Musical Encounters Interview with G-town Radio

Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture and Prometheus Chamber Orchestra are marrying different cultures through music -- celebrating the diversity that makes up our city of Philadelphia.

May 4, 2016 | G-town Morning Feed host Ed Feldman

"When I met Hanna he was a graduate student and I was an undergrad,  one day I received an invitation to join to community ensemble--open to anyone who wanted to learn about the Arab music tradition--I was interested and reconnected with Hanna. That was a whole journey in itself--getting acquainted with the style...Witnessing Prometheus collaborate with Al-Bustan was kind of like a throwback to when I was first introduced to the music and style...What we discovered, actually, is that Arab music is reflective of the language itself and the rhythm of speech... You start to think about how you create the music differently--you connect to the music in the moment and the musicians that you're playing with."-Co-founder of Prometheus, Vena Johnson."We thought it would be nice to come in on equal footing this time and play each other's repertoire and repertoire from around the world because that's what Philadelphia is--it's a multicultural city...The more we try to embrace each other's culture, the more we reach out to the other and then we are really bridging and we are creating what Philly is really about. The Arab music culture is going to be there but we will also have other compositions to really celebrate the diversity of the city."-Al-Bustan Music Director, Hanna Khoury

CLICK HERE to listen to full Morning Feed radio segment.