Washintunes

2013-03-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

Date: April 6, 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 8:00 P.M.
Place: Creative Alliance at The Patterson, 3134 Eastern AV, Baltimore MD 21224 (directions)
Tickets: $20 general, $15 members and students, online

The Spring 2013 US Tour of Alash Ensemble, masters of Tuvan throat singing, comes to Baltimore!

Performing with them will be Shodekeh and Kerry Holahan.

Video:

Sponsors: XXX

Freer: Naseer Shamma

2013-02-19T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: March 7, 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Freer Gallery, 1050 Independence AV SW, Washington DC 20013 (directions)
Tickets: Free to the public other than ticketing fee from Ticketmaster

One of the Arab world’s leading soloists on the ‘ud (lute), Naseer Shamma returns to the US for the first time in ten years to lead his ensemble in new arrangements of classical Arab music. Based in Cairo, the Al-Oyoun Ensemble performs on 'ud, qanun, violins, flute, cello, contrabass, and percussion.

Shamma is a native of Iraq, where he graduated from Baghdad Academy of Music, and founding director of the Beit Al-Oud Al-Arabi, an institute for the teaching of Arab classical music in Cairo, Alexandria, Algeria, and Abu Dhabi. He developed a method of playing 'ud with one hand for children wounded in the Iraq War. Shamma has performed in twelve European countries and eleven Arab nations. Supported by Saudi Aramco, this concert is part of a US tour produced by Alwan for the Arts, which includes the ensemble’s appearance at the Festival of Iraqi Culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Video:

Free Sackler: New Sounds from Arab Lands

2013-02-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: February 16, 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive at 12th St SW, Washington DC 20024, (directions)
Tickets: Free but must be ordered online via TicketMaster

Inspired by Arab tradition, Western classical music, and jazz and led by regular DC-visiting artists Kinan Azmeh, five Arab musicians perform new music for the nation's capital.

Performers:

Kinan Azmeh, clarinet (Syria)
Basel Rajoub, saxophonist (Syria)
Jasser Haj Youssef, violin and viola d’amore (Tunisia)
Feras Charestan, qanun (Syria)
Khaled Yassine, percussion (Lebanon)

Program:

Rituals (Kinan Azmeh)
Wedding (Kinan Azmeh)
November 22nd (Kinan Azmeh)
Sketches 5 and 6 from "A Scattered Sketchbook in Six Movements" (Kinan Azmeh)
Dream (Kinan Azmeh)
A Sad Morning, Every Morning (Kinan Azmeh)
Asia (Basel Rajoub)
Turquoise (Basel Rajoub)
Duo for Saxophone and Clarinet (Basel Rajoub)
My Gypsy Home (Basel Rajoub)
Cairo Tune (Basel Rajoub)
Friggya (Jasser Haj Youssef)
Reveria Chorale (Jasser Haj Youssef)
Saba (Jasser Haj Youssef)
Maqam (Jasser Haj Youssef)
Echoes (Jasser Haj Youssef)

Video:

NEW SOUNDS OF THE ARAB LANDS_Byblos rehearsals from AKMI on Vimeo.

Sponsor:
Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Press Release:
Rock Paper Scissors

Press:
Washington Post
New York Daily News
Cultural Tourism DC
Dartmouth College
Brandeis University
MusicUnitesUs
AOL Travel

Freer Gallery: Simon Shaheen

2012-12-02T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: December 8, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Freer Gallery, 1200 Jefferson Dr SW, Washington DC 20560 (directions)
Tickets: free on a first-come, first-serve basis, less processing charges available online

Simon Shaheen leads his Near Eastern Ensemble in a program of new and traditional music from the Arab world. Shaheen is a composer, arranger, and 'oud and violin virtuoso. The ensemble will also playnay (flute) and qanun.

Freer description: please click here.

Video:
[link]

Audio:
[link]

Sponsors: XXX Freer Gallery, 1200 Jefferson Dr SW, Washington DC 20560 Sat, Dec 8, 2012 07:30 PM

Freer Gallery: Karima Skalli

2012-11-30T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: December 1, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Freer Gallery (directions)
Tickets: SOLD OUT

Karima Skalli performs repertoire by past and present composers of the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, and North Africa. Sometimes called the next great diva of Arab music, Skalli has performed at the annual Festival and Conference of Arab Music, held at the Cairo Opera House; the International Festival of Sacred Music, in Morocco; and the Festivals Beiteddine in Lebanon.

Video:

Sponsors: Seeds of Culture

Turath 2012

2012-11-28T19:30:00.000-05:00

Date: December 1, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street NW, Washington DC 20009 (directions)
Tickets: $30 Upper Balcony, $50 General Admission, $100 Premier, $250 VIP online

The ADC Women’s Initiative will promote the second annual "Turaath: Celebrating Arab Culture in America" -- a cultural event showcasing Arab art, dance, and music. This year's event will be an evening of Arab culture, featuring the work of renowned Iraqi virtuoso and composer Amir ElSaffar, the Alwan Arab Music Ensemble, the Two Rivers Middle Eastern Jazz Ensemble.

Program:

Alwan Arab Music Ensemble: Classical, folk, and popular Arab music featuring vocalists George Ziadeh and Lubana Al Quntar
Two Rivers Arab Jazz Ensemble: Contemporary cross-cultural musical fusions
Traditional & Modern Arab Dance: Dance across continents and cultures

Video:

Sponsors: Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia , Aramco , Al Monitor , Embassy of the UAE

Sackler Gallery: Bardic Divas of Kazakhstan

2012-10-06T19:30:00.000-04:00

Date: October 6, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence AV SW, Washington DC 20013 (directions)
Tickets: free walk-in
Three Kazakh women demonstrate and discuss their traditional music, with excerpts from epic ballads, lyrical songs of celebration, and fiddle music that complements shamanic rituals.

Ulzhan Baibussynova: Vocalist
Ardak Issataeva: Folksinger
Raushan Orazbaeva: Instrumentalist

Sponsors: Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan

Kennedy Center: Al-maqam Al-iraqi

2012-09-13T19:00:00.000-04:00

Date: September 15, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Place: Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, Washington, DC (directions and parking)
Tickets: Reserve for free seat(s) by emailing culturalcenterevents@iraqiembassy.us or by calling (202) 527-7009

To promote cultural relations between Iraq and USA and as part of the cultural program for the year 2012, the Iraqi Cultural Office offers a Classical Music Concert -- an evening program of Iraqi-American collaboration presenting traditional Iraqi music "Al-maqam Al-iraqi."

Londontowne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Iraqi maestro Karim Wasfi and American maestro Anna Binneweg
Iraqi pianist Sulafa Ghanim Haddad and American pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner
Iraqi maqam group "Safaafir" led by Iraqi musician Amir ElSaffar

Video:

Audio: Safaafir: "El Leyla Hilwa"

Social Media: Facebook

Sponsors: Iraqi Cultural Office

Millennium Stage: Zeb and Haniya

2012-09-05T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: September 12, 2012 (Wednesday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

The acclaimed Pakistani singer-songwriter duo, Zeb & Haniya, has opened the way for female musicians in Pakistan with original songs and new interpretations from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.

Video:
Millennium Stage

Sponsors: Center Stage (pilot program created by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with New England Foundation for the Arts)

Millennium Stage: Omara Moctar "Bombino"

2012-09-02T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: September 4, 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

Omara "Bombino" Moctar is a young Tuareg guitarist and songwriter who captures the spirit of resistance and rebellion with Hendrix-like flair.

Video:
Millennium Stage

Millennium Stage: Somali Sunrise

2012-08-24T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: August 24, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

The Somali Sunrise Concert Tour’s ultimate goal is to persuade Somali youth through songs and positive lyrics to turn away from the gun and peacefully resist extremism. The tour is presented by the co-producers of the 2009 New Era Somali Hip-Hop tour and the 2011 Sound Central Afghan rock festival. The performers are also inviting other global and Somali musicians to participate in their tour, which is expected to travel from Washington, D.C.

Video:
Millennium Stage

Sponsors: The producers would like to thank the leadership of Somali hip-hop and afro-beat group Waayaha Cusub (New Era), producers Radio Daljir, Somali Public Radio, Humanitarian Bazaar, and partners People of the United States, Poet Nation, Matador Network, Do Good Social, and Inherent Artists.

Millennium Stage: Sefira

2012-08-13T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: August 13, 2012 (Monday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

Sefira is a new vocal/percussion ensemble comprised of artists who lead a successful career of their own, and came together to lend their diverse backgrounds to form Sefira.

Malika Zarra’s blend with Moroccan traditional music, Sofia’s fusion with South American rhythms, and Sachal Vasandani’s deep connection to the American song book provide a very colorful and rich melodic and harmonic base.

The three vocalists are supported by percussionists who set a strong groove and add color and mood, making Sefira a unique and very intimate experience for listeners of all corners of this world.

Video:
Millennium Stage

Millennium Stage: Sarazino

2012-07-13T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 13, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

Algerian-Ecuadorian musician Sarazino draws on reggae, pop, Latin, African, and Arabic music to create a musical melting pot. On May 22, 2012, Sarazino’s latest album, Everyday Salama, was released.

Everyday Salama features an array of guests and 15 upbeat songs that reflect Sarazino’s multitudinous influences. Sarazino's live performance breathes new life into many of the hits from his previous album Ya Foy! as well as future classics from Everyday Salama. Keep up with Sarazino on Facebook at and Twitter.

Video:
Millennium Stage

Millennium Stage: Souad Massi

2012-06-30T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 30, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

The Algerian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Souad Massi blends musical styles such as rock, country, and Portuguese fado, often employing acoustic guitar and multiple languages in the same song.

Massi made her singing début in Paris on January 10th, 1999. The audience, dazzled by the brilliant apparition before them, was stunned. People scrambled to describe what they had witnessed, many resorting to futile attempts at pigeonholing the Algerian nightingale. Some likened her to the divas of folk-rock, Tracey Chapman, Joni Mitchell, and others. For a world music artist with this kind of uniqueness, however, such comparisons never quite do the trick.

Video: Millennium Stage

Sponsors: Presented in cooperation with Embassy of Algeria, Ambassador Abdallah Baali, and US-Algeria Business Council.

Millennium Stage: No Place Called Home

2012-06-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 30, 2012 (Wednesday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis No Place Called Home is a new play written and performed by Kim Schultz, with original score composed and performed by Amikaeyla Gaston, direction by Sarah Cameron Sunde, and commissioned and produced in New York City by Intersections International. In the fall of 2009, Intersections International led a delegation of eight American artists from many different disciplines on a three week fact-finding mission through Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria as part of the Iraqi Voices Amplification Project (IVAP). Their goal was to use the power of the arts to call attention to one of the most pressing and under-reported humanitarian crisis issues of our time: the displacement of more than four million Iraqis as a result of the military intervention in Iraq. During their time in the Near East, the delegation entered into conversations with hundreds of refugees at community centers and in their homes. Upon their return, the artists began creating series of artistic pieces designed to humanize the crisis and give voice to the millions of refugees whose plight has yet to enter broad public consciousness. No Place Called Home is one such piece. Video:

Millennium Stage: Arieb Azhar

2012-06-19T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 19, 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis Arieb Azhar gives sharp eloquence, humanist politics, and mystic poetries are given a global voice. This singer-songwriter from Islamabad, Pakistan, leads a quartet of musicians in an eclectic mix of urban and folk-based songs grounded in Sufi and other humanist poetries from across Eurasia. Azhar pays tribute to Irish balladeers, Croatian gypsies, Punjabi traders and ancient Sanskrit texts. Rather than preserving ‘pure’ art forms, Azhar tries to express the human soul the best he can, while making use of all influences he has absorbed along the way. Video: Millennium Stage

Words at Jerusalem Fund

2012-06-16T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 29, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 P.M.
Place: Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia AV NW, Washington DC 20037 (directions)
Tickets: free but RSVP required to (202) 338-1958 or dpainter@thejerusalemfund.org

The Jerusalem Fund Gallery invites you to the first interactive exhibition, WORDS, featuring the graphic art of Palestinian–American Rajie Cook, with special guest, Palestinian-American performance poet and human rights activist Remi Kanazi, from New York City.

Rajie Cook, a renowned graphic designer whose work has been collected by the Smithsonian Institution, features graphic designs, film and sculptural assemblage on the theme of the power of words as a force of justice. Audience members are encouraged to participate in the exhibition at the opening. Viewers will be able to interact with the works and in some cases, become part of them.

Remi Kanazi edited a volume of hip hop, poetry and art, Poets for Palestine (2008), and published the first collection of his own poetry, Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine, in 2011. For more information on his performances, see http://www.poeticinjustice.net/.
A special guest, the renowned poet Remi Kanazi, will give a reading of his works at the opening, 7:00 pm June 29.

Video:

Sponsors: -

Stephan Said at BusBoys and Poets

2012-06-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 13, 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 09:00 - 11:00 P.M.
Place: Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 (directions)
Tickets: free

Busboys and Poets presents genre-transcending Iraqi-American musician/artist/activist Stephan Said, called “this generation’s Woody Guthrie” (Billboard) and “the troubadour of the global justice movement” (L’Humanite), plays an intimate show as part of an East Coast tour working with social change and interfaith organizations.
Stephan Said is an internationally acclaimed singer/rapper/musician, writer, and organizer known for his role in the Arab Spring and Occupy, as well as the Seattle WTO and global antiwar movements before them. An Iraqi-American with family in Baghdad and Mosul, his music fuses pop, hip-hop, rock, rap, folk and world dance musics in an infectious global sound that breaks borders lyrically and sonically and he sings in numerous languages.
His song “Aheb Aisht Al Huriyah” ("I love the life of freedom") helped build the nascent Egyptian revolution, and his song ”Take A Stand” and new album difrent:, produced by Grammy winner Hal Willner, were released with a declaration “A Song United for A Global Spring” calling for an international movement for a more equitable global economy one week before Occupy Wall St began.

Video:

Sponsors: -

Millennium Stage: Malika Zarra

2012-06-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: June 8, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center (directions)
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis Moroccan singer/composer/producer, Malika Zarra is a multi-cultural shape-shifter, an enchantress who leaps effortlessly between seemingly unconnected languages and traditions, uniting them while using each to further enrich the others. The exotically beautiful artist with the velvety, sinuous mezzo-soprano voice has demonstrated a rare ability to communicate both powerful and subtle ideas and feelings in Berber, Moroccan Arabic, French and English now a much-in-demand headliner at concert halls and festivals the world over. Malika was born in Southern Morocco, in a little village called Ouled Teima. Her father's family was originally from Tata, a city on the Sahara plain, while her mother was a Berber from the High Atlas. During her early childhood, there was always music and dancing in the house. Video: Millennium Stage

Ayman Fanous and Ned Rothenberg

2012-05-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

Date: May 11, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: St. Mary's Episcopal Church - Foggy Bottom
Tickets: $$15 general admission
Ayman Fanous hosts Ned Rothenberg in duets and solos with Rothenberg on saxophone, clarinet, and shakuhachi and Fanous on guitar and bouzouki.

Video:
Ned Rothenberg - Shakuhachi Solo Ayman Fanous - Bouzouki Solo
Sponsors: Elysium Musicworks

Salem Al-Maghrishi on Millennium Stage

2012-04-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

Date: April 25, 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 6:00 - 7:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566 (directions)
Tickets: free to the public on a first-come-first-serve basis

Salem Al-Maghrishi is an Oud player. He currently works as a professor of Oud at the First Royal Band for Music and Folklore, and he is a key and active member of the Oud Hobbyists Association. Mr. Al-Maghrishi began playing the Oud at the age of eleven years and taught himself by listening and copying popular Arab artists and musicians. Through years of practice, he has acquired a strong knowledge of authentic musical heritage.

Video:
(link to the performance)

Sponsors: Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center

UMD: Alim Qasimov Ensemble + Kronos Ensemble

2012-02-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

Date: February 18, 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 8:00 P.M.
Place: Dekelboum Concert Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, University Boulevard (Route 193) and Stadium Drive, College Park, MD (directions)
Tickets: $?? general

The pieces that Kronos Quartet and the Alim Qasimov Ensemble perform together are drawn from the repertoire of Azerbaijani ashiqs – oral-tradition singer-songwriters whose song texts portray the power of love and the pain of separation, , often with wry humor and searing irony.

Song arrangements developed in two separate stages: Alim Qasimov arranged original melodies and texts, and then Jacob Garchik transcribed arranged them for Kronos. Then, the two groups put their arrangements together.

Video:

Kronos Quartet & Alim Qasimov Ensemble - Getme, Getme (Said Rustamov, Azerbaijan) from Kronos Quartet on Vimeo.

Turath: Arab Culture in America

2011-11-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

Date: November 10, 2011 (Thursday)
Time: 08:00 P.M.
Place: Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street Northwest, WDC 20009 (directions)
Tickets: $30 balcony, $50 preferred orchestra and balcony, $100 premier, $200 VIP by phone: (202) 244-2990

FIRST HALF: Fashion show featuring work of Hana Sadiq

SECOND HALF: Performance by the Michigan Arab Orchestra's Takht Ensemble

Video:

Sponsors: ADC

Andalusian Nights with Layali El Andalus

2011-10-29T19:30:00.000-04:00

Date: October 29, 2011 (Saturday)
Time: 07:30 P.M.
Place: Convergence Park Baptist Church, 1801 North Quaker Lane, Alexandria, VA 22302 (directions)
Tickets: $20 adults, $15 youths (18 and under), online or phone 800-595-4849

Layali El Andalus will perform in Alexandria, VA. Reviving the golden age of a mythical Andalusia, musicians Rachid Halihal and Daphna Mor draw inspiration from the confluence of Arab and Western cultures of early Spain. Master dancer, Yasser Darwish, will perform the Egyptian saidi and “whirling dervish” dances.

Video:

Sponsors: Washington Revels

Alash Ensemble in DC, MD, VA

2011-10-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

Alash Ensemble, masters of Tuvan throat singing, return to the Greater Washington area for half dozen performances in Maryland and Virginia near DC.

Performances: details

Oct 25, 2011 (Tue) @ 8:00 PM - Frostburg State University, Frostburg MD
Oct 26 2011 (Wed) @ 7:00 PM - Salisbury University, Salisbury MD
Oct 27, 2011 (Thu) @ 7:00 PM - Chesapeake Arts Theater, Brooklyn MD
Oct 28, 2011 (Fri) @ 7:00 PM - MD Hall for Creative Arts, Annapolis MD
Oct 29, 2011 (Sat) @ 4:00 PM - HDG Presbyterian Church, Havre de Grace MD
Oct 30, 2011 (Sun) @ 12:30 PM - Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore MD
Oct 30, 2011 (Sun) @ 7:30 PM - IOTA Club & Cafe, Arlington VA

Sponsors: World Artists Experience