Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture

Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture has facilitated an opportunity for youth of diverse backgrounds to learn about Arab music and culture.

Shaheen gives autograph for students after workshop

With funding largely from the National Endowment for the Arts, Al-Bustan invited Simon Shaheen to conduct two-hour master workshops with six youth ensembles that are school and community-based in Philadelphia.  Students are learning a repertoire of traditional Arab music and original compositions of Arab/Jazz fusion by Mr. Shaheen.   Each ensemble will practice and perform this repertoire at their respective spring concerts, with the possibility of performing collectively at one venue this spring. The students will also have the opportunity to see Shaheen perform live with his ensemble on February 1st.

In partnership with the Kimmel Center where the workshops are held in the Merck Education Room, four master classes took place with great success on January 24 and 25. . . stay tuned for some video clips to be uploaded soon.

PENNSYLVANIA GIRLCHOIR
Mr. Shaheen worked with thirty girls in the Trouvere group of the PA Girlchoir and their music director Mark Anderson.  They learned the song “Nassam Alayna Al-hawa” by the Rahbani Brothers and a traditional muwashah/poem “Ya Dahl Qawam.”

AL-BUSTAN PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
Mr. Shaheenn worked with six drummers in Al-Bustan Percussion Ensemble and their percussion director Joseph Tayoun, to play “Ethos,” an all-percussion composition by Shaheen.

SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
Members of SMS’s Jazz Band and their music director Kris Rudzinski, worked with Mr. Shaheen to learn “Al-Qantara,” an original composition by Shaheen.

WILLIAM PENN CHARTER JAZZ BAND
Members of Penn Charter’s 18-person Jazz Band, led by  music director Hayley Varhol, worked with Mr. Shaheen to play “Aziza” a composition by Mohammad Abdel Wahab, as well as “Waving Sands,” Shaheen’s original compostion.

Upcoming Workshops on January 31 with:
KIMMEL CENTER YOUTH JAZZ ENSEMBLE
and
GAMP HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
(Girard Academic Music Program)

In November 2008, Al-Bustan invited Mr. Shaheen to conduct a two-hour workshop at the Kimmel Center for an audience of 100 people, including School District of Philadelphia music teachers and local musicians.
Al-Bustan’s partnership with the Kimmel Center and School District of Philadelphia demonstrates the integration of arts education and performance, as a master artist plants the seeds of Arab music and culture: teaching educators and students and performing for the public.

SIMON SHAHEEN
Internationally acclaimed Palestinian-American  performer, composer, and instructor, Simon Shaheen tours worldwide as a soloist and with his ensemble  His recordings have won him an international reputation as a leading Arab musician of his generation, receiving the prestigious NEA National Heritage Award in 1994.  A master instructor in performance and theory, Shaheen is dedicated to teaching about Arabic music and passing on his knowledge to a younger generation.  He is founder/director of the annual summer Arabic Music Retreat, and has taught at promiment American institutions such as Julliard, Columbia, Harvard, and Cornell, among others, as well as in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan.

See article by Shaheen:  Beyond the Minor Second