Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture

Video Clips of Youth Ensembles in Master Workshops with Simon Shaheen, internationally-acclaimed Palestinian composer, educator and performer.

As part of Al-Bustan’s music instruction program, funded largely through the National Endowment for the Arts, Simon Shaheen was invited on November 18, 2008 to conduct a workshop at the Kimmel Center for 100 Philadelphia public school teachers and local musicians.

In January 2009 Mr. Shaheen returned to conduct a series of lively master workshops with six youth ensembles, teaching each group a repertoire of traditional Arab music and his own compositions of Arab/Jazz fusion. The six ensembles included:

Pennsylvania Girlchoir
William Penn Charter School Jazz Band
Kimmel Center Youth Jazz Ensemble
Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) High School Jazz Band
Settlement Music School Jazz Ensemble
Al-Bustan Percussion Ensemble

Please take a few minutes to view video clips, editing by Corey Chao, showing some of the master workshops with Mr. Shaheen, held at the Kimmel Center in January 2009.

Pennsylvania Girlchoir learning Nassam Alyana

William Penn Charter Jazz Band learning Aziza (composer Mohammad Abdel-Wahab) and Waving Sands (composer Simon Shaheen)

Kimmel Center Youth Jazz Ensemble learning Blue Flame (compser Simon Shaheen)

GAMP High School Jazz Band learning Blue Flame (composer Simon Shaheen) and Dance Mediterrenea (composer Simon Shaheen)