absolute michigan :: all michigan, all the time

Enter Keyword:

Arab World Music Summit, April 15; Ann Arbor

This Arab World Music Summit highlights artists from three regions of the Levant, the area that encompasses the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. A follow-up to last seasonís five-concert Arab World Music Festival, Voices of the Levant features three emerging performers representing this region.

Abdullah Chhadeh is the Arab worldís most innovative qanun (an 81-string Arabic zither) player, whose music reflects his journey from growing up in the Golan Heights and Damascus to his current home in the United Kingdom. A relentless musical adventurer, Chhadeh has developed a sound that blends the unmistakably Arabic qanun with jazz double bass and Western percussion, as well as more traditional instruments. He performs music from his new album, Seven Gates, inspired by the seven historic gates of Damascus.

Lebanese pianist Rami KhalifÈ, who appeared last year with his father, Marcel, studied at The Juilliard School and recently released his second recording. KhalifÈ performs avant-garde jazz compositions and improvisations that weave the classical, world, and Arabic music genres together.

Trio Joubran, hailed as ìthe worldís first oud power trioî (Global Rhythm) is made up of three brothers from the biblical city of Nazareth in Galilee. The trio of oud players reflects their familyís musical heritage: their father is a master craftsman of the oud, an Arabic lute that conveys the subtle microtones and modal shifts of the classical Arabic repertoire. Trio Joubranís music is arrestingly fresh, yet rooted in the Arab tradition.

University Musical Society web site

Posted/updated Apr 14, 2006
by William Stevens (Absolute Michigan Lifestyles Editor)