Editor’s Note: This story is published in collaboration with the Moody Writing Support Program. 

Yasmeen Hamad said she heard about the University’s Middle Eastern ensemble through an email offering extra credit.

“I had a doumbek from a few years ago,” Hamad said, referring to a goblet-shaped drum. “I have so much family in Lebanon that are incredible, but I just haven’t had the opportunity to learn how to play it.”

Hamad, an international relations senior, decided to join the group, called Bereket, as a beginner percussionist. She’s preparing for her first concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 at Bates Recital Hall but hopes to gain more than bonus points. 

“I haven’t been able to go back to Lebanon in nine, eight years, maybe,” Hamad said. “This is kind of connecting me back.” 

Founded in 2006, Bereket started with just eight students and Sonia Seeman, one of the ensemble’s directors still leads the group. Seeman, an associate professor of ethnomusicology in Middle Eastern Studies, said Bereket has grown to more than 40 participants, including students, faculty and community members. 

“There isn’t another kind of ensemble like this in Austin …. We have a very broad idea about the Middle East,” Seeman said. “We’ll do one melody that will have four different languages because melodies travel.”

While the region is often known for strife, Seeman said the diversity of the Middle East is reflected in Bereket, which adds to the ensemble’s ability to care for its members. 

“We believe that the communities in the Middle East share more than they are divided by,” Seeman said. “We have an ensemble that has Iranians who are playing music with somebody from Greece who is playing music with somebody who is Jewish.”

After attacks on Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and throughout the developments of the war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, Seeman said several members have voiced anger, sadness and concerns for family and friends living in the region. 

Seeman said although the ensemble exists at the crossroads of controversies, she and her team work to create a safe space for musicians to navigate their emotions. 

“Music making is inherently political. It’s a political act because it requires each person to be seen and heard,” Seeman said. “That’s the framework that I’m continually trying to work within, which means holding pain for people.”

Bereket began its spring 2024 concert with a Jewish prayer and ended with a Palestinian dance song, Seeman said, with permission from everyone in the group. 

“There are times we’ve decided not to do a certain kind of repertoire because to do so would indicate we were taking sides, right?” Seeman said. “I think learning more about how to enact, create in a musical space that’s inclusive has been an ongoing learning experience.”

For Bereket, inclusivity also means bringing in musicians from other backgrounds, such as alumnus Erik Salinas, an international relations alumnus, who is Mexican American. Salinas said Bereket’s sense of community is what keeps him coming back. 

“It really made me value the importance of connection, and being able to see your fellow musicians as more than that and as a whole person,” Salinas said. 

Salinas began playing with the music group in 2014 while learning the oud, a Middle Eastern string instrument, similar to a guitar. He said a more communal, less traditional learning style kept him motivated. 

“Everyone can learn the music on their own, atomize behind a closed door in a practice room … but sometimes the best type of music is where you feel that you’re connected to the person sitting next to you,”  Salinas said.

As they prepare for their next performance, Bereket’s musicians said they’re looking forward to seeing, hearing and feeling the fruits of their labor. 

“I found recently some old videos where my cousins would play every time we’d go to Lebanon,” Hamad said. “It’s making me very nostalgic, especially, and it’s making me hopeful as well.  I’m kind of looking forward to showing off to them at some point.”

“Bereket,” which has cognates in Turkish, Arabic and Persian, means divine gift and fertility, according to Seeman. She said she chose the name because it “evokes the philosophy of the group.”

“Music is something you don’t use up, you don’t run out of,” Seeman said. “The goal is always to be creating sounds which create more.”