Sami Abu Shumays continues his maqam series this Saturday with a workshop on Maqam Saba.
Sami's new approach to teaching and analyzing maqam is much clearer to understand than traditional maqam theory, because it is much closer to oral tradition and performance practice. Using an accessible call-and-response format to teach the basic melodies of Maqam Saba, Sami will put together the building blocks, known as ajnas, so that students will understand the concepts of modulation (moving from jins to jins) and sayr (the overall melodic direction of a maqam).
Saturday March 20th, 2020 3pm-4:30pm Entrance fee: $15 Reserve your ticket HERE
Sami has taught workshops on Maqam and Arabic Music at Yale University, Lincoln Center, Wesleyan University, The New School, the college of William and Mary, Lark Camp, Alwan for the Arts, Lotus Music and Dance, Global Youth Village, Folk Tours, and more. He is a violinist and vocalist based in NYC, founder and director of the ensemble Zikrayat, co-author of the new book Inside Arabic Music, creator of the website Maqam Lessons, and contributor to the website Maqam World. He studied Arabic music with many teachers including Alfred Gamil, Mohamed Qassas, Simon Shaheen, Yousuf Kassab, Abdel-Basit Bakkar and Abdel-Minaim Sinkary.
Events
Previous events
Maqam Workshop with Sami Abu Shumays: Maqam Nahawand
We are happy to announce that Sami Abu Shumays is continuing his Arabic Maqam workshop series! This session will focus on a maqam he hasn't touched yet in his previous workshops with us, Maqam Nahawand.
Sami's new approach to teaching and analyzing maqam is much clearer to understand than traditional maqam theory, because it is much closer to oral tradition and performance practice. Using an accessible call-and-response format to teach the basic melodies of Maqam Nahawand, Sami will put together the building blocks, known as ajnas, so that students will understand the concepts of modulation (moving from jins to jins) and sayr (the overall melodic direction of a maqam).
Sami has taught workshops on Maqam and Arabic Music at Yale University, Lincoln Center, Wesleyan University, The New School, the college of William and Mary, Lark Camp, Alwan for the Arts, Lotus Music and Dance, Global Youth Village, Folk Tours, and more. He is a violinist and vocalist based in NYC, founder and director of the ensemble Zikrayat, co-author of the new book Inside Arabic Music, creator of the website Maqam Lessons, and contributor to the website Maqam World. He studied Arabic music with many teachers including Alfred Gamil, Mohamed Qassas, Simon Shaheen, Yousuf Kassab, Abdel-Basit Bakkar and Abdel-Minaim Sinkary.
Brooklyn Maqam is partnering with Rebuild Beirut Benefit to put together a lineup of wonderful artists from around the world for this special event. ALL funds raised go to supporting relief efforts in Lebanon. We hope you will join us to support this great cause and celebrate culture through music.
Layth Sidiq is an award-winning violinist, composer and educator who has toured the world and performed with major artists such as Simon Shaheen, Danilo Perez, Javier Limon, Jack Dejohnette, Tigran Hamasyan and others and performed in venues like the London Jazz Festival, Boston Symphony Hall, WOMEX Expo, Montreal Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall and more. Layth is featured on multiple award-winning albums and his first record Son of Tigris was premiered at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2016.
A Jordanian with Iraqi roots and a son of musical parents, Layth started his musical training at the National Music Conservatory in Amman with Timur Ibrahimov, and at only eleven years old, he had his first major solo performance with the European Chamber String Orchestra in front of Jordanian royalty. Layth finished his high school degree at the prestigious Chethams School of Music in Manchester, UK, and after getting accepted at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston with a full scholarship, he traveled to the United States to finish his bachelor degree in performance in 2014 and finally his masters degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in 2016.
In 2018, Layth was one of the prize winners at the Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition as the first and only Arab to ever participate. He presented his compositions which are an amalgam of Eastern and Western styles done in a way which perfectly describe his diverse upbringing and musical taste.
In 2019, Layth, in collaboration with Carnatic vocalist Rohith Jayaraman, released a new EP titled ‘Hamsa’, which brought together the gigantic worlds of Arabic and Carnatic music. Combined with years of friendships and grounded-roots, this EP showcases a new sound for both musics, with one hand in the past and the other in the future.
Layth’s core belief that music education is one of the most valuable tools artists can posses to make positive change in their communities has led him to collaborate with the Kayany Foundation in Lebanon. The Kayany Foundation has nine schools that host Syrian refugee students and provides them with the necessary education for them to become active members in society. Layth visited two of these schools in 2019 and gave workshops and masterclasses with the support of Friends of Kayany, Tufts University and Berklee College of Music.
Layth is currently the director of both the Arab Music Ensemble at Tufts University and the Center for Arabic Culture’s Youth Orchestra Program in Boston, and plays a leading role in Danilo Perez’s Global Messengers sextet. He is an in-demand violinist and vocalist around the world.
Comparing Maqam Hijaz and Maqam Bayati with Sami Abu Shumays
— —
In this class we will compare two of the most common Maqamat, Hijaz and Bayati, exploring their differences and similarities in scale structure and sayr (melodic pathways). The class will include a combination of call-and-response singing of the typical melodies used in improvisation, and analyses of several songs in Hijaz and Bayati.
Sami has taught workshops on Maqam and Arabic Music at Yale University, Lincoln Center, Wesleyan University, The New School, the college of William and Mary, Lark Camp, Alwan for the Arts, Lotus Music and Dance, Global Youth Village, Folk Tours, and more. He is a violinist and vocalist based in NYC, founder and director of the ensemble Zikrayat, co-author of the new book Inside Arabic Music, creator of the website Maqam Lessons, and contributor to the website Maqam World. He studied Arabic music with many teachers including Alfred Gamil, Mohamed Qassas, Simon Shaheen, Yousuf Kassab, Abdel-Basit Bakkar and Abdel-Minaim Sinkary.
Saturday June 20th, 2020
4pm
Donations highly encouraged!
New York based Palestinian-American Zafer Tawil is a virtuosic performer on the oud, violin, qanun and a full range of Arab percussion instruments. He has performed with numerous musicians ranging from Sting to Arab music greats such as Simon Shaheen, Chab Mami, and Bassam Saba to avant-garde composer/performer Elliot Sharp, among others. Zafer has composed music for a number of films including the Oscar-nominated Jonathan Demme film Rachel Getting Married.
Understanding Maqam - Maqam Rast, with Sami Abu Shumays
Sami has taught workshops on Maqam and Arabic Music at Yale University, Lincoln Center, Wesleyan University, The New School, the college of William and Mary, Lark Camp, Alwan for the Arts, Lotus Music and Dance, Global Youth Village, Folk Tours, and more. He is a violinist and vocalist based in NYC, founder and director of the ensemble Zikrayat, co-author of the new book Inside Arabic Music, creator of the website Maqam Lessons, and contributor to the website Maqam World. He studied Arabic music with many teachers including Alfred Gamil, Mohamed Qassas, Simon Shaheen, Yousuf Kassab, Abdel-Basit Bakkar and Abdel-Minaim Sinkary.
Sami's new approach to teaching and analyzing maqam is much clearer to understand than traditional maqam theory, because it is much closer to oral tradition and performance practice. Using an accessible call-and-response format to teach the basic melodies of Maqam Rast, Sami will put together the building blocks, known as ajnas, so that students will understand the concepts of modulation (moving from jins to jins) and sayr (the overall melodic direction of a maqam).
This class is suitable for both experienced Arab musicians as well as complete beginners. It is accessible to beginning and intermediate students because of the simple format used to understand the building blocks of maqam: call and response of the basic melodic vocabulary. It is suitable for advanced musicians because Sami's approach to understanding maqam is so new that most musicians will benefit from having another look at what they know already, through his form of analysis.
A virtual afternoon of solo Oud and voice exploring songs of Om Kolthoum from the likes of composers Sayid Makawy, Riad El Sonbati, Baligh Hamdi & Mohammed Abdel Wahab.
George Abud is a Lebanese-American actor and multi-instrumentalist. Brought up in a family of musicians he has immersed himself in Classical Arabic music for over 20 years. He has originated roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway, has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award, and is the recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on NBC’s Today Show with the Broadway production of The Band’s Visit. Coming from four generations of Lebanese Oud players, he loves sharing the beauty of the instrument with others.
The music of the Arabian peninsula is far less documented and more rarely heard than that of the Levant and of Egypt. On the southern edge of the peninsula lies Yemen, a country with an ancient history, remarkable architecture, and a rich musical culture that is steeped in the classic Arabic tradition of sung poetry. Both Yemen and its neighbor Oman are seafaring nations with a long history of trade with East Africa and Asia and have thus absorbed musical influences from these regions, as well as from nomadic tribal culture.
Yemeni singer and ‘ud (lute) player Abdulrahman al-Akhfash has a wide command of Yemeni genres and is particularly noted for his contribution to and development of the Sanani (North Yemen) tradition of classical Arabic and Yemeni songs. He has built a considerable reputation throughout Yemen and the Yemeni diaspora for his performances which include both traditional songs and his own compositions. He is accompanied by Palestinian multi-instrumentalist Zafer Tawil and others to be announced.
Amal Waqar is a young singer and ‘ud player from the coastal city of Muscat, Oman. At a young age she began to study the ‘ud, an instrument that was traditionally played only by men. Currently living in Boston, she continues her musical education at Berklee College and dedicates much of her time to teaching ‘ud to women. She sings and plays both traditional Omani songs, as well as her own compositions. She is accompanied by Palestinian percussionist Tareq Rantisi.
This concert presented by Robert Browning Associates in partnership with Brooklyn Maqam.
Due to COVID-19, we regret that this performance has been canceled.
—
This performance will feature classic hits from the golden era as well as a few Brian Prunka originals. Simon Moushabeck, currently living in New Orleans, will be back in town for this special reunion performance!
8:00pm - Sharq Attack
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Sharq Attack:
Marandi Hostetter - 5 string violin
Brian Prunka - Oud
John Murchison - Bass
Simon Moushabeck - Percussion
Rami El-Aasser - Percussion
Formed in 2015, Sharq Attack, led by BMH founding members Marandi Hostetter (5 string violin), Brian Prunka (oud) and John Murchison (bass), and joined by Rami El-Aasser (percussion) and Simon Moushabeck (percussion and accordion), plays music stemming from the maqam tradition of the middle east, ranging from Arabic favorites to obscure rarities to modern originals. Its members have performed with a wide cross-section of musicians in NY’s middle-eastern music scene, including Simon Shaheen, Zikrayat, AlSarah & the Nubatones, Nashaz, the Bil Afrah Project, Nano Raies, Wajde Ayoub, among many others.
Due to COVID-19, we regret that this performance has been canceled.
We are happy to be a joining Brooklyn Raga Massive in presenting Iraqi vocalist Zahra Zubaidi as part of their celebration of female musicians in NYC, the Women's Raga Massive Festival.
$15 | 8:30pm Performance | 10pm BRM Weekly Raga Jam
Born in Iraq, Zubaidi is a New York-based vocalist/actor. She has performed with Safaafir, the only US-based ensemble dedicated to performing the Iraqi Maqam, this year at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, and, most recently, Roulette. She is a student of Iraqi Maqam under the guidance of renowned Iraqi Maqam master Mr. Hamid Al Saadi.
Palestinian Kanun virtuoso & composer Firas Zreik, will be presenting a set of original compositions that travel between Classical Arabic Maqam & World Jazz in an organic fusion
8:00pm - The Firas Zreik Quartet
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Kanun: Firas Zreik
Guitar: Elia Bishara
Bass: Pietro Gennenzi
Percussion: Gilbert Mansour
Palestinian Kanun Player, Composer & Arranger, born in Haifa in 1995, currently based in New York. Firas received a full-scholarship from the prestigious Berklee College of Music where he studied for five years, graduating with two bachelor degrees in Performance & Jazz Composition with high distinction. He worked, recorded & performed with master musicians and artists from all over the world, including Roger Waters, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Goshal, Simon Shaheen, Bassam Saba, Amal Murkus, Fabrizio Cassol, Amir Al-Saffar, Aynur Dogan, Raghu Dixit, Marwan Khoury, Abeer Nehmeh and many more. In addition, he performed all over the United States, Europe & the Middle East, both as a Kanun player and as a musical director in some of the most prestigious venues and festivals such as Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center-NY, Carthage International Festival – Tunisia, Savannah Music Festival, Institut de Mont Arabe – Paris, Teatro Mediterraneo – Napoli, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Smithsonian Museum – Washington DC, Palais des Congrès - Belgium, Berklee Performnce Center, The Jazz Gallery - NY & many more.
His mother, Amal Murkus is a leading Palestinian singer of international renown. Firas is the musical director of her band, he also recorded on her latest album, in addition to writing and composing many of her recent songs. The two have toured together in Europe, USA & the Middle East and are currently working on new albums.
Greek, Turkish & Armenian tavern songs from the early 1900s, heard from Athens & Thessaloniki to New York. The Maeandros Ensemble released albums and performed regularly between 2006-2010. For this performance the old friends come together again to take you back in time to the sounds of the Cafe Aman.
8:00pm - Mavrothi Kontanis & The Maeandros Ensemble
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
This Maqam performance includes a classical Iraqi repertoire of Nazim El Ghazali, Afifa Iskanar, and Wahida Khalil by Iraqi vocalist Zahra Zubaidi.
Born in Iraq, Zubaidi is a New York-based vocalist/actor. She has performed with Safaafir, the only US-based ensemble dedicated to performing the Iraqi Maqam, this year at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, and, most recently, Roulette. She is a student of Iraqi Maqam under the guidance of renowned Iraqi Maqam master Mr. Hamid Al Saadi.
8:00pm - Zahra Zubaidi - Iraqi Maqam
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Featuring:
Zahra Zubaidi - vocals
Sami Abu Shumays - violin
Omar Dewachi - oud
John Murchison - qanun
Johnny Farraj - percussion
Nezih Antakli - percussion
About Maqam :
The maqam is the classical vocal tradition of Iraq and one of the most refined of the many maqam traditions found throughout the Arab and Muslim world. In Iraq, the term maqam refers to highly-structured, semi-improvised, compositions that take years of disciplined study under a master to learn fully. Often rhythmically free and meditative, they are sung to Classical Arabic and colloquial Iraqi poetry, and are followed by light-hearted, rhythmic songs, known as pestaat.
http://www.amirelsaffar.com/2012/01/08/about-the-iraqi-maqam/
8:00pm - Shelley Thomas + Brooklyn Takht
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Shelley Thomas (vocals, oud) performs exquisite Arabic songs from Egypt accompanied by Marwan Allam (bass), Nezih Antakli (riq) and Zafer Tawil (qanun). This special performance includes rare repertoire from Golden Era singers Nour al Houda, Asmahan, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Oum Kalthoum and Leila Murad. Romantic poetry and complex song forms such as dawr and qasida pair with intricate microtonal modes (maqamat) to create the richly transportive effect of tarab (musical ecstasy).
For our first Brooklyn Maqam Hang of 2020, we are delighted to feature The Istanbul Trio (+special guests). They will present Turkish Maqam, Folk and Contemporary Music from Anatolia to Mesopotamia, exploring the interactions of Turkish music with it's wide array of influences from Armenian, Byzantine, Jewish and Middle Eastern cultures.
8:00pm - Istanbul Trio feat Philip Mayer and John Murchison
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Featuring:
Ertugrul Erkisi - Oud, Tanbour, Vocals
Aslihan Erkisi - Lyra, Istanbul Kemenche, Vocals
Fatih Bayram - Guitar
Philip Mayer - Percussion
John Murchison - Bass
Microaggressions: Arab American repertoire for electric guitar and takht.
8:00pm - Microaggressions
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
In this concert, Microaggressions will be building on the momentum of its last genre-bending set at Sisters, presenting faithful, if amplified, renditions of Arab classics by composers such as Balegh Hamdi and Sayyed Makawi alongside non-Arab works by composers as diverse as Aram Khachaturian and Erik Satie. Most enticingly, this Microaggressions show will feature the premiere of what the group is calling the "Wasla from Hell," an extensive suite that juxtaposes melodies by the venerated Arab masters Mohammed Abdl Wahab, Farid Al Atrash, and Mohammed Qasabgi with metal and proto-metal riffs by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Slayer.
Featuring:
Josh Farrar - electric guitars
Sprocket Royer - bass
Johnny Farraj - percussion
Gilbert Mansour - percussion
Philip Mayer - percussion
Bahloul is a musician, poet, and artist. He was born in Syria in 1983, and currently lives in America and works and teaches as a clinical psychiatrist. His debut music album “Talassus Voyeur” by db Realms Productions was dropped in June 2019.
The songs tell stories of identity, belonging, love, triumphs and defeats. English translations to the lyrics will be projected during the show. The music is Arabic fusion with different moods.
8:00pm - Bahloul & Friends
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Robert Browning Associates and Lotus Music & Dance in partnership with Brooklyn Maqam present
HAMID AL-SAADI with SAFAAFIR
featuring AMIR ELSAFFAR, DENA EL SAFFAR & TIM MOORE
The Iraqi maqam (melodic mode), one of Iraq’s richest cultural offerings, features sophisticated melodies, infectious rhythms, and eloquent poetry. Hamid Al-Saadi, Iraq’s foremost purveyor of this centuries-old tradition, is renowned for his powerful voice and highly ornamented style, as well as his comprehensive knowledge of the intricate details of the music and poetry of Iraq. He studied with the legendary Yusuf Omar, who named Al-Saadi as his successor. Muhammed Al-Gubbenchi, who taught Omar and was probably the most influential maqam reciter in history, said that he considered Al-Saadi to be the "ideal link to pass on the maqam to future generations." Al-Saadi is the only person from his generation to have memorized and mastered all 56 maqamat from the Baghdad repertoire, and is one of the few vocalists to keep this maqam alive today.
He is joined by Safaafir, the only US-based ensemble dedicated to performing the Iraqi maqam in its traditional format. The group is led by Amir ElSaffar (santur-zither) and Dena El Saffar (violin, joza - bowed lute) of Iraqi descent and features Tim Moore on percussion.
Jennifer and her "takht" ensemble will be performing a variety of Tarab music within the repertoire of classical female Egyptian vocalists, including Oum Kalthoum, Asmahan, Souad Mohammed, and more. https://www.jennifergrout.com https://www.facebook.com/jennigrout
8:00pm - Jennifer Grout
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Featuring:
Jennifer Grout - Vocals
Sami Abu Shumays - Violin
John Murchison - Qanun
Brian Prunka - Oud
Johnny Farraj - Riq
Gilbert Mansour - Darbuka
Jennifer, the American singer and luthist from Arab's Got Talent, grew up in a family of musicians and began her artistic career as a classical singer. A native of Boston, MA, she studied at Longy School of Music and Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Later, she attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she obtained her bachelor's degree in classical voice. While living in Montreal, she developed a great interest in Arabic music; she learned to play the "oud" (Arabic lute) and began listening to well-known Arab singers such as Fairuz and Umm Kalthoum. She quickly became involved in the community of Arabic music in Montreal where she studied with several teachers, including Aziz Daouni, Zied Benamor and Mohamed Masmoudi, and picked up a side job of performing Arabic music regularly at a local Syrian restaurant called "Kaza Maza." Jennifer began an ongoing study of Tarab singing with Mr. Mohsen Soua, the administrator of an exclusive classical Arab vocal music forum called "Zaman Al Wasl." Throughout her studies, she also performed with the Michigan Arab Orchestra under Michael Ibrahim, and attended renowned Simon Shaheen's Arabic Music Retreat in Massachusetts, where she took voice lessons with Rima Khcheich and had her first solo debut.
In 2013, she had the chance to appear on MBC's Arab's Got Talent, singing pieces by Oum Kalthoum and Asmahan, and managed to come in second place. She went on to participate in several festivals in Morocco, such as Timitar, and other concerts abroad in Lebanon, Dubai, Kuwait, Tunisia, Canada, Qatar, and the USA. She has spent a large portion of her career in Morocco and has also been influenced by it's various musical styles.
The Amal Waqar Quartet, featuring Panagiotis Aivazidis (kanun), Manos Stratis (bass), and Kan Yanabe (percussion), presents original music and arrangements of classics from the Sultanate of Oman.
8:00pm - The Amal Waqar Quartet
9:00pm - Open Jam Session
Admission: $10
Doors at 7:30pm
Amal Waqar is a dynamic young Omani/American oud player and composer. Born and raised in Muscat, Oman, she began developing her passion for music at age three, and clandestinely listened to it throughout her childhood. During her late teens, Amal’s tireless pursuit of music materialized in an oud. During her brief six-year career, she has established herself as an internationally performing artist, participating in music festivals like the Beirut & Beyond International Music Festival in Lebanon, and Katara’s Festival for Oud Instrument in Qatar. In addition to managing her career, Amal was recently awarded a Bachelor’s of Music in Oud Performance from Berklee College of Music, where she worked closely with oud master Simon Shaheen.
Featuring:
Amal Waqar - oud, voice, composition
Panagiotis Aivazidis - kanun
Manos Stratis - upright bass
Kan Yanabe - percussion
