Told through the eyes, heart, soul, and intelligence of an accomplished oud musician, Wasif Jawhariyyeh’s memoirs provide a philosophical, realistic, and artistic perception of life, culture, and society from childhood in the Ottoman Empire through the British Mandate and eventually Israel’s independence, where insufferable conditions forced his family to migrate from Jerusalem to Beirut leaving his beloved oud collection behind. Through simplistic storytelling, his memoirs reveal the integrity and flavor of the transitions and the strife of his family, friends, artists, and accounting associates at his day job with the transitory government tax departments. Wasif Jawhariyyeh’s memoirs are a perfect stepping stone for those wanting to learn about existence, customs, and civilization in Palestine during this turbulent epoch.
As a lover of string instruments, I appreciated the distinctions Wasif drew from Western and Middle Eastern music notation as a cultural phenomenon. He also dealt with the resistance of European music teachers in Palestine, who pushed for Western notation on Arabic music, negating the Middle Eastern sound from which Wasif stood his ground, emphasizing the original aesthetic, and drawing the European experts on the differences between Western and Eastern music.
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