It was a joy and a pleasure to create the Desert Bridges project in Oman in December 2024, a cultural bridge between Switzerland and Oman to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Embassy and the longstanding cultural ties between the two countries. A partnership between the Embassy of Switzerland in Oman with the Royal Opera House Muscat brought together Swiss and Omani musicians in a one-of-a-kind ensemble. This unique blend of jazz, traditional instruments and musical heritage from both cultures culminated in an extraordinary performance by the “Desert Bridges BLUE” on 12 December 2024 at the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts. In addition to this, the ensemble also performed an "Open Doors" concert in Al Rustaq at a home for the Elderly and gave a series of musical workshops at ROHMA.
The Desert Bridges project highlights Oman's musical relationship with other countries, where art serves as a universal language, connecting both cultures through a shared creative journey. Featuring Swiss and Omani musicians, Desert Bridges illustrates music's unique power to bridge communities.
Desert Bridges builds musical bridges, connecting cultures, continents and communities, using the universal language of music. The BLUE project is rooted in water, the oceans and the sky, and our emotional depth and deep connection to Nature. Founded by Swiss artist Anna Grichting and the late poet-musician Cheo Jeffrey Allen Solder, Desert Bridges blends jazz with traditional music to explore new artistic horizons. Through improvisation, musicians create a harmonious fusion of styles, embodying unity and cross-cultural collaboration.
The theme 'Blue' reflects Desert Bridges' essence, symbolizing water, sky, and emotional depth. This shared motif, linking the two nations, guides the concert's direction, inviting audiences to explore themes of fluidity, connection, and the beauty of cultural exchange.
Desert Bridges' programme builds on the traditions of jazz and traditional music, which both have a culture of improvisation and modal chords, allowing the interweaving of both cultures in new creative compositions that bring together the ganun, the Swiss hackbrett, the oud, the acoustic bass, jazz drums and percussions of Oman, the Swiss traditional alphorn, jazz piano, and vocals and spoken word.
Rooted in the desert, the project will highlight the particular aspects of these cultures, such as water, the stars, the desert as a space of retreat and reflection, and the creatures that inhabit the desert, bridging them with themes from the landscapes of Switzerland. Additonally, songs of love, music for the soul and for peace that will strengthen our bonds and ties with each other. The theme of the performance is Blue, referring to our blue planet, oceans and rivers, the poetry and acoustics of water, Blues as an emotion, as a musical style in Jazz. It also communicates the new paradigms of regenerative blue futures. The repertoire will include a blend of jazz, traditional songs and compositions from the ensemble, into which will be interwoven music and songs from Oman, the Gulf and Middle East region.
"Desert Bridges offered an exceptional free one-hour public concert at the Royal Opera, House of Musical Arts. The Ensemble was founded by Swiss vocal artist, Anna Grichting and the late poet-musician, Cheo Solder, and blends jazz forms with traditional (folk) music through improvisation. On Thursday evening the nine musicians performed on stage bathed in a blue haze - a theme in their creations. It began with an atmospheric work featuring the beautiful, deep timbre of the Alpine Horn - an indigenous Swiss instrument longer than a didgeridoo - playing an arpeggiated melody accompanied by Cowbells. Quite a novel start, with Anna Grichting singing an Irish folk melody above it. “Your Beauty Shines” opened with a bass guitar jazz riff with grand piano; and then the fluid fusion began. The Arabic qanoon plucked a striking melody juxtaposed with the Hackbrett - a Swiss zither, or hammer dulcimer - and Anna sang an hypnotic repetitive vocal line over Western drums and Arabic percussion and Oud.
An entrancing dulcimer solo, composed by Ephraim Salzmann, introduced, “Water is Divine”, and gradually the Omani musicians joined the liquid flow of sound. The following, “Water” was composed in Arabic mode by Qanoon Maestra, Farah Jamal al Balushi. Familiar to Muscat audiences for her playing in the First Royal Ensemble for Music and Folklore, this was the only purely instrumental piece without vocals in the programme. It featured her rapid tremolo technique first, then paired Oud melodies with the Qanoon in falling sequences in a rhythmic ensemble, building up to a sparkling glissando finish.
The jazz highlight of the evening began with the recognizable dotted bass intro on piano from Miles Davis’ popular “All Blues” from his 1959 modal jazz album, ‘Kind of Blue’, with Enrico Lenzin performing the trumpet solo on Alphorn! The lyrics celebrate, ‘all shades and hues, some sad, some bright, all blues’. There was a Hackbrett solo as Grichting spoke, punning on ‘blue note’ and names for shades of blue, her jazz singing voice rich and warm. A mainstream jazz improvisation number featuring the extraordinary skills of French pianist, Michel Bastet in “Illuminations” was followed by “Valley of Chants”, composed by Alphorn player. It turns its attention to the endangered Arabian Leopard and European Lynx, and his incredible versatility in jazz improvisation, along with an agile acoustic bass solo from the talented Frederic Folmer in its highest range, suggested the Call of the Wild.
Blue returned to the stage and subject of “Stars, Sea, Desert”. The fusion in this project succeeds because of the improvisational nature of jazz and Arabic music; both find common language in scales and modes. As if to emphasise this, purple light coloured an Arabic rock composition. The Qanoon and Hackbrett formed continuity between styles, a thematic dialogue creating washes of impressionist sound across the ensemble with Grichting’s vocals recalling nostalgic 1980s folk-rock.
A classic jazz format finished the performance. A descending bass sequence from Folmer and the fast drumming of Béatrice Graf gave impetus to another splendid solo from Bastet, with atonal inflections. A dazzling solo from prolific Omani percussionist, Talal al Siyabi, built up to a frenzy. Graf demonstrated her rhythmic prowess in a final drum solo, then interacted with Siyabi in a percussive duel. The excitement melted back to subtle bending blues vocals from band leader, Anna Grichting - and all was dark again.
Desert Bridges has already brought its mission to bridge communities through music’s universal language to Bahrain and performed with the Bin Faris Ensemble: it’s hoped that they continue to spread themes of connection and cross-cultural collaboration throughout the Gulf."
