Suad Bushnaq has long struggled to answer the question “where’s home?” in simple terms. The Jordanian-Canadian composer and polymath with Bosnian, Syrian, and Palestinian roots grew up in Amman, studied in Damascus and Montreal, spent time teaching in North Carolina, and now makes her home in Toronto. Her work reflects her experiences and travels, as she explores Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions, and some of the places she’s lived both in times of war and peace. She now splits her time between concert music commissions and her work as a film composer. We discuss that dichotomy, how she balances being an artist and a craftsperson, her perspectives on studying in Syria and Canada, traditions of Middle Eastern music, and what changed for her during the Pandemic. The Hollywood Music in Media award winner who Hans Zimmer himself has referred to as “an incredible artist” also talks about some of her biggest challenges, including the score for a demanding film that she worked on for almost 4 years. The project concluded with a set of international recording sessions that saw strings captured in Damascus between bombings, while others tracked at Air Edel in London, North Carolina, and Toronto. A mentor once told her never to second guess her gut instinct, and now Suad is making a home in music that is truly her own.
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