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Published on: 04/25/2026 - 18:15

In this new episode of the “Dhaif and Masirah” program, we meet the Syrian artist Waad Bouhasson, who chose to move away from all ready-made classifications and build her artistic path on a rare intersection between a deep musical sense and academic research. She is not just an oud player or singer, but rather a researcher into the depth of sound, the meanings it carries, and the precise relationship between heritage and humanity.

Waad Bu Hassoun was born in 1979 in the village of Shaqqa, located in the Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. Her father was fond of music and played the oud. At the age of seven, he presented her with her first oud instrument. I discovered early on that music is not just an activity, but a way to understand oneself and regulate emotions. She says: “The presence of music in the family opens the way for the child to travel with imagination and control his emotions...”, an early awareness that will accompany her later in all her stages.

The oud...more than an instrument, a partner in expression

Since its beginnings, Waad Bou Hassoun has not viewed the oud as a tool, but rather as a friend. She says:

“I am a man of few words. Oud is my friend. He is the only one who can translate what I want to say.”

In this vision, the oud turns into a stand-alone language that goes beyond the limits of traditional expression, giving it the ability to communicate with the public, even when the common language is absent. She adds: “The audience does not necessarily understand the words literally, but what is important is what they feel.”

It is a vision that makes music a universal language, capable of crossing borders and cultures. Therefore, her concerts often begin with improvised performances, preparing the listener to enter a state of deep listening, where the concert turns into a sensory and spiritual experience at the same time.

From southern Syria to Paris: a journey of self-searching

In 1997, I moved to Damascus to join the Higher Institute of Music, where I remained until 2003.

But the biggest transformation came with her move to Paris, where she studied the anthropology of music and began a deep research journey into the roots of the heritage to which she belonged. She says about this stage: “I came to Paris to complete my studies in the anthropology of music, and there I got to know myself more.”

It was not just a matter of studying the specialty of funeral rituals, but rather a rediscovery of identity, by returning to the field, recording the heritage, analyzing it, and then presenting it with a new vision.

Heritage between fidelity and renewal

Waad Bu Hassoun believes that heritage is not a static substance, but rather a living entity that changes with time, but without losing its essence. She says: “I cannot present the heritage in a way that distorts the melody or the word... If we can no longer recognize it, then this is not innovation but distortion.”

In this delicate balance, she tries to preserve the original template, while opening the way for new experiences, stemming from a deep understanding and not from a superficial rupture.

Poetry... when the word precedes the melody

The word occupies a central place in the work of the artist Waad, as she believes that poetry is the origin, and that melody comes at its service, not the other way around. Therefore, her orientation was towards Sufi and Nabatean poetry, which constitute one of the basic pillars of her artistic project, because of their depth and ability to express levels that everyday language does not reach. She says: “Sufi or ghazal poetry contains something powerful that we cannot express in everyday speech.”

In her talk about the texts of Ibn Arabi, Al-Hallaj, and Rabi’a Al-Adawiya, she points out the boldness and depth that these spiritual experiences carry.

As for Nabati poetry, she describes it by saying: “It is fun, because we are forced to live in reality in the moment in which we sing it.”

Academic research... when science meets art

Her academic path was not separate from her artistic experience, but rather an extension of it. Through her research on rituals, especially funerary rituals, she discovered new dimensions in understanding society. “As I progress in research, I come back to square one,” she says. “And that’s the fun thing.”

Through her research, she also discovered new dimensions in understanding society, the role of women in it, and the relationship between life and death, between the individual and the group. This realization made her see music and research as two parallel paths that converge at one point: a deep understanding of humanity.

Jordi Saval...the meeting that broadened the horizon

The experience of working with Catalan musician Jordi Saval constitutes an important milestone in her career, as it opened new horizons for her in teamwork and in understanding the role of the musician within society. She says about him: “He is a human being before he is a musician... I learned with him that there is no ‘I’ on stage, and that a musician must be generous in his performance,” which is a lesson that goes beyond technique to artistic ethics.

Through this experience, she participated in humanitarian projects, including concerts in refugee camps, and therapeutic music experiments in hospitals and prisons, where she observed the effect of music on people’s psychological and physical conditions.

An artistic path between experimentation and maturity

From “The Voice of Love” to “The Spirit of the Oud,” then “The Voice of Passion” and “Recovered Souls,” her works reflect a gradual development in the relationship between voice, instrument, and text.

She says about these works: “I was looking every time to develop what I presented... to discover what needed to be changed or deepened,” which explains the diversity in her projects, and her refusal to repeat themselves.

She describes one of her most prominent works: “In the album ‘Spirit of the Oud’, I recorded it with just me and the oud...it was all of my composed poems.”

At the end of the episode, the Syrian artist summarizes her vision and artistic direction, and says: “I was not waiting for any kind of honors... I was just looking to present something that would satisfy me and my fans.”

It is a sentence that summarizes an entire philosophy, which is based on the belief that the true value of art is not measured by the number of awards, but rather by its ability to reach and leave an impact.

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