Join Shirana Shahbazi for a talk about her exhibition and residency at the Hammer Museum.

For more information, visit the museum's website:

http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/detail/exhibition_id/150

 

 

Commonly known as “Marsh Arabs,” the people of the Iraqi marsh region lived on islands in remarkable buildings crafted from local reeds gathered from the marsh, creating the beautiful vernacular architecture captured in Nik Wheeler’s photographs from the mid-1970s. The tribulations of the Gulf Wars threatened this way of life, but efforts are now underway to rehabilitate a portion of the marshlands, and recent photographs by Mudhafar Salim show some of the early results.

What is Pakistan’s agenda in the Middle East? We will examine U.S. expectations of Pakistan with Feroz Hassan Khan and Roger Morris. Retired Pakistan Army Brigadier General Feroz Hassan Khan is currently on the faculty of the Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. Before teaching in the U.S., Khan represented Pakistan in diplomatic nuclear arms control negotiations. Roger Morris served on the National Security Council under Presidents Johnson and Nixon, and has authored several critically acclaimed books, including Shadow of the Eagle, which exposes U.S. policy and covert intervention in the Middle East and South Asia over the past half century.

Get out of your comfort zone and out of your box to meet/mingle/network and brainstorm with new people who also work in the arts, entertainment or nonprofit/NGO communities.

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 6-8 pm but you can stay as long as you want.

El Toro Cantina/Busby's has the best margaritas, 20 draft beers, good food and happy hour specials. No cover and no RSVPs needed, really, but you can call us anyway if you feel like it (questions welcome): 310.657.5511.

More at levantinecenter.org and busbysonline.com.

Hosted by Noora Elkoussy/Levantine Cultural Center the second Tuesday of every month in a different location around L.A.

Bridges LA: third in the monthly series

9 Scripts from a Nation at War is a multi-channel video installation that responds to the conditions and questions that have arisen during the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It examines the ways in which war determines and 'scripts" certain roles such as "citizen," "veteran," "detainee" and "correspondent" and the capacity of individuals to fulfill or resist these.

Christopher Caldwell on "What is the West's Problem with Islam?"

Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West: your purchase benefits LCC programming Europe has received a wave of immigration from the global south in recent decades, similar in scope to the US-but very different in its results. Many immigrant and second-generation communities have astronomical unemployment rates and a thin connection to European identity. Some have produced terrorists. The problems are particularly severe among newcomers from the Muslim world.

If Europe has an Islam problem, whose fault is it? Is Islamic belief and culture incompatible with Western institutions? Or is there such a thing as "Islamophobia," poisoning immigrants' efforts to integrate on European terms?

Christopher Caldwell, who writes for the Financial Times, The New York Times Magazine and The Weekly Standard, visits Zócalo to talk about themes from his upcoming book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West.

No Borders: by Anna-Marie Lopez de LeonThis eclectic event benefitting Doctors Without Borders includes a silent art auction with work by dozens of contributing artists including Anna-Marie Lopez de Leon, and performances by the Middle Eastern-jazz fusion group Saffron Parade Arabesque Band, Tehran’s heavy metal band TarantisT, belly dancers, deejays and much more. Pic Vicious and Killsonic will perform later in the soirée.

A roundtable discussion with Jimmy Delshad, Gina Nahai, Sam Nazarian, Nahid Oberman, moderator Rabbi David Wolpé.

 

Kiosk at the ReyKiosk is known as an Iranian Blues/Rock/Jazz band, established by a few friends in a basement in Iran, now all living abroad. The band members are Arash Sobhani (guitar & vocals), Ali Kamali (bass guitar), Ardalan Payvar (keyboards), Babak Khiavchi (guitar), Shahrouz Molaei (drums). Kiosk is often noted for its biting critical social and political, but humorous lyrics.

This month the band releases their third album, “Global Zoo” or “Bagh e Vahsh e Jahani.”

The new album features ten tracks varying in music style from Gypsy Jazz to Waltz and from Argentinean Tango to Blues. Although the music of the album is a big departure from the Underground Blues/Rock soun of the previous two Kiosk albums, the lyrics of Arash Sobhani (lead vocalist , songwriter and guitarist) continue the social commentary on a wide variety of issues affecting the daily lives of Iranians all over the world.

Divahn: Jewish music of the Middle East in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Aramaic, Hebrew and Judeo-SpanishAnyone who thinks Jewish music equals klezmer needs to hear Divahn's Middle Eastern and Sephardic grooves. Fans first heard Divahn's energetic music deep in the heart of Texas. Today, this dynamic New York City-based quintet delights audiences throughout the country and has made numerous live radio appearances. Divahn infuses traditional songs with sophisticated harmonies and arrangements using tabla, cello, rabel, doumbek, violin and other acoustic instruments, plus vocals in Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Aramaic and Turkish.

Their beautiful lyricism flows through an intense rhythmic drive. The group distinguishes itself as the only all-female ensemble performing Mizrakhi-influenced music (Jewish music from

the Middle East and North Africa) in the US, and has performed with some of the world's most renowned master musicians, including Glen Velez and Anindo Chatterjee.