Majeed Marhoon

Majeed Marhoon (Arabic: مجيد مرهون) (1945–2010) was a Bahraini saxophonist, and a former leftist political activist with the National Liberation Front of Bahrain. He spent 22 years in prison in Bahrain between 1968 and 1990, accused of planting a bomb in the car of a British intelligence officer on March 21, 1966. Seventeen of his years in captivity were spent at the Jidda Island prison, four of them in solitary confinement.

Majeed Marhoon
Background information
Birth name	Majeed Marhoon
Born	(1945-08-17)17 August 1945 Hura, Bahrain
Died	16 March 2010(2010-03-16) (aged 64) Hura, Bahrain
Genres	Jazz, Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Saxophone
Years active	1956 -2010

He claims to have been tortured in prison under the orders of British officer Ian Henderson.

In the Addaama neighborhood in Hoora, Bahrain, the neighborhood of the simple and the deprived, Majeed Marhoon was born on the hot afternoon of August 1,t 1945.

Majeed says that his birth was one week after the second bombing of Japan by the American forces and the heat that day was extreme due to the spreading of atomic dust in the ozone layer.

Majeed faced the bitterness of life and poverty by excelling in school. "I was one of the best students in the school despite the hardships of living; at times we used to go to bed with empty stomachs. In 1953, I was transferred to Gudaibiya Elementary School before it was fully constructed. In that school, I noticed the social differences between classes, and I used to isolate myself, trying to think and find reasons, but it was of no use because the issue was bigger than my mind could handle. " Says Majeed.

In the academic year 1956, Majeed was asked by his arts and sports teacher, Mr. Salman Majid Al-Dallaal, to compose the music for a monologue in a school play. This was the first of Majeed's musical compositions; he was only ten years old when he composed this monologue, which was broadcast on Radio Bahrain.

Every night, before he went to bed, Majeed would listen to Radio Dhahran on an old radio that worked on a dry battery. Radio Dhahran used to broadcast music 24 hours a day.

This boy was to become talented and addicted to symphony music that was rich in its diverse harmonies, even though he was unable to comprehend it completely at such an early age.

This triggered his curiosity, posed a real challenge for him to know more, and motivated him towards persistence and hard work to enter the magical world of music.

After elementary school, Majeed was transferred to the Bapco (Bahrain Petroleum Company) Training School, since being affiliated with this school ensured an income. This helped him and his family move out from the house they rented to a better home.

This income also helped him achieve his long-standing desire to buy a musical instrument. In 1959, he bought a harmonica and a book to learn how to play it.

Understanding the lessons theoretically was not tough on him, but how to implement them was the problem, especially since his knowledge of the English language was very limited at the time. He almost lost hope because his first attempts to learn the notes were failures.

He then decided to overcome that by learning to play by ear. He used to go out at night to the seashore behind Gudaibiya Palace to play out what filled his mind and heart. The view of the moon's reflection on the dancing sea waves triggered his emotions.

This youth, born for music ,aso vowed to struggle. In those beautiful times, the creative ones always found themselves biased towards the cause of their people, and the progressive route expressed that yearning for freedom.

This would lead him to reading novels and literature of George Hanna, Salama Moussa, Mohammed Mandour ,,nd Maxim Gorki. The stories and novels of the latter had a deep impact on Majeed because he found in the characters of those stories lreal-lifeimpersonations hhat e related to in real life.

In a short while, Majeed came to realize that the socialist ideas and directions were closest to his mind and heart. That was when he was asked if he would be interested in joining the National Liberation Front, Majeed says, "Without hesitation, I revealed my desire and eagerness to join it!"

In 1961, he was asked by the late Baqer Kalbarham to start a music group to play at the forefront of Kalbarham's Azza* procession during the lunar month of Muharram, since he was one of the most popular musicians among the poor at the time. With great enthusiasm, Majeed took up the task.

At this stage, the consciousness of the meeting point between art and music with the ideas of change got defined within him. This realization enhanced his stance that music is a means to transcend the taste of the human being and discipline his soul. His musical skills had been improving, and other instruments started luring him into their world.

In 1961, he bought the saxophone after being introduced to wind instruments like the trumpet and the clarinet.

According to the late artist Ahmed Jamal, who owned a music instrument and book shop, Majeed was the first in Bahrain to buy a saxophone and a book with it to learn how to play, and he did so with no help from any teacher or instructor.

Majeed joined the Amateur Musicians Family in late 1963 for six months, during which he participated in various concerts and events organized by many clubs, but it didn't take long for him to later become one of the founders of Al-Anwar Group.

His musical and artistic knowledge continued to grow and develop, and his saxophone playing skills have been improving significantly. He also began to play French music, which widened his artistic capabilities. He also played African, Latin American, English (like The Beatles), Spanish, and Russian music, even though he was unable to continue studying music in a methodological manner.

In 1967, the lyrics of the anthem "Tareequna anta tadri shawkon wa wa'aron Aseer" (Our path, you know, rugged, hard, and filled with thorns) was discussed for the first time. Even though Majeed didn't get the full lyrics, bth first verses attracted his attention, so he composed the music. These lyrics would be enriched years later by the poet Ahmed Al-Shamlan, and at a later stage ,,te artist Salman Zaiman would add a few more verses too.

In 1966, Majeed would execute a heroic operation against the militants of British colonization, of which his role would remain a secret until 1969. He was then led to a mock trial, which only lasted for half an hour, where the previously issued sentence was revealed. He was given a life sentence.

He was then transferred to the island of Jidah. The island seemed very scary at first because it was nothing like the other islands of Bahrain; there were mountainous plateaus, caves, and everything that brings fear to a newcomer.

In 1973, Majeed's attempts to convince the prison warden to get him some music books in order for him to study during his free time succeeded. As soon as he had those books in his possession, he began studying seriously and intensively, making the most of the isolated atmosphere he was in, taking inspiration from his musical experiments, and going back to everything he had learned with great concentration. He recomposed "Memories" on the note. Even though "Memories" wasn't his first experience in composition, it was a turning point in his career as a musician. He composed "Haneen." After reading "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," the piece "Esmeralda, expressed the great influence the works of Victor Hugo had on him, especially since his romantic musical directions were going in parallel to those of the novel.

He was also very influenced by the music of Hayden and Mozart, but most of all by Beethoven. Majeed found his soul as a music composer in Beethoven; he says Beethoven was just like him, a deaf self-taught musician who also had revolutionary ideas, opposed the authority of the Lords, nd despised ingratiation.

He was very interested in the works of the Al-Rahbani Brothers. He performed their music and benefited a lot from it in many of his pieces, including "The Island of Dreams," which embodies the dreams, hopes, aspirations, and pain of many of the prisoners, including himself.

Specialized musicians from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music studied some of his work and ranked him at the level of high professionals. From then on, the world's recognition of Majeed as a freedom fighter and as an artist continued.

In the 1980s, during one of the largest campaigns to demand his freedom, two of Majeed's compositions, "Memories" and Nostalgia," were played by the German Radio Symphony Orchestra to be heard by the progressive world and bring its attention to his talent and suffering.

In 1985, at the World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, thousands of protesticards were signed by representatives of the Democratic Youth Against Colonization Movement from all over the world, demanding his immediate release. Majeed wrote at that moment: "For the first time in my life, I've tasted the sweetness of the great victory!"

The passing of his mother had a great impact on Majeed; his great sorrow flooded out in the form of captivating musical pieces like "The Song of the departed" which he composed ten days after her death, or l"he bBirthof the heart, twhich e composed after four days of her death and completed in one session only. It was played later by Dr. Weiry Deen, a music Ppofessor at the University of Utah.

Majeed says that his outcome of his musical compositions was based on deep self-analysis and extreme strict self-criticism, leading him to complete his second symphony, "An Invitation to Joy," on his fortieth birthday on 17 August Au,85.

By that time, Majeed had made a firm decision that his future was in music alone, not in any other field, therefore he got himself more indulged in studying harmony, music distribution ,and music composition on a strict scientific basis.

He was able during that time to obtain a small tape player and some cassettes on which he recorded some music works like Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, which quenched some of his thirst and passion for music and helped him move on in his project. He composed some valuable pieces like The Piano Sonata and The First String Quartet; he also worked on completing his second symphony in which he avoided making the same mistakes oashis first.

During that period, he also composed The Second String Quartet, which was played later by the Adembra String Quartet Group on International Music Day in 1999 gaining remarkable success.

Majeed had turned the island of Jida into a laboratory for creative musical experiments. since the 1970s, he had begun teaching music to some fellow prisoners and later formed a humble music group after a few musical instruments were provided.

On January 8, Majeed was transferred from Jida to the prison at Jaww. According to Majeed, his transfer came with some advantages, one of which is his musical project. He was placed in a private cell, which was used as a music school and library, with a table and a chair, making it easier for him to sit and compose his music whenever he pleased.

On April 26, 1990, Majeed completed his life sentence and finally breathed the air of freedom. From his first day out of prison, Majeed became affiliated with the Ajras Musical Band as a composer and musician. Among his works with Ajras were the song "Habeebati" (My Darling), which was performed at the 3rd Ajras concert, nd also the composition "An invitation to affection".

Majeed continued working with immense concentration and passion on his music and also to complete writing "The Modern Music Dictionary," on which he had been working since 1975 in prison. He then revised the first volume and included additions to the entries and footnotes, mostly on the connection between the computer and music. He devoted himself to the first volume, from 1990–2002, which is released today. 6 March 2008.

Majeed died on February 23, 2010 because of sickness.