy just that.
The one-of-a-kind event in the country, has been organised by Qatar's very own non-profit foundation Moving Young Artists (MYA) and is scheduled to take place in October this year.
Jointly founded by pianist Sonja Park and Joris Laenen, MYA nurtures and inspires young local talent by giving them different opportunities to perform on various platforms. They recently hosted their first anniversary concert at Marsa Malaz Kempinski, where young members of the MYA gave a soulful and inspiring performance on their different instruments.
"Music brought us to Qatar. When we count our blessings, we always count music twice. It is the guiding force in our lives and we believe it can be for others too. And it was with that aim in mind that we founded MYA, supported by a number of like-minded believers. Our aim with MYA is to bring music to people who don't have access to music and to guide and support local talent," said Sonja Park.
Once MYA was formed the natural progression was to hold a competition and that is what inspired QNMC. The competition has received a lot of support from the local community and is being held under the patronage of the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science. It will be held in collaboration with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) of which Laenen is a member.
Vodafone, known for supporting various music events around the world, is the chief sponsor of the competition and will be giving away the Grand Prize for Overall Performance.
"QNMC will undoubtedly grow to become one of the most important global music competitions, attracting impressive talent locally and from around the world. We are extremely excited about its launch in October and look forward to being a part of the discovery of the next generation of unique musicians," said Vodafone Senior Events and Sponsorships Manager Zeina Abu-Issa.
There are a number of competition categories at QNMC and the music will be divided between Arabic and Western music and will include all instruments like wind instruments, string instruments and percussion instruments. There will also be competitions for vocal and song composition along with choirs and Takht (a musical ensemble representative of Middle Eastern music).
Though primarily the competition is focused on the youth and is open to individuals 18 years and younger, a special category is reserved for Qatari adults.
"Qatar does not have a long history of music culture. There are many Qatari adults who never got opportunities to learn music or play or participate in any kind of competition when they were young. I personally know a few talented adults who realised their music talent only in adulthood. So, we would like to give talented Qatari musicians a chance to play and participate in this competition. QNMC is here to encourage musical talent and we want Qataris to have this advantage," said Sonja Park.
All the different music categories will be further subdivided according to the children's age to ensure fairness in judgement. This year, there will be just one round of competitions and everyone who registers, will be directly participating in the competition. There will also be a special category for the differently-abled.
"The best thing about the competition is that it is open to everyone, irrespective of nationality. In fact, we want more nationalities to participate as this is a celebration of music and music has no boundaries," said Park.
Apart from Park and Laenen, the competition will also be judged by local musical heavyweights such as Qatari singer-songwriter Dana Alfardan and QPO Executive Director Kurt Meister. They are also in talks with internationally renowned music personalities whose names would be announced closer to the date.
And when the competition is as large as QNMC is going to be, there can be no shortage of prizes. Besides the Grand Prize for the best performance in the entire competition, there will be three prizes in each category. A special award for best performance by a Qatari artist will be provided by the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science. Three winners of the Concerto category will be granted an opportunity to perform in a concert with the QPO, as a soloist. Some of the chosen few will also be invited to record in the state-of-the-art Katara Studios.
The embassies of Switzerland, Singapore, Spain, Germany, France, Russia, the UK, Republic of Korea, India, Netherlands, Sweden, Indonesia and Kazakhstan have pledged support to the competition and will be giving special awards in different categories. In addition to everything, each participant will receive a certificate of merit for their performance.
Seeing the tremendous support the competition has already received from government organisations and different sections of the society, Park and Laenen are very confident of turning the event into an annual affair.
"We have been living in Qatar for many years now and we see and enjoy the riches of this wonderful nation and we want to give something in return," said Park.
"There are still a lot of conservative people who do not believe in the beauty of music. We hope that with this competition, launched nation-wide, we can encourage and instil confidence in the many children who enjoy music but are afraid to express their love for it. My ultimate goal is to see music implemented as a subject in every Qatari school. This will make it much easier for children to approach music and will make it accessible throughout Qatar."
