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to Culture News for latest events USTAD (Maestra) FARIDA MAHWASH: AN APPRECIATION BY NAHID MASSOUD 
I heard Ustad Mahwash’s splendid voice on Saturday,
January 15th at the Getty Center’s Harold Williams Auditorium.
The sound took me back to my adolescent days. Tears rolled down my
eyes as memories of Kabul flooded my consciousness. The first song,
“Mullah Mamad Jaan,” was one of the most popular numbers
of its time. It was always played during Afghani New Year, Nowrose,
which is the 21st of March and the beginning of spring season. Radio
Kabul played this and other Afghan songs over and over. The sound
of music filled streets of the city and the narrow lanes of the bazaars,
while shopkeepers hustled and hawked their wares. You could hear the
voice of Ustad Mahwash everywhere as part of a kind of perpetual background
music to the activities of men, women, and children, all wearing colorful
native Afghan clothes as part of the seasonal festivities. Nowrose
is a particularly exciting time. The smell of spring was in the air,
the scent of plants and budding trees mingled with the smells on the
streets, everyone making mewai (our special Nowrose fruit dish).
In the streets, farmers in from the country seemed excited, ready
for the new planting season. All that seems a long time ago, the peaceful Kabul of my young years when people listened to music and lived peacefully despite their differences. It has vanished into a landscape devastated by war and destruction. Yet musical experiences can take you to a past that has gone, as Ustad Mahwash did for me, bringing what was repressed so vividly alive in the present. The powerful lyrics of her songs of god, love, and loss touched another part of me that I had forgotten. The ghazals penetrated my soul, made me remember my favorite composer, Ustad Naynawaz, who composed wonderful songs that were often sung by the handsome, great and very popular Ahmed Zaher, who I heard in person many times (he was the brother of my best friend). Unfortunately, both Naynawaz and Zaher were casualties of the Soviet war, assassinated while still in their prime. The melodies sung by Ustad Mahwash at the Getty in both Dari and Pashto languages were representative of popular Afghan music of the sixties and seventies. Their beauty was underscored by the excellent musicians who accompanied her—Aziz Herawi on dutar, Ehsan Ahmadi on tabla, and Ahmad Khalil Rageb on harmonium. As the first woman Ustad (maestro) in Afghanistan, she is not only a master musician but was in those days a role model, a strong woman who managed to turn her talent into a brilliant career against all the obstacles that usually prevented women from succeeding. I left the Ustad Mahwash concert full of sorrow over the years of war and destruction of my homeland. It’s so hard to imagine how during the Taliban regime, such a musical people had to live without music. Mahwash’s powerful voice was a reminder of how much the Afghan people have suffered and lost in this last quarter century. The concert taught me how in exile you can come to appreciate in a new way the meaning of a past that is forever lost, but can be resurrected momentary through the power of music and song. Nahid Massoud, a native of Kabul, is a psychiatric nurse who works at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. With the aid of her husband, historian Robert Rosenstone, she directs Sharq, an art space devoted to contemporary works by artists from the East. The next exhibit, opening March 5, will feature Teheran-born artist, Kamran Moojedi. |
  Feb.
4 (Fri.), 8 pm—Sussan Deyhim / Maya Beiser in Exclusive Double
Bill at UCLA's Royce Hall Sussan Deyhim: Vocodeliks Maya Beiser: World to Come "[Sussan Deyhim creates] thrilling music that sounds in the ear long after you’ve left the show." — The New York Times "Maya, it seems to me, is doing for the cello what the Kronos Quartet did or the string quartet ... She's saying, 'This is a different way to go.'" — Steve Reich Incorporating the ancient mysticism of Middle Eastern music with the wizardry of modern technology, Iranian-born vocalist, composer and performance artist Sussan Deyhim creates a haunting, resonant and deeply moving fusion of East and West. Best known for her celebrated collaborations with world-renowned Iranian filmmaker Shirin Neshat, this versatile artist has lent her trademark vocal improvisations and lushly layered harmonies to Peter Gabriel’s score for The Last Temptation of Christ as well as to projects by Bill Laswell, Bobby McFerrin, Branford Marsalis, Mickey Hart and DJ Spooky. Vocodeliks takes audiences on a musical and visual odyssey across time, showcasing Deyhim’s most probing vocal soundscapes, including her stirring film music with Neshat. Former cellist for new music heroes, Bang on a Can, Maya Beiser has redefined her instrument with a repertoire that cuts across cultures and genres. Evocative, theatrical and spiritual, Beiser’s new multimedia solo concert features the Los Angeles premiere of a Steve Reich multi-track cello piece as well as new works by Osvaldo Golijov, David Lang and Louis Andriessen. Encompassing text, vocals, dramatic lighting and interactive videos, World to Come is Beiser’s personal journey into the sounds and images of cello music in the 21st century through the works of some of our most esteemed living composers. Royce Hall, UCLA, Fri, Feb 4 at 8pm. Tickets: $45, 35, 25 ($15 UCLA students). Media Sponsor: LA Weekly.
Feb. 5 (Sat.), 8 pm—The Yuval Ron Ensemble Performs at Lenart Auditorium, Fowler Museum/UCLA In a concert to benefit the Oasis of Peace (Neveh Shalom/Wahat al-Salam), a small town in Israel where Israelis and Palestinians live, work and govern together, the Yuval Ron Ensemble, featuring Najwa Gibran, will perform songs of Sufi origin, Arabic folklore, Jewish - Andalusian and Ladino music from Spain and Morocco and Armenian traditional music. Organized by UCLA's Progressive Jewish Students' Association and the United Arab Society. For more about Oasis of Peace, visit their site. The Yuval Ron Ensemble is a collaboration of musicians from Arab, Israeli, Jewish and Armenian origins. The ensemble combines the sacred musical traditions of Judaism, Sufism (Islamic mystical tradition) and the Christian Armenian Church. Join Angelenos in celebrating a night of peace and co-existence. Sat., Feb. 5 at 8 pm. Doors open 7:30. UCLA Fowler Museum, Lenart Auditorium. $10 suggested donation. No reservations or advanced ticket sales. Parking: $7 in Wilson Plaza (Lot #4). Enter from Sunset Blvd. Directions: visit the Fowler website at: or call 310.825.4361.
When
two men, a Palestinian and an Israeli, are thrown together as housemates
the last thing they expect to do is fall in love. It is a love affair
that must transcend many taboos to survive. No matter what your
creed, color, race, or sexuality, this play demonstrates the tenacity
of true love in seeking acceptance. The play explores the articulations
between nationalism and homosexuality in the Arab world and Israel. |
Feb.
4-March 27 (Fri/Sat/Sun), 8 pm—Salam Shalom at the Whitmore-Lindley
Theatre in NoHo
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