Welcome to our new
newsletter format.

Greetings everyone,

Sunday night's concert with Angam Al-Rafidain was a highlight for many of us in the audience, as the ensemble performed deeply meaningful songs in a largely celebratory spirit, despite the bad news emanating from Iraq on a daily basis. The group had sat waiting in Amman, Jordan for two months before they received their U.S. visas and is one of the few groups that has managed to leave Iraq since the war started. After a show in Detroit, they arrived fresh from a hit concert in San Diego. Angam Al-Rafidain ("Melodies of Mesopotamia") found a warm and receptive audience in L.A. and played two very strong sets, receiving several standing ovations. The concert was cosponsored by CODEPINK: Women For Peace, a nonpartisan organization that has gone to Iraq five times since the war started in 2003. We hope to bring Angam Al-Rafidain back next year for another outstanding evening that more of you will be able to attend.

Angam Al-Rafidain in Los Angeles

Angam with hosts at an after-party

October promises to be an excellent month for arts and culture around Los Angeles—in fact, this is National Arts Month, so in addition to exploring all the faire on our current calendar, don't forget to treat yourself to an "artist's day" in which you do something creative.

Highlights:

• Hakim live in concert at the Alex Theatre, Oct. 8
• Tina Bastajian's new video, "Garden Dwelling" Oct. 9 at the ArcLight
• Avaz International Dance Theatre Gala at the Beverly Hilton, Oct. 12
• Ara Oshagan's "Traces of Identity" photography exhibit continues at Barnsdall
• Orly Castel-Bloom, "A Fragile Life: Terror and Satire in Contemporary Israel," Oct. 21

Levantine Cultural Center is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian project that explores Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures in the region and in disapora. We focus on the expression and ideas of contemporary artists, regardless of their religious, national or political identity. We are just beginning our fourth year! Our purpose is to create public programs of the highest quality in Southern California, and to work towards the creation of a shared physical space that will be home to the many diverse nonprofit cultural and social organizations in the southland. In this sense, we intend to be a genuine "center" for the communities we all serve. There is a clear benefit to being able to provide facilities that only an established institution can offer, including but not limited to a large concert hall, galleries, office space, conference rooms, classrooms and much more. To this end we are seeking partnerships with local city and county governments, and of course the support of local business leaders who see the need for a Middle Eastern cultural center which avoids partisan politics in favor of a larger, more inclusive, pan-cultural vision of the future. If you would like to join or support this effort, please contact our board of directors via email or see our sponsor and membership pages.

Articles:

Did you attend the
concert on Sunday?
Please give us your
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the Levantine Café!

 Recommended Publications:


 Anniversary issue of
 Words Without Borders

•Najem Wali Basra Stories
 • Sohrab Sepehri's Poems
 • Middle East panoply

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 10 Years of Arab
culture and arts
in Al Jadid Magazine

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Mizna, Vol. 6, Issue. 1

with new poems by
Mohja Kahf
Nathalie Handal
Laila Shereen
and essays
on Edward Said