Hassen Doss: "export talents to defeat prejudice towards the Arab world"
This interview originally appeared on the Italian "Strumenti Politici".
By Vanessa Tomassini.
“I don’t like to introduce myself, but in short, I’m a tenor, an opera singer. I've been doing this job since 2012. My first work was in Poitiers where I presented “Rigoletto”, “Le noces de Figaro” and then “Don Basile”. After Rigoletto, “The Duke of Manteau”, with the same production. So began my artistic career and, in parallel, that of a popular singer in Tunisia. Besides the opera, I do my concerts, my songs. This is my professional experience with the general public. So I would say that I am a lyrical singer, a composer, as well as a professional singer.” Hassen Doss, the famous Tunisian singer, reduce of the recent success of “Carmen” at the Theatre of the Opera of the City of Culture in Tunis, tell us. Not only music and talent, but also awareness of the social role of art, even more in this particular historical moment. “It was a beautiful experience to make ‘Carmen’, happy to have colleagues singing the opera in Tunisia, because ten years ago I was alone. I'm very happy to sing with Maram, Nasrine and all our friends. I already think we have founded something, an opera tradition in Tunisia. Given the number of spectators there, given the project which I think is very good, promising for the future. I see that we could do a lot of things even better than that and I hope it will continue.” He adds.
What is the message transmitted by your character, Don José, in the opera “Carmen”?
“The role of Don José that I played in “Carmen” is really important, more central than that of Carmen herself who gives the title to the opera. Don José has a lot to sing throughout the opera. This is not an ordinary role. It is not like ‘La Traviata’ or ‘Rigoletto’, but it represents a fantastic role for a tenor, but also just as difficult. A rather reserved, disciplined brigadier who loves his mother too much. To whom he promised to take Michael in his hand. So a fairly normal person, who looks a little like the Tunisian man. The average Tunisian man is usually very close to his mother. He's very respectable, he works and comes home. He will marry a girl whom his mother has proposed to him. Here's Don José, too, a bit tough, macho, with a lot of character. He is not subject to the woman. To play the role of Don José, I took up this Tunisian tradition and I think it worked very well. The only difference from the original work is in the final, not killing Carmen. I did not agree with this variation because I didn’t want to change the work of Bizet, who wanted Carmen to be killed at the end of the play, but it was a brilliant idea in any case to make sure that Carmen did not die continuously. Also because we don't live in a society that kills women anymore. I respect women too much to allow someone to kill her, because she was left by her lover for somebody else. You can just leave. But, in any case, you have to understand the story. At that time, Micaela was already 17 years old and at the time when “Carmen” was born, she could have been exposed to other boys. But today, at the age of 17, he is still underage and would be victimized by the law. Suddenly he looked at me very seriously. She was taken by this crazy, this gypsy. She's like a witch. She's manipulating him. Here, Carmen is a manipulator. He manipulates him every time and Don Jose was very shy, very serious. That's why his ending is sad: He left his mother, Micaela, the right values. He is a man who has abandoned his good values, he has departed from being disciplined, loyal, faithful. By temptation, by desire. Don Jose has chosen to go in the wrong direction. It is sad, but that is the true message of the opera. There is a lot of philosophy.”
What is your artistic relationship with Italy and with Italian Opera in particular?
“I always sing Italian, even in my concerts. I started singing the lyrical opera thanks to the Italian language, already in high school. It was my choice to learn Italian as it is a language I simply love. For me, it's the best language in the world. It's musical. I was seduced by Pavarotti, by Bocelli and it was thanks to them that I chose to sing in Italian. I do works, I have friends in Sanremo. I have friends in Rome. I also visited Rome, Milan and Verona. Although I have never sung in the Arena, my dream is to sing there one day”.
You also teach singing to young Tunisians, how do you imagine their future as artists in Tunisia?
“I think that the future of each of us depends only on ourselves. It's up to them to choose. I dared to do things. I dared to create, with my friend Taoufik Jebali, a great man of theatre, well known in Tunisia, a school of singing and theatre that simply allows young people to know the opera, sing and play at the same time. Today I see young people and adults singing in the choir. I have many trainees, people who have sung in the “Carmen” choir including two soloists. Historically speaking, I think I was the first tenor in Tunisia. There were foreign tenors, but not Tunisian before me. Well, doing an opera like “Carmen”, with a production and a staff entirely Tunisian is a novelty. Now when we see the people, the Tunisians coming to see two concerts, with the second date with almost twice the audience, I think that's the best answer to your question. People love him. People want art, art a little classy or high to use the exact term. A complete art that changes from folk music, rap or something. The audience loves the culture of symphonic music, opera singers, ballet, acting. I am sure that there is a market for this, with more opportunities than in Europe, where now only the elderly see the work. I remember when I was in Munich at the Monaco Opera House, which is well known all over the world, the audience was very mature. But here, the work has attracted young people, normal men and women, of every extraction. This I believe will allow me, or my colleagues, to create singing schools where we could possibly train other successful singers in the future.”
What obstacles does a Tunisian artists encounter? Do you have trouble travelling in Europe?
“Of course it is always difficult. Many young people are forced to leave the country and emigrate illegally. It is still humiliating for me to apply for a visa to sing in another country. It's embarrassing. For example, I did concerts in Paris, at Umbra, at the New Morning. They are very renowned and prestigious rooms. Patrick Buelle sang there. Even when I was only working with French people, I had to apply for a visa. Here, you have to wait. It's not normal, actually. Because normally someone should help me to go. They should be happy to let me sing. But that's the visa problem, especially for artists whoes will transmit a positive image of their country. It's always complicated, it's expensive to do it. If one day I have to sing in Italy, I should be relieved. I'm not a terrorist. Thieves, criminals, terrorists, they need a visa but I don't think there will be any problems with artists."
What role does art play in this delicate historical moment characterized by great conflicts, in Ukraine and in the Middle East?
“In the United States, in New York, I talked about this very topic, the impact of art in a society. I believe that art plays a fundamental role today in changing some ideas that exist in the world. A singing Arab tenor will radically change the widespread prejudice of an Arab terrorist with the beard that many have. But when they see, for example, the tennis player, Ons Jabeur, they change their minds. This is what the world really needs. We need women and men who demonstrate that we are not just barbarians, terrorists or inferior people. We are second in the world in tennis, we are a tenor that sings very well, that exports emotions. So we really need art, talent. We need to export talent to the world, at least to change these ideas of inferiority. Today with Facebook, Instagram, with the advent of digital, in fact, there are no more barriers and no more visits. We no longer need a visa to see Rome. In fact, we no longer need the old European barriers. We really need to love and respect each other, all of this. So if I'm doing things right today, it's almost because of your culture, actually. That's why I respect her, as I respect every culture in the world. Likewise, I demand respect, for myself and for my art. This is the message I want to share in the world.”
Plans for the future?
“I actually only have one project: to share my art with the world. I've finished recording my new album now. It is called “Mosaic” because, like in a mosaic, there is Italian, French, Spanish, Tunisian, Lebanese. The mosaic represents Tunisia. We have the largest collection of mosaics in the world. It is like a puzzle, in which so many small pieces carefully cut, are precisely arranged with each other, to form an image. It is a cultural mosaic with many languages. The Tunisian people love languages. I do not like to speak only in Tunisian or only in Arabic. I like to communicate in French, Italian, English, of course. Exactly because I want to convey to the world a different image of the Arab man. An image that sings very well. When I say this, I don't mean I'm a good singer, but that I sing culturally beautiful things... with a message. When you listen to it, you see a beautiful image of the artist or the country of that artist.”