A children’s book entitled “Curious Desert Dwellers”, authored by Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) Violist Merve Kenet Bulun, was recently published with an aim to introduce the young to the classical music and its instruments.
Bulun told The Peninsula that she began working on the book after seeing the need of educational materials for classical music for kids and the young adults.
Asked on why classical music, she responded that classical music is comparable to an ocean. “It has huge music repertory from smallest kind of ensembles to the philharmonic orchestras and to the operas. It is so huge that a musician life is not enough to hear and perform all pieces which came down from the previous musician generations to us as biggest treasure.” She added: “Since it is so rich, it is also very complex and needs certain knowledge and preparation to understand it. And we need more educative materials to prepare the new generation to this world heritage.
“My main idea behind the “Curious Desert Dwellers” was to prepare the young people before going to a concert or listening the music in radio, in TV, in animations or movies, to be able to recognise and identify at least some of the instruments; to teach them about their very different sounds and looks."
Bulun is also the leader of CineMoon ensemble, a member of QPO.
Bulun who moved to Qatar in 2008 said her first-ever book is “a story directly told from the desert, from a place which is not very well-known geographical part of the world. Story tellers in the book are the desert animals who are very curious for the knowledge. They want to learn and discover things in their environment.”
She added: “After they heard beautiful sounds in the desert, they started to search about the source of it and they go through a musical journey searching the oldest instrument in the world and meanwhile the readers are learning about the orchestra instruments with videos tracks which the readers could operate with QR Codes.”
The book was originally written in Turkish language. It was sent to one of the famous publishing house for children “Bulut Cocuk” back in her home country. A few days after, she was contacted to publish it where Nihan Demiral worked as the illustrator of the book.
Back in Qatar, it was translated to English by an English editor Marie Hartigan. Afterwards, Bulun reached out to Katara Publishing House. “It is the first time they accepted a children’s book under their name and the Curious Desert Dwellers was launched at the 31st International Book Fair in January,” she said.
The musical score of the book was performed by the QPO. “QPO Executive Director Kurt Meister provided all kinds of support to bring text and music together; Deputy Executive Director and a well-known Qatari musician Nasser Sahim composed a wonderful song for the book called “The Sound of the Desert” where you can hear the real spirit of the fascinating desert and all talented QPO musicians who made separate recordings for the instruments.”
Moreover, she explained that some tracks are live recordings from QPO.
Currently, the book is sold out and can only be purchased at Katara Publishing House website or at its bookstore next to the Amphitheatre at Katara. A second edition of the “Curious Desert Dwellers” is underway and will be available at bookstores in the country.
