Kinda HibrawiKinda Hibrawi's artwork is a passionate journey of femininity, spirituality and cultural convergence. Of Syrian descent, she grew up between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and the United States. Her formative years in the Middle East gave her the opportunity to study the power of the Arabic language in all of its art forms. Through her studies she began to expand on the ancient tradition of Arabic Calligraphy by giving it a modern twist. As an Arab American, she felt the need for her artwork to reflect the richness of the Middle East coupled with Western diversity.

Poet/translator Niloufar Talebi They say it takes ten years to make a dancer and twenty to settle animmigrant, both of which I have been. I started to dance in mymid-twenties, and after ten years of training, having swum upstream tomake an aging instrument into an expressive one, I began to finallyacquire that coveted dancer’s “center,” though the moment I danced as atenured dancer was fleeting—as the absence of a life-long foundationcollided head-on with the tenuousness of a newly-trained body. Then,what does the aging dancer do when her physical facility wanes? Shepours herself into other bodies, redirects her ideas into movement forother bodies, translates her ideas into movements for those bodies. Inother words, she choreographs, superimposes herself on the shiftingsurface of other bodies. She re-enters the self from a differentposition, recreates herself elsewhere. This way, the dancer does notdie, but lives on by way of transforming.

“We play heavy metal because our lives are heavy metal.” —Reda Zine, one of the founders of the Moroccan heavy-metal scene

“Music is the weapon of the future.” —Fela Kuti

Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam: your purchase benefits LCC programmingMark LeVine is the author of Why They Don't Hate Us, Unveiling the Axis of Evil. In his new book, Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, you'll find an eighteen-year-old Moroccan who loves Black Sabbath. A twenty-two-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip. A young Lebanese singer who quotes Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” They are as representative of the world of Islam today as the conservatives and extremists we see every night on the news. Heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, and reggae are each the music of protest, and in many cases considered immoral in the Muslim world. This music may also turn out to be the soundtrack of a revolution unfolding across that world.

By Mariette Tachdjian

A tantrum of drums and congas opened the first set of the Armenian Navy Band’s performance at the Disney Concert Hall on a warm Friday night in August. The heavy percussion was followed by traditional Armenian and Turkish instruments interlaced with a brass section, which then birthed their way through the original, but sometimes chaotic arrangements.

The humorously named Navy band—Armenia is surrounded by land—pushes folk music to a new level. Founded and fronted by Arto Tuncboyaciyan—a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist with appealing, eco-conscious messages—the band creates symphonic arrangements by stuffing as many sounds as possible into long, drawn out, percussively heavy sets. But rather than being concert-friendly, the music is more worthy of film scores as it perfectly blends layers of ancient sounds with elements of Latin jazz, African beats and Armenian/Turkish melodies. The band’s innovative arrangements won the 2006 BBC World Music Planet Audience Award. They have been on the Armenian music scene since 1998.

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2008, pages 57-58

Music & Arts

Levantine Center Program

Levantine Center panelists (l-r) Naser Musa, Jordan Elgrably and Noa Baum (Staff photo S. Twair).

“A Land Twice Promised” was the title of Noa Baum’s June 21, 2008 presentation at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Los Angeles—the third program in a series on coexistence sponsored by Levantine Cultural Center. Adding a multi-ethnic touch to Baum’s monologue was the innovative music of Naser Musa, a Jordanian vocalist and master of the 'oud of Palestinian heritage. 

Arshile GorkeyKhorkom, 1938Arshile Gorky, né Vostanik Manoog Adoyan, was an Armenian born in a small town in Turkey. When he was young his father departed for the United States, leaving him and his mother behind. In 1915, Arshile was forced to flee Turkey due to World War I and the Armenian genocide. At the age of 16 he rejoined his father in the United States. His work was influenced by impressionism, particularly Paul Cezanne and is considered “Abstract Expressionism.”

A city with history...[Al-Quds/Jerusalem] – Perched on a bar stool in Jerusalem, I looked around at the many Israeli men in the room, relaxing, drinking beer and playing pool. I felt serene, but the tired faces of the soldiers told a different story. For them, this was an escape from their enemies who lay intimately bound to them beyond the hills of the city.

Marwan Hamed (credit: Reuters Pictures)

Marwan Hamed is a young Egyptian filmmaker best known for his unflinching portrayal of private lives in modern-day Egypt. Hamed was born in Cairo in 1977 to a Muslim Egyptian family. His father, screenwriter Wahid Hamed, remains a prominent figure in Egyptian filmmaking, best known for his controversial screenplays addressing terrorism, corruption, impotence, and national unity. After first working in commercials, Marwan Hamed directed several short films such as Au Bout du Monde (1998), Cheik Cheikha (1999), and Lily (2001), for which he won the public prize at the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival in 2001.

Why is Ronnie Khalil Still Following Us?

Born in Miami and raised by Egyptian parents, Ronnie combines energy, intelligence and facial expressions to leave audiences laughing out loud and wondering “sure he seems nice enough…but why is he still following us?”

Ronnie is featured on “The Watch List” airing on Comedy Central’s internet channel. He has performed in several sketches for Conan O’Brien, as well as the Boston, NY Underground, and NY Arab-American Comedy Festivals. Ronnie was invited to pitch a television pilot at the 2006 Montreal Comedy Festival.