Introducing Reem 

Reem Anbar is an oud player from Palestine, with experience both as a performer and practitioner in psychodrama and music therapy in Gaza. She started playing the keyboard aged eight, but became curious about the oud, when she was eleven. She noticed that the only people playing this instrument were elderly men. 

Reem’s Musical Life Story 

"I asked around why no girls or women were playing oud at that time. They told me it was a very hard instrument, and difficult to find an instrument in Palestine. So I decided to study to play oud and after a year, I think a year, I started to play many songs and pieces. I played with a lot of people and at that time I was the only girl in Gaza who played oud." 

After the most recent war in Gaza, Reem involved herself in community work, using her creative skills. 2007-2017 she worked with children and women, leading therapy and psychodrama, theatrical storytelling with music. 

"It was important and interesting work because the children needed me, needed these activities. People had a lot of problems, the kids and their families, so I had to work with children and the parents. It felt just very good work with these kids. And I worked with the women who had a lot of problems, learning how to tell people… How she can talk about this problem in theatre? With music or without the music? I'm thinking in the future to continue working in music therapy. I had training and experience in Palestine and worked with Ayyam Al-Masrah Theatre (Theatre Day Productions - https://www.theatreday.org/), Tamir and Ma’an, and also Save the Children." 

Reem’s Arrival in Manchester 

Reem was born in Saudi Arabia and left when she was 5 or 6, then living in Gaza until December 2017. [From Gaza] 

"I travelled from time to time to work with the theatre and do presentations in other countries. I could not always do this, but I did a lot or research and found something here, so I came to the UK. Then I decided I want to stay here because it’s very hard to go back to Gaza." 

"It’s different, it’s very hard to play in Arab countries as a woman because we have traditional ideas. I played a lot in my country, but in Manchester it’s more open. I feel I'm free to play what I want, when I want, with and for everyone. Plus, I like to tell people here about my Palestinian traditional music - not a lot of people know about Palestine and about Palestinian music, about Arab music in general, or about oud. So I like to play here and to tell people about all this." 

"Now I have played at the University of Manchester and other gigs in a lot of places. Actually, I played in London too for Arab TV companies, at Leeds College of Music... I want to play in more places, to let people hear Arab music and oud, because not a lot of people know about the oud here." 

Bridging Between Palestine and Manchester 

At first Reem found it very hard, because she didn't find a lot of musicians with whom she could play Arab music. Nevertheless she found audiences as a soloist, and has felt special in her role of sharing Palestinian music, and the Palestinian story that way. She has also started to combine Arab music with other music she has listened to. 

"I went to a lot of jazz gigs, also some Greek and Turkish. Irish as well, because my husband’s Irish and a musician. I like this type of music and I have started to work on mixes between Palestinian and Irish music. I feel that the stories between them are the same. About land, war, weddings, food, nature – these traditional things." 

"When I play, usually I have a story for my music. I always want people to be happy about my story. I want people know about this music, about Arab music, and about my country, because many people don’t know about Palestine. We have a lot of stories. Like we sometimes play for weddings, for the women and men playing together and just having fun. It’s not just for war, or occupation or all that. We sing for land, for trees, for food, for weddings, for everything. When babies come, we sing and tell a lot of stories. All of these stories are happy." 

Reem is also thinking about how to develop her work in the future. 

"I want to study Arab music, so I'm doing research into where I can go. Here I haven’t found anyone to teach me. So because I feel, when you feel… I'm looking for something that not a lot of people do. Here in Britain, there are not a lot of Arab musicians to teach Arab music, or to lead presentations on the subject. I already teach oud but I’d like to teach Arab music at a higher level in the future." 

"I have a lot of ideas, to study and improve my band, to write music, and to tell stories about Palestine or Arab music in general. Palestinian music contains many interesting, funny or entertaining stories. I’d love to tell these stories but also explore the relationships to culture here. I’m all about mixing cultures and music."