Brooklyn Maqam Presents
PARHĀM HAGHIGHI: 'Songs of Birjand'
May 11th 7pm
$20 suggested
Paying tribute to his roots, Parhām Haghighi once again will be back in Barbés, with a selection of regional folk music of Iran, in particular the music of South Khorasan, the city of Birjand, where he is originally from. Unique rhythms meet Persian modes (Dastgah) played by musicians of Iranian origin from New York and Boston.
Parham Haghighi is a music producer, vocalist and pianist, originally from Mashhad, Iran. He moved to the United States in 2012 to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston where he graduated, Summa cum Laude, in Contemporary Writing and Production. During his time at Berklee, Parham had the chance of working as a performer and arranger with some of the world-renowned musicians including Javier Limon, Simon Shaheen, Joyce Moreno, and Zhang Bichen to name a few. A recipient of Berklee’s “Outstanding Achievement Award”, Haghighi currently lives in Brooklyn, NY and has been performing as a vocalist and pianist at the music festivals, universities and venues across Iran and the US.
Brooklyn Maqam Presents
Laura Elkeslassy: Ya Ghorbati, Divas in Exile
Ayin Press Folio Release Party
7pm at Barbes, Wednesday April 13, 2022
$20 Suggested
Featuring:
Laura Elkeslassy - vocals
Ira Khonen Temple - music direction, accordion
Daisy Castro - violin
April Centrone - percussion
Nizar Dahmani - percussion
Daro Behroozi - winds
Marwan Allam - bass
Ya Ghorbati is an invitation to a musical journey across North Africa to discover the stories of Judeo-Arab divas from the early twentieth century through the 1960s. In it, singer Laura Elkeslassy excavates songs by Line Monty, Zohra Elfassia, Hbiba Msika, Salim Halali and more, recreating the musical soundscape of her family’s history in Morocco. In the process, she comes face to face with forgotten ancestors and reclaims her true family name as her artist name. Developed in collaboration with music director Ira Khonen Temple, Ya Ghorbati weaves together folk and sacred music spanning from the traditional Andalusi style, to popular Shaabi, to Francarabe cabaret. Ya Ghorbati looks across time and space to tell a tale of political upheaval and exile, ultimately questioning the binary between Arab and Jew.
Join us @ Barbes on April 13 for the release party of the piece on Ayin Press!
Check out the full folio online starting April 6!
Join us for the next installment of Brooklyn Maqam's monthly Arabic music jams at Sisters!
Bring your oud, violin, riq... or just come and hang and enjoy the music and the atmosphere at one of our favorite spots in the neighborhood.
Arabic Music Jam at Sisters
8pm, Tuesday March 22nd
Brooklyn Maqam Presents: Eren Erdoğan
March 9th 7pm
$20 suggested
Turkish master Eren Erdoğan performs on kaval, ney, and duduk, in duet of winds and piano.
Featuring:
Eren Erdoğan - kaval / winds
Caner Tokgozol - piano
BIOGRAPHY
He was born in Turkey in a family of musicians. He started playing Kaval at the age of 11. He completed his master's degree in Instrument Education and Master's degree at Istanbul Haliç University Traditional Turkish Music Conservatory. In 2009, he released his first solo album, Kaval Name, together with pianist and composer Ali Akacca. In this album, classical music songs were played with Kaval for the first time in Turkey and published by Universal Music. In 2011, he won The Hollywood Music in Media Awards with his Turkish musician friends in Los Angeles and performed live music. In 2016, he performed with Deborah Carter and Linley Marthe at the Azerbaijan Baku Jazz Festival. He gave many performances at the Istanbul Akbank Jazz Festival. Between 2006 and 2014, he performed as an instrumentalist in folk dance festivals in Turkey and all over Europe. He has been accompanying Kaval, Ney, Kawala, Zurna, Balaban and other ethnic wind instruments in the albums, movie soundtracks and studio recordings of many artists since 2008. In 2019, he made woodwind sound samples for Splice Music Company as a sound creator. He has an academic thesis and articles written about Kaval.
If you can't make it in person, you can stream it here!
https://www.viewcy.com/e/brooklyn_maqam_presen_1
We are so excited to get back into Sisters this month!
To kick things off, we will be hosting an Arabic music jam night on February 22nd. Bring your oud, violin, riq... or just come and hang and enjoy the music and the atmosphere at one of our favorite spots in the neighborhood.
Arabic Music Jam at Sisters
8pm, Tuesday February 22nd
Brooklyn Maqam presents George Ziadeh at Barbes
7pm, Wednesday February 9th
Suggested Donation $15-$20
Palestinian vocalist and oudist George Ziadeh is one of the most profound performers of tarab in New York City. George is considered an authority in maqam and Arab classical repertoire, known for his deep renditions of material from legendary artists such as Um Kulthum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab.
Featuring:
George Ziadeh - vocals, oud
John Murchison - double bass
Firas Zreik - qanun
If you can't make it live, it will be streamed here: https://www.viewcy.com/e/brooklyn_maqam_presen
Esraa Warda & The Châab Lab
November 14th, 2021 - 9pm
Wild Birds Brooklyn
Suggested Donation: $15
Esraa Warda & The Châab Lab (“The People’s” Lab”) is a NYC-based music/dance ensemble preserving popular musical traditions from Algeria and Morocco paying tribute to the chiekhs and cheikhat of North Africa. Join us for a night of Moroccan Chaabi dance by Esraa Warda and music led by Hamid Boston, former member of the iconic Mustapha Bourgogne group of Casablanca.
This captivating program of vocal and instrumental works features some of the finest Arab artists living in the US, as well as emerging names in Middle Eastern music. The exquisite Palestinian singer Nibal Malshi, who has been noted for her evocative vocals, graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and performed with such virtuoso musicians as Simon Shaheen and the National Arab Orchestra under the direction of Michael Ibrahim. The ensemble is led by the young master qanun (zither) player Firas Zreik and features musicians on violin, oud (lute) bass, and percussion (tabla, riqq). The program includes a wide range of selections from the 20th-century classical Arab repertoire of the Levantine – Egyptian region, including works of “Golden Age” greats Um Kalthoum, Abdel Wahab and Fayrouz, and such composers as Sunbati and the Rahbani Brothers. The concert is curated by percussionist Johnny Farraj and marks the New York debut of Nibal Malshi.
Please note: this performance will be in person only and will not be live streamed. Those attending this performance must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, with “fully vaccinated” defined as being 2 weeks past receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose vaccination series, or 2 weeks or more after receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine authorized by the FDA or WHO.
Brooklyn Maqam is pleased to announce our first live, indoor concert this year featuring Iraqi vocalist Zahra AlZubaidi.
All Attendees must be vaccinated
In order to allow more people in the room to enjoy the music, Wild Birds' policy at this time is that all attendees to indoor shows must be vaccinated.
Tuesday June 8th, 2021
8:30pm
$15 Suggested donation
Wild Birds - 951 Dean St, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Seating limited, so come early and grab a seat!
A Brooklyn based Iraqi vocalist, AlZubaidi performs a variety of Arabic music styles with focus on Iraqi Maqams and Atwaar. She has performed with several ensembles in NYC in such as Safaafir & Hamid Al Saadi (Iraqi Maqam) & Takht ElNagham (Syrian Music Preservation Initiative), The Brooklyn Nomads, and with Brooklyn Maqam Hang.
Featuring:
Zahra AlZubaidi - Vocals
John Murchison - Qanun
Sami Abu Shumays - Violin
Zafir Tawil - Percussion
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
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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.
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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.
