The Lives of Rain	The Scar Saloon

On Friday evening, May 6, at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, Levantine Cultural Center presented poets Nathalie Handal and Sholeh Wolpé, who gave inspired readings from their new works, The Lives of Rain and The Scar Saloon, respectively. Below you'll find a sample poem from each book, along with comments about the poets. We encourage you to order your own copies, by clicking on the links to your right.

"Nathalie Handal's poetry is a global poetry of witness and wisdom. The weightiness of her subjects is delightfully at odds with the buoyancy of her cadence. In The Lives of Rain, Handal's crisp multi-lingual diction renders passion, intelligence, and despair, deftly chronicling the human condition in its vivid particulars."—Denise Duhamel

"In a world where cultures and religions are recklessly facing off, Sholeh Wolpé writes careful poems that cast a light on some of what we all hold in common."—Billy Collins

I Never Made it To Café Beirut; Nor, I Heard, Did You You told me that I should wait at the Lebanese border. You told me not to fear the Hezbollah, the gunshots, the missiles or grenades, told me that I would not see the shadows of corpses in the stained grey clouds, would not see the refugees and the UN trucks waiting for God. You told me that no one would be singing war songs, or speak of liberation, Saddam, Bush, the Israelis. You said nothing about the trumpet of flames, the shattering glass. You insisted, meet me at the Lebanese border. Told me to bring my favorite poems of Baudelaire and Gibran, my dreams wrapped in my black hair, my questions— the ones you could not answer at the time, the simple facts—your real name, age, nationality— and also why the night was held in siege, why the souks were so quiet, the mountains so quiet and the dead still struggling. And why I had to meet you at the border. —Nathalie Handal

My Brother at the Canadian Border For Omid On their way to Canada in a red Mazda, my brother and his friends, PhDs and litte sense, stopped at the border and the guard leaned forward, asked: Where you boys heading? My brother, Welcome to Canada poster in his eyes, replied: Mexico. The guard blinked, stepped back then forward, said: Sir, this is the Canadian border. My brother turned to his friend, grabbed the map from his hands, slammed it on his shaved head. You stupid idiot, he yelled, you've been holding the map upside down. In the interrogation room full of metal desks and chairs with wheels that squeaked and florescent light humming, bombarded with questions, and finally: Race? Stymied, my brother confessed: I really don't know, my parents never said, and the woman behind the desk widened her blue eyes to take in my brother's olive skin, hazel eyes, the blond fur that covered his arms and legs. Disappearing behind a plastic partition, she returned with a dusty book, thick as War and Peace, said: This will tell us your race. Where was your father born? she asked putting on her horn-rimmed glassed. Persia, he said. Do you mean I-ran? I ran, you ran, we all ran, he smiled. Where's your mother from? Voice cold as a gun. Russia, he replied. She put one finger on a word above a chart in the book, the other on a word at the bottom of the page, brought them together looking like a mad mathematician bent on solving the crimes of zero times zero divided by one. Her fingers stopped on a word. Declared: You are white. My brother stumbled back, a hand on his chest, eyes wide, mouth in O as in O my God! All these years and I did not know. Then to the room, to the woman and the guards: I am white   I can go anywhere   Do anything   I can go to Canada and pretend it's Mexico   At last, I am white and you have no reason to keep me here. —Sholeh Wolpé

Now Playing, "Another Road Home" at Laemmle's

Another Road Home is a must-see documentary. Writes Variety film critic Ronnie Scheib, "Danae Elon's 'Another Road Home' charts the filmmaker's search for Musa Obeidallah, the Palestinian man her parents hired to take care of her in Israel for the first 20 years of her life. Her quest leads her from her current home in New York to Paterson, N. J., and from there to the West Bank. Fascinating in its reticence, honest, well-intentioned exploration involving two families, 'Another Road Home' fearlessly emerges with a far different picture than was originally envisioned...

"The Elons and the Obeidallahs meet and break bread in larger and smaller group configurations, but only Musa seems perfectly at ease with all camps. This state of grace signally escapes everyone else; though effort, respect and good will are palpable, so too is the tension."

Laemmle's Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, 90211. Info 310.274.6869.


May 21 (Sat), 6:30 p.m./8:00 p.m.—Lebanese Zein Al-Jundi Orchestra and We Are Baladi Dance & Dabke Troupe

This Lebanese musical heritage concert features Zein Al-Jundi, aa traditional Middle Eastern ten member orchestra & female vocalist; and the "We Are Baldai" Dance & Dabke Troupe by: "WE ARE BALADI" Dance Theater. Cocktail & Social Hour 6:30 p.m.; Concert 8:00 p.m. Tickets: $50 donation. For more information call Pierre & Badiha Alwan, 310.322.8391 or Yvette Mockary, 323.870.4440.

Audience encouraged to attend in ethnic garb; several prizes will be awarded. Organized by the Maronite League of Our Lady of Mount Lebanon.

Our Lady of Mount Lebanon Auditorium: 333 South San Vicente Blvd. at La Cienega Blvd., Los, Angeles, Ca. 90048.


May 21 (Sat), 7:30 p.m.—Armenian French "Bratsch" Performs at the Ford

The French group Bratsch will perform a single Los Angeles concert at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. "A wonderful journey from west to east with a group of unrestrained nomads who create fun playing music of all borders: Gypsy, Russian, Armenian, Yiddish melodies, or songs of their own. The audience goes wild, demands more," wrote L'Espress.

The evening promises a lively mix of gypsy music, jazz, klezmer, and rembetika, with five impassioned musicians on the guitar/bouzouki, violin, double bass, accordion, and clarinet. Rolling Stone describes Bratsch as inventive musicians "pursuing a musical eastern expansion of the [European Union]!"

Bratsch has performed at the most prestigious concert venues and festivals thoughout Europe, and has twelve albums to their credit. The group commands a huge following both in their native France and abroad. To learn more about Bratsch, visit their site. For tickets, go to www.fordamphitheatre.org, or call the Ford Box Office at 323 GO 1-FORD (461.3673). Tickets are $40 and $30. Group discounts are available.

The Ford Amphitheatre is located at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., East, off the 101 Hollywood Freeway, across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal Studios. The Ford is disabled accessible. On-site, stacked parking costs $10 per vehicle for evening shows.


May 26 (Thurs), 7:30 p.m.—Advance Screening, Film Panel & Reception for "The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam"

Join director Kayvan Mashayekh, moderator David O. Russell (director of "I Love Huckabees" and "Three Kings"), writer/producer of "Frailty" Tom Huckabee, and international vocal star Andy Madadian for an exclusive preview of "The Keeper," followed by a filmmakers' discussion and reception. This moving feature raises essential questions about roots, identity, storytelling and the meaning of family ties.

Kamran is a twelve-year-old boy in the present day who discovers that his ancestor is the 11th-century mathematician, astronomer and poet of Persia, Omar Khayyam. The story has been passed down in his family from one generation to another, and now it is his responsibility to keep the story alive for future generations. His dying brother, Nader, begins telling him the story as we flash back from the modern day to the epic past where the relationship between Omar Khayyam, Hassan Sabbah (the original creator of the sect of Assassins) and their mutual love for a beautiful woman separate them from their eternal bond of friendship. Throughout the telling of the story from Nader to Kamran, we periodically return to the present day to reveal the frailty of life and how stories such as ours easily fade with the passing of each generation. When Nader dies, Kamran cannot contain his curiosity and sets off on a journey to find a book known as "The Great Omar," which was bound nearly 100 years ago and was a lost treasure on the Titanic. He comes across the Heiress (beautifully portrayed by Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave) of a mansion in England whose grandfather was the famous bookbinder who created "The Great Omar." It is here, that Kamran learns about the importance of how the poetry of one man 1000 years ago has touched the lives of millions who still echo his verses from one generation to another. Kamran continues his journey to reach his grandfather to learn the end of the story. It is finally revealed to him that it wasn't Omar's poetry that made him important, it was the poetry of his life. Hence, be proud of your heritage because it is the stories in our past that make our future more meaningful.

Omar Khayyam Commentary by Tom Huckabee

Omar Khayyam lived an outer life of great productivity and renown, in the service of an absolute monarch and under the watchful eye of a strict religious authority. He published nothing but scholarly articles on astronomy and mathematics during his lifetime. His private stash of poems is a map of his inner world, where he roamed without restriction or fear, free to shout suppositions that would have meant death if whispered in public. The message of his Rubaiyat is profoundly simple, devoid of facts but full of meaning, effortlessly erotic and joyously literate. It is philosophical but promotes no particular system. Yet, some have seen it as a mandate for agnostic hedonism and as an esoteric path to Allah. It is antiquarian, slightly futuristic and wholly present, appealing equally to seekers of all ages and both genders. Like an ancient underground stream, connecting the world's religions, races and cultures, it flows just as smoothly in Chinese, French and Hungarian as it does in the original Farsi. It can be used to seduce a lover, soothe the afflicted or bury your father. An idiot can understand it, but a genius may not. Only by the grace of God did Omar's Rubaiyat survive, to show us just how bright some candles burned during the so-called dark ages.

Seating limited, reserve your tickets early. 310.559.5544. Tix only $10. This event is a special benefit for Levantine Cultural Center.

Harmony Gold Theatre, 7655 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 90046.

Click to order or listen to tracks

May 29 (Sun), 9:00 p.m—Niyaz Performs Debut L.A. Concert at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica

Vas vocalist Azam Ali, Axiom of Choice's multi-instrumentalist Loga Ramin Torkian, and producer Carmen Rizzo have joined forces to create a globe-spanning sound that the trio calls "folk music for the 21st century." Known collectively as Niyaz, the trio's first eponymous release is a hypnotic, ecstatic, and eminently danceable album that represents the best of both traditional world music and electronic music. All three of these musicians have built impressive individual careers.

With an ethereal, beguiling sound that evokes centuries of women's voices from medieval Europe to the modern Middle East, Azam Ali is best known as half of the best-selling duo Vas (with percussionist Greg Ellis). Her singing has been heard in several major motion pictures including "The Matrix: Revolutions" and on many television programs such as Alias and The Agency. Loga Ramin Torkian, whose band Axiom of Choice has won much critical acclaim, is deeply involved with the music of his homeland, Iran. He is accomplished on the guitar, the Turkish saz and electric guitarviol (a 14th century European bowed guitar), a traditional Persian lute, as well as other Turkish/Kurdish instruments.Loga also uses the Persian classical repertoire, known as the radif, within his own compositions. A two-time Grammy Award nominee, Carmen Rizzo has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Seal, Alanis Morisette, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Khaled, Ekova, and Cirque du Soleil as well as Paul Oakenfold, BT, Esthero, Jem, Alpha, Tiesto and Grant Lee Phillips.

For these three artists, Niyaz represents a real departure from their usual avenues of artistic expression. Their first joint album weaves together ten beautiful, mystical poems written by some of the greatest Sufi poets of all time, with music accessible to a contemporary audience. Azam, who was born in Iran but largely raised in India, sings in both Farsi (the Persian language) as well as in Urdu, a language widely spoken in India and in Pakistan. Carmen describes Niyaz' sound as "soothing, warm and dark—nothing too glossy."

Azam and Loga had known each other for well over a decade before coming together for this album. "We've talked for years about doing something together," notes Azam. "Now, the timing is right."

"We wanted to create music that will be accessible both to the communities whose native music influenced this album—the Persian, Turkish, and Indian communities—and to a larger audience," says Loga. "Our hope is that this music will transcend boundaries." He continues, "Our traditional music is acoustic; it's very intimate music-making, with a very introverted feeling. We wanted something more extroverted for this album, and that required a new approach."

Temple Bar, 1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica 90403. Tix $10. To buy tix online click here. Click here for directions.

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