 March 6-27: Egyptian Cultural Days
Egyptian Cultural Days at the ACCC in March
In March, the Egyptian Consulate General Press and Information Bureau in conjunction with the ACCC, will present two nights celebrating Egyptian culture. On Thursday March 6th, there will be a reception to mark the opening of a three-week art exhibit by Tamer Youssef, Rahab Fekry, and Hassan Mahmoud, three Egyptian artists currently residing in the Bay Area. At the end of the month on Thursday, March 27, will be Egyptian Cultural Night, featuring books, music, food and the screening of a new film by director Mohammad Khan, In the Heliopolis Flat (Fi Sha'a Masr Gedida). This acclaimed director delivers a timeless story, infused with the culture, sights and characters of modern-day Egypt - from the urban sophistication of Cairo to the traditional beliefs of rural Upper Egypt. In addition to Khaled Abul-Naga and Ghada Adel delivering distinctive performances in the lead roles, veterans Youssef Dawood, Ahmed Rateb and Aida Riad cast in secondary roles are remarkable.
Event Details:
March 6, 7pm: Artists Opening and Reception
March 27, 7 pm: Egyptian Cultural Night and film screening
Location: Arab Cultural and Community Center, 2 Plaza Street (off Laguna Honda)
San Francisco, CA 94116
For more information: call 415-664-2200, email info@arabculturalcenter.org
Admission to both events is free
About the Artists:
Tamer Youssef is currently the vice president of the Federation of Cartoonists Organizations (FECO) He is a creative cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer. His work has appeared in many newspapers and publications around the world, including Le Progrés Egyptien, The Egyptian Gazette, Live Colors, and Al-Ahram Weekly, in Egypt, as well as in publications in France, Romania, and the United States. His work has been shown in Egypt, Korea, France, Cyprus, and Taiwan. He is a member of the Egyptian Association for Caricature and theCartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI).
Rahab Fekry, working in many different media, believes that abstraction should come from deep and diverse studies by the artist, and that the artist should be a researcher that never stops looking for new media, statements, and relationships between art and design elements. Rahab's work evolved over the last 17 years from his experiences in theater, literature, music, academic studies, and his own background. His design includes work in Graphics, Architecture, and Fine Arts, and Interior Design and his work has been shown
around the world.
Dr. Hassan Mahmoud received his Ph.D from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria, Egypt focusing on modern technology in Puppet Design and in making Science Fiction Movies. He also has extensive knowledge in interior design, architect styles as well as fashion, fabrics and stage and set design. He is currently a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts and has taught courses in drawing, architecture design and theater design, as well as publishing research and presenting at conferences.
March 14: Bay Area Arab Women's Conference
April 10: A Night of Khaleejy Music
Thursday, April 10, 7:30 pm
At the ACCC, 2 Plaza St.
Limited Seating, $12 admission
On Thursday, April 10 special guest artists Naser Musa and Faisal Zedan will bring their musical talents to the ACCC for one night only in a special night of Khaleejy music from the countries of the Arabian gulf, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
A Jordanian of Palestinian descent, Naser Musa began playing oud and studying Arabic music while living in Amman, Jordan. He moved to the United States in 1982 and continued his studies of music at California Polytechnic University. In addition to his knowledge of the classical repertory of Arabic music, his versatility and sense of musical adventure have enabled him to experiment with the blending of different musical elements and artistic styles. He has composed, arranged, and recorded numerous projects in the Middle East and in the United States, and is in great demand as a performer and instructor, giving lectures at colleges and universities and organizing workshops. He has been on the faculty at the Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino, California since 1999 and at the Heartland Seminar of Arabic Music in Racine, Milwaukee since 2004. Naser Musa has shared the stage with musical legends Sabah, Ragheb Alame, Hani Shaker and Hakim as well as pop stars Shakira, Beyonce and Michael Sembello. He was featured as a soloist with the Cairo Orchestra during its 2005 U.S. tour with Grammy award winners Youssou N'Dour, of Senegal and Egyptian producer and arranger Fathy Salama. Naser is known nationwide for his beautiful renditions of Khaleejy songs from the Arabian gulf region.
 Percussionist Faisal Zedan, born in Syria and now based in the Bay Area, combines impeccable technique with a deep understanding of the complexities of Arabic musical structures. From the classical Mowashshahat style to regional folkloric and even fusion genres, his unique approach mixes tradition and emotion with a contemporary feel. Faisal Zedan grew up obsessed with the derbakki (also referred to as tabla or dumbek). At the age of fifteen he learned what he could from the only local drummer in the village. He then began to teach himself to play by listening to and reproducing the rhythms he heard on everything from classical Arabic recordings to the lighter Arabic pop fare played on the radio, his tireless practicing soon made him proficient on the instrument and he began experimenting with playing both the riqq (a skin-covered, tambourine like instrument) and the frame drum, both of which he mastered quickly. After coming to California in 1992, he met UCLA's noted ethnomusicology professor Dr. Ali Jihad Racy and was asked to join the acclaimed UCLA Near East Music Ensemble. In 1993 Zedan became a founding member of Near East music group Kan Zaman. Specializing in the Andalucian style of Mowashahat. Since 1996, Zedan has played, studied and taught at Northern California's Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp, with artists and musicians from all over the globe.
|
