2012
Sonia M’barek
Born in Sfax, Tunisia, Sonia M’barek first performed to a live audience at the age of nine and was nationally recognized on TV in Tunis when she was twelve. Attending the national conservatory of music in Tunis, she graduated with a degree in Arab music in 1986. After her degree, she spent most of her time singing in musical theater productions such as Asker Ellil, Ete 61, and Didon, as well as the sound tracks for the film The Dance of Fire. Working with Tunisian oud players, she has presented more than thirty concerts of classical Arab music in a performance tour called Tarab. In 1999, after recording Takht, a CD which was widely distributed in Europe, the United States, and Japan, M’Barek became internationally recognized and began teaching and participating in global conferences, workshops, and master classes showcasing her keen ability with Arabic singing. In 2005, she was nominated by the Ministry of Culture in Tunisia to serve as the chair of the National Festival of Tunisian Music. She has performed in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Egypt, and Lebanon, including a tour in 2009 with Simon Shaheen at the Kennedy Center’s Arabesque Festival in Washington DC and other cities in the US.
Al-Bustan is pleased to host Sonia M’Barek for two concerts on March 23 and March 25, 2012.
Kareem Roustom
KAREEM ROUSTOM is an Emmy nominated composer who has composed music for film, television, concert halls, and album projects. Born in Syria, he has written the scores for many acclaimed films including Budrus and Amreeka. His score for the PBS documentary “The Mosque in Morgantown” earned him an Emmy nomination in the 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy awards. In June 2010 Roustom was awarded a fellowship to the prestigious Sundance Film Composers Lab held annually at the Sundance Institute. As a concert composer, Roustom has been commissioned by groups such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Boston Children’s Chorus, and the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble, among others.
Al-Bustan is pleased to present the works of Kareem Roustom in February 2012.
Maron Khoury
Virtuoso flutist MARON KHOURY was appointed to the second flute position with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City at age 20. He started playing the flute at the age of 11; three years later, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music to study with renowned flutist Jeffrey Khaner from 2005 to 2009. Maron has performed under the direction of Maestro James Levine, Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Otto Werner Mueller, and Christoph Eschenbach among many others. Prior to enrollment at Curtis, he studied with Eyal Ein-Habar and Uri Shoham (Israel Philharmonic), Sara Andon (Idyllwild Arts Academy), and David Shostak (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra). Maron is a recipient of several grants from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Charles M. Kanev Memorial Fellowship. In addition, he is a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and the Schoen Fellowship Grant in honor of Charlotte White.
Al-Bustan presented Maron Khoury in An Evening of Western and Arab Classical Music in April 2011 and will do so again in April 2012.
2011
Suheir Hammad
SUHEIR HAMMAD is a Palestinian-American poet and author. Born in Amman, Jordan to Palestinian refugee parents, she emigrated with her family to Brooklyn, New York City when she was five years old. She attended Hunter College where she won the Audre Lorde Writing Award for her poetry. Hammad’s publications include ZaatarDiva; Born Palestinian, Born Black; Drops of This Story; and breaking poems which received in 2009 the American Book Award and the Arab-American Book Award. Hammad has also received a Morris Center for Healing Poetry Award, a New York Mills Artist Residency, and a Van Lier Fellowship. Her work has been widely anthologized and also adapted for theater. Her produced plays include Blood Trinity and breaking letter(s), and she wrote the text for the multimedia performance Re-Orientalism. Hammad played a lead acting role in Salt of this Sea, a 2008 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection. She was an original writer and performer in the Tony-winning Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and was recently an Artist-in-Residency at the NYU’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute.
Al-Bustan hosted Suheir Hammad for a night of poetry and music in December 2011, the third concert of the Arab Music Concert Series.
A.J. Racy
Al-Bustan hosted A.J. RACY for the second time in November 2011 for a week of events including two concerts, which were part of the Arab Music Concert Series.
Youssef Kassab
YOUSSEF KASSAB, a Syrian-American, began learning the oud and studying voice at early age which he pursued at the Damascus Conservatory, specializing in qanun and the classical Arabic music vocal repertoire. He recorded and performed with the Syrian Radio Orchestra as a vocalist. Since moving to New York City in 1970, he has performed in concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Central America. Kassab is one of the master performers of classical forms such as the Arabic Muwashshahat (classical Arabic/Andalusian vocal music), Al-Qudud Al-Halabiyya (traditional vocal repertoire from Aleppo, Syria), and 19th- and early 20th-century Egyptian vocal music.
Youssef Kassab performed a concert of music from the golden age of Syria and Egypt in October 2011, the first concert of the Arab Music Concert Series.
Marcel Khalife
MARCEL KHALIFE is an internationally acclaimed Lebanese composer, oud master, and singer. Born in Amicht, Lebanon in 1950, Khalife began his music career studying the oud at the National Academy of Music in Beirut. He garnered attention early in his career in the Middle East and abroad for shining light on the oud as a solo performance instrument. In 1976, he formed the Al Mayadeen Ensemble and began to experiment synthesizing Arabic classical modes with contemporary Western instrumentation, and integrating poetry in his musical repertoire.
Khalife is distinguished by his dedication to the ideals of humanism and music’s ability to impart these ideals. This humanism has been a driving force of his music, which crosses the barriers of nationalism, religion, and culture. Moreover, Khalife’s music has the ability to give voice to those who have none. As he notes:
Nothing justifies our art other than to speak for those who cannot speak. This is the cause for which we dedicated our efforts, and the cause that endorsed our voices. We only wished to take it as far as we can, and vowed to release our work as songs of love for, and unity with, the victims of persecution everywhere.
In 2005, Khalife was named UNESCO Artist for Peace for his achievements as an artist and humanitarian. In 2008, he was named the music director and resident composer of the newly formed Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
Al-Bustan was pleased to host Marcel Khalife on March 13, 2011 in a concert honoring his work and longstanding contributions globally and in the Arab world.
Omar Offendum, Nizar Wattad, and Mark Gonzales
Al-Bustan was pleased to host these talented artists in Philadelphia on March 31, 2011 for a day of spoken word and hip hop.
OMAR OFFENDUM is a Syrian-American Hip-Hop Artist/Architect – born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Washington DC and living in Los Angeles. Known for taking audiences on a lyrical journey from the jasmine-tree-lined courtyards of Nizar Qabbani’s Damascene homes, to the flooded riverbanks of Langston Hughes’ Harlem Renaissance poems – Offendum has been featured on several major news outlets (BBC, Yahoo, ABC News, Aljazeera, Reuters, Vibe), helped raise thousands of dollars for various humanitarian relief organizations (PCRF, Islamic Relief, ANERA, KinderUSA), and toured the world to perform his ground-breaking music. He is currently hard at work promoting his 2010 solo release – affectionately dubbed “SyrianamericanA”
NIZAR WATTAD is a screenwriter and hip-hop artist, born in Palestine and raised in Tennessee. He writes feature films for Disney and Golden Globe-winning director Hany Abu-Assad. His musical endeavors include executive-producing the Arab-American hip-hop compilation Free the P and sold-out performances around the world. He earned a Bachelor’s in English from George Washington University in 2001 and a Master’s in Screenwriting from University of Southern California in 2006.
MARK GONZALES is an educator, teacher educator, poet and spoken word artist. With a Masters in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles, Gonzales works with educators and youth in curriculum and artistic development to create the communities we envision. One of the most engaging voices of a generation, Gonzales has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry, Fox News, Mun2, NPR, and shared stages with literary, Hip Hop, and academic icons across the globe. The depth of his work can be seen in the diversity of his audience, as he has received acclaims from educators, senators, foster youth, former prisoners, and members of the United Nations. His tongue tangos between Brooklyn mothers and Baghdad sons, and he hums in the name of both. In 2008, he continued to break borders and build beauty by becoming the first Chicano spoken word artist to perform in Syria.
2008-10
Simon Shaheen
An internationally acclaimed Arab music performer, composer, instructor, and virtuoso of the oud and violin, SIMON SHAHEEN tours worldwide as a soloist and with his ensembles. His recordings have won him an international reputation as a leading Arab musician of his generation, receiving the prestigious National Heritage Award in 1994. Among these, Blue Flame brought his Arab-Jazz fusion international exposure, garnering eleven Grammy nominations. A master instructor in performance and theory, Shaheen is dedicated to teaching Arab music and passing on his knowledge to the younger generation. He is founder/director of the annual summer Arabic Music Retreat held at Mount Holyoke College, and has taught at Julliard, Columbia, Harvard, and Cornell, among others universities, as well as in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan.
Shaheen presented Al-Bustan’s workshop for music teachers in November 2008 and in January 2009 led a series of master workshops with youth ensembles. In February 2009 he performed with the Shaheen Ensemble at the Kimmel Center. He returned in February 2010 for workshops and a competition, all of which culminated with a concert on April 25, 2010.
A. J. Racy
Dr. A.J. RACY is a performer, composer and Professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. Born in Lebanon, Racy is internationally recognized for his extraordinary musicianship and his numerous publications, including his award-winning book, Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab (Cambridge University Press, 2003). He is a master of many traditional instruments particularly the nay, a reed-flute, and the buzuq, a long-necked fretted lute. He has appeared in major U.S. theaters, such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Hollywood Bowl and at international venues, including the Beiteddine Festival in Lebanon and the Commonwealth Institute in London. He has composed and performed for the Kronos Quartet and the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra, as well as for feature and documentary films. His CD releases include three Lyrichord albums, Ancient Egypt, Taqasim, and Mystical Legacies, and Caravan with Kronos Quartet.
Racy has inspired a generation of Western and Arab musicians to study and perform Middle Eastern musical traditions. Racy is the recipient of numerous honors and tributes from a variety of cultural institutions for his outstanding artistry and his continuous work toward greater intercultural understanding and cooperation.
Al-Bustan is pleased to have hosted Racy for a performance at Swarthmore College and a demonstration workshop at The Rotunda in March 2008.
