Ismaili Choir
As a composer, conductor, and teacher, Hussein Janmohamed has built a career onusing choral music to challenge cultural stereotypes, and reframe Canada’s conversation on race. Growing up as an Ismaili Muslim in rural Alberta taught him that discrimination is an unfortunate fact of life, even in a country celebrated for its multiculturalism. For Muslims and other minorities, he says, the issue is as pressing now as ever.
Janmohamed’s compositions often set Ismaili cultural texts to melodic, traditional choral songs. Janmohamed made a name for himself writing pieces reflecting a multicultural perspective. In 2004 he was asked by the Westcoast Sacred Arts Society in Vancouver to compose a piece with Russell Wallace from the Lil’wat nation to explore how Ismaili and Indigenous cultures can be harmonized. Janmohamed’s unique focus on multicultural choral singing garnered success early on in his career, leading to high-profile performances and opportunities to establish diverse choirs. The piece Janmohamed co-wrote with Wallace was performed for His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his visit to Vancouver in 2004. More recently Janmohamed led two global Ismaili music ensembles to commemorate the 80th birthday and Diamond Jubilee of His Highness the Aga Khan.
Since the Vancouver Ismaili Youth Choir, Janmohamed has gone on to be a founding, co-conductor of Cor Flammae-- Canada’s first queer professional choir in Vancouver-- and the Awaaz Ensemble, a cross-cultural acappella choral ensemble in Toronto.
As Janmohamed points out:“[The indigenous scholar and elder] Lee Maracle says that if we’re not at the table together, we can’t shape a shared future, and I think for me, how I come to the table is by bringing choral music to the cultures and traditions that I belong to.”According to Janmohamed,while many audiences feel inspired by his work interweaving cultures through music as in the some still don’t understand what his music tries to achieve. They approach him with requests for songs that are less spiritual or songs that sound more ‘Arabic.’
“There is not a great understanding of how music of the Muslim world is diverse or how historically Jews, Muslims, Christians and many other religious communities intersected harmoniously,” he laments. He hopes to change this through his work.