Traditional Arabic Music: Between History and Modern Performance
The Traditional Arabic Music Ensemble
Traditional Arabic Music: Between History and Modern Performance is an event featuring historians of Arabic music George Sawa and Suzanne Meyers Sawa.
The night will include performances on the qānūn (Arabic psaltery), the darabukkah (goblet-shaped drum), and tambourines. The concert consists of instrumental pieces from the 17th-century Ottoman court and 19th and 20th-century Cairo and Aleppo, as well as Arabic mystical, folkloric, and popular music.
George Sawa and Suzanne Meyers Sawa will also discuss the history of the qānūn, the historical roots of Arabic rhythms, and fundamental elements of Arabic musical aesthetics going back to al-Fārābī (d. 339/950).
Here are a couple of videos featuring George Sawa and Suzanne Meyers Sawa playing live. I doubt the event in Abu Dhabi will feature a belly dancer, but I am certain the music will be very good. This is the kind of old school Arabic music I miss hearing.
Traditional Arabic Music: Between History and Modern Performance is part of a conference, Courts and Performance in the Premodern Middle East taking place in Abu Dhabi on 27th and 28th February. You can read more about it here.
Event details
Date: Monday, 27th February 2012, 6.30pm-8.30pm
Venue: Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi (location map)
Free entry, but it's recommended you RSVP here.
www.nyuad.nyu.edu/institute/conference-courts-performance
[image via ITCM 2011]