Sunday, July 13, 2003, 7 p.m.
A Gala Concert Event & Benefit for
Levantine Cultural Center
At Veteran's Memorial Auditorium,
4117 Overland Avenue at Culver Blvd.,
Culver City, CA 90230.
Tickets $50 vip best seating, $35 preferred,
$25 upper orchestra, $20 lower balcony.
Call 323.650.7010 to reserve now.
Bouchaib Abdelhadi Ensemble
[world music of Morocco]
Woroud
[virtuoso mawal vocalist]
Elie Choeuri
[live from Beirut!]
special guest artists
Sandra Bernhard
Hassan Hakmoun
Yuval Ron Ensemble
Maya Karasso
celebrity emcee
Soumaya Akaaboune
performance artist
Dorit Cypis "On the Nature of Experience"
To Baghdad With Love is a festive celebration and appreciation of the cultures of Iraq and surrounding countries. Come join us in the spirit of a love letter to the Middle East.
A warm and vibrant evening of beautiful and mystical songs, dancing, provocative comedy, performance art and special guests (to be announced)! This gala concert event benefits the educational and organizational needs of Levantine Cultural Center, the nation's first pan-cultural institution presenting contemporary arts and traditional cultures of the Mediterranean and Middle East.
To reserve your tix call 323.650.7010!
Woroud Antabil was born in Zababdeh near Jenin, Palestine. A member of a musically gifted family, Woroud was nine when she started performing with a small group of her family members. By the time she was 18 she had joined several musical and dance ensembles. At the young age of 19, she was the lead singer for the well respected and recognized folk music and dance group Firqat Sharaf Lil- Funun ash Shaabeyah, which was often booked on world tours to present traditional Arabic music, and culture. Woroud also sang with the University of Birzeit’s group.
In 1997 the Ministry of Arts and Cultures presented her with a grant to study traditional classical Arabic singing known as “al Muwashahat” in France. Since her arrival in California, Woroud has performed with Mesto and Kan Zaman on the classical/ traditional side, and on the contemporary side has performed in opening shows for Ragheb Alama, Ihab Tawfic, Samira Said, and Hakim.
Woroud’s voice has a wide range, which enables her to effortlessly sing traditional /classical songs, as well as contemporary Arabic music. Her musical ear, and intense musical training enables her to quickly and correctly deliver musically sophisticated tunes with flair. Woroud’s artistic ability shines most during her soulful delivery of what is known in Arabic music as ‘Mawal’, where listeners are spellbound, in a state known in Arabic as ‘Tarab” or rapture.
Outside of the Box Sandra Bernhard!
Her wide-ranging accomplishments in comedy, music, film, television and book publishing defy categories. Definitely outside of the box, for over 25 years, Sandra Bernhard has challenged fans and critics alike with her knife-edged satire and emotive performances. For "To Baghdad With Love" she offers her own brand of humor—funny, philosophical and never pandering to the mainstream.
Bernhard made her Broadway debut with the smash hit, "I'm Still Here Damnit!" in an extraordinary run that also starred Soumaya Akaaboune (see below under emcee bio). The New York Times called Bernhard's performance, "An angst driven, foul-mouthed, poison-laced joy ride that banks and careens frenetically through the worlds of fashion, celebrity, rock and religion."
"I"m Still Here Damnit!" includes a hilarious sketch about a Jewish woman (Bernhard) in a Casablanca bath house dealing with a Muslim (Soumaya Akaaboune).
Hassan Hakmoun began performing publicly in the Djemma el-Fna square of Marrakech during his very early childhood, and by the age of seven he had begun to play the sintir, a three-stringed long-necked African lute producing the bass tones which underlie the derdeba trance ceremonies of the Gnawa, Morocco's descendants of Black African slaves brought to the country centuries ago from the region of today's Mali. The derdeba ceremonies are all-night affairs wherein evil spirits believed to have inhabited particular persons or places are exorcised by the hypnotic playing and chanting of the assembled musicians.
The pentatonic scale and driving rhythms of the sintir are instantly appealing to many Western ears, and Hakmoun, more than any other Gnawa master musician, has succeeded in presenting this music outside of Morocco to widespread critical acclaim. With the considerable aid of British pop star Peter Gabriel who helped "discover" Hakmoun and released his first international album "TRANCE" on his Real World label in 1992, Hakmoun has fashioned an eclectic performing and recording career which has seen him enter into the worlds of jazz, world music, contemporary Western serious music and cerebral pop in startling collaborations with the likes of the late Don Cherry and Pharoah Sanders and The Kronos Quartet, as well as Gabriel himself and Paula Cole. Gabriel has described Hakmoun's vocal capacities as among the most piercing and intriguing in the world.
Hakmoun emigrated to New York in the nineties but maintains a constant connection to his homeland and dvidides his time between L.A. and N.Y. His recent association with American-born producer Fabian Alsultany has been heralded by some fans as a welcome "return to roots." The recent sessions overseen by Alsultany in Morocco have, in any case, yielded perhaps Hakmoun's most exciting album to date - the spectacular upcoming release with the working title "MARRAKECH 2000." "MARRAKECH 2000" is a spacious and free work, nearly orchestral in the scope of its aspirations (with over a hundred local musicians and singers having joined in the production), yet gracefully loose - in the way ensemble music sounds best in almost any African culture. Through (or above) all of it that captivating voice so fondly praised by Peter Gabriel maintains a benevolent and tranquil mastery. As in any Hassan Hakmoun performance, running throughout this extraordinary record is the incontrovertible evidence of a poised spirituality, hand-on-hand with a certain unbridled energy also a Hakmoun trademark. The mixture can be breathtaking, particularly where, as here, Hakmoun and his army of backing vocalists have also favored us with the most sweetly melodic material yet seen in his music.
—Thomas Rome, African Hypertext
A native of Casablanca, Morocco, Bouchaib Abdelhadi has had a distinguished musical career on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 1980s, as leader of the Orchestre Abdelhadi, he performed throughout the kingdom of Morocco. Since coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Mr. Abdelhadi has been a much-sought after multi-instrumentalist (oud, Moroccan violin, percussion) and vocalist of Middle Eastern and North African traditions such as al-Âla (Andalusian), gnaouan (Sufi trance), and chaabi (“popular” including rai).
Recent career highlights include a 2002 collaboration with iconoclastic musician Pharoah Sanders on music for Alonzo King's Lines Ballet Company; in 2001, recording and performing with Omar Sosa, Stephen Kent, and Trance Mission; and critically-acclaimed performances at the 1998 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. He has worked with artists from such diverse music traditions as klezmer, Hindustani, jazz, and rock, and has performed on the US tours of several famous North African artists including Rabbi Chaim Louk, Chaba Zahouania, Enrico Macias, and Cheb Nasro.
Mr. Abdelhadi’s Sounds of LA 2003 concert Une Fièvre Délicieuse: Radiant Rhythms from the Maghreb was recently a smash hit at the Getty Center.
This concert of Middle Eastern and Israeli music features Yuval Ron on oud with percussionist Jamie Papish and vocalist Maya Haddi, part of the group that recently released "Under the Olive Tree" and performed a sell-out concert on June 22. Yuval produced and performed on the new release ONE starring Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Yair Dalal, Nabil Azzam and Haim Louk, among others. He also produced an earlier hit album with Faruk, ONE TRUTH (Worldclass) and IN BETWEEN THE HEARTBEAT (Simulacra Records), as well as Inner Knowledge/Shuki Levi, 2001 (Arpeggio Records) and several others. Yuval writes music for contemporary theatre, dance and film and television.
Soumaya Akaaboune was born in Tangier, Morocco. At 14, she joined Maurice Bejart’s dance company in Brussels, where she studied for four years in contemporary dance. Returning to Morocco, she was cast in her first film,“Straw Dolls” directed by Jilali Ferhati. “Door to The Sky,” “The Rendez-vous,” and “Caftan D’Amour” soon followed, until she moved to Europe dividing her time between Paris and Madrid. Among others, she starred in the films, “Le Dernier été a Tanger,” and “Blanca Paloma” with Antonio Banderas and Paco Rabal. Soumaya then moved to London where she starred in the West End musical “Voyeurz” and then found herself on Broadway with Sandra Bernhard in “I’m Still here Damnit,” which then subsequently toured all over the world. Soumaya is honored to emcee this show for Levantine Cultural Center.
Dorit Cypis explores questions of identity and representation through performance, multimedia installation, and photography. She often focuses on issues of authorship, the threshold between subject and object, and modes of seeing. Much of her work is performative, involving strategies to literally penetrate the image in order to uncover layers of meaning. Cypis is concerned with the body as the medium through which knowledge is gained. Cypis received an M.F.A. in 1977 from the California Institute ofthe Arts. Her work has been shown in numerous international and national exhibitions that include such venues as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the New Museum, New York; among others.
In 2003 Cypis is developing projects for the Orange County Museum and Noga Gallery, Tel-Aviv.
She holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and is currently studying towards a Masters in Conflict Resolution at Pepperdine University.
Social actions have included The Visceral Viewer and the Court, 2000-02, interactions between artists and California Superior Courthouses to develop dialogues on the social and visual codes of the justice system. Kulture Klub, Minneapolis, 1992- (still active), artists as models bridging survival and inspiration for homeless teenage youth. Foundation for Art Resources, Los Angeles, 1979- (still active), production and presentation of new art and ideas in collaboration with artists, audiences and public, private and educational institutions citywide.
Artist Fellowships and Awards include the National Endowment for the Arts; Japan Foundation; Interarts National Endowment for the Arts; McKnight Foundation; First Bank Sally Ordway Irvine Award for Artistic Vision; Jerome Foundation; Bush Foundation; Minnesota State Arts Board..
Special Announcements
Learn Levantine Arabic at Levantine CulturalCenter!
We currently offer a beginning and beginning/intermediate conversational Levantine Arabic (spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan) class, taught by Nezar Andary, an excellent instructor who has lived in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Students love this class! All classes take place at the center, 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. 90069. Please click here for schedule and registration form, or call 323.650.7010.
Board of Directors Meets Most Saturdays for LunchLevantine Center's Board of Directors is currently in formation, and welcomes inquiries—we are actively searching for more people with our passion and conviction! The board consists of diverse members of the community who are of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean heritage or who have a strong professional or artistic interest in furthering our mission. As directors, board members represent the organization officially, are responsible for its financial health, and make the priority strategic decisions, with counsel from Advisory Board members where possible. Board members work with activists heading specific committes, including the Film/Video, Literary, Education Performing Arts and Membership Committees.
Our Advisory Board is also in formation. Advisory board members are known professionally in their own communities and offer valuable counsel and services to the organization; they are eligible to attend the organization's annual retreat and receive other benefits.
To attend, you must RSVP for address and time. 323.650.7010.
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LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER
Cultures of the Middle East & Mediterranean
10469 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90025 [facilities]
8424A Santa Monica Blvd., N.789, West Hollywood CA 90069 [office and mailing address]
323.650.7010, info@levantinecenter.org
Levantine Center advocates for, educates about, and in general promotes and supports Middle Eastern and Mediterranean contemporary arts and traditional cultures. We present or cosponsor programs of music, literature, art, film/video, publications, new media and more, often from educational and historical perspectives. While acknowledging the value of entertainment, we emphasize scholarship and substance. We are strongly multidisciplinary and non-sectarian, do not embrace any political or religious doctrine, and are committed to the principle of cross-cultural cooperation. We support the strengthening of ties between all cultural, ethnic and religious communities of the Middle East/West Asia/Levant, as well as between all peoples of Middle Eastern descent in diaspora.
See what Levantine Center has been up to and take note of other recent cultural events.
See what Levantine Center was up to during our pre-opening season, late in '01.
