About the Authors:

Dave Eggers is the editor of McSweeney's and co-founder of 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for kids ages 6-18 in San Francisco. His most recent work is Zeitoun, a story about an Arab-American couple from New Orleans and their post-Katrina struggles. It has been hailed by Michael Eric Dyson as an "instant American classic." It's an amazing tale and will go down in history as one of the most important narratives of our time. This is a piece of literary genius and profound humanness that will change the way Arab-Americans are viewed forever.

Toufic El Rassi was born in Beirut in 1978 to an Egyptian mother and Lebanese father. He immigrated to Chicago a year later as his family escaped the civil war in Lebanon. He is a college lecturer in history and political science, a writer, and a graphic novelist and commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, based in Chicago. Using the graphic novel as his medium, he chronicles his experience growing up in Arab in America. From childhood through adolescence, and as an adult, El Rassi illustrates the prejudice and discrimination Arabs and Muslims experience in American society. He contends with ignorant teachers, racist neighbors, bullying classmates, and a growing sense of alienation. El Rassi recounts his personal experiences after the 9/11 attacks and during the implementation of new security and immigration laws that followed.

Alia Yunis has worked as a journalist, filmmaker and writer in the Arab World and Los Angeles. She is a PEN Emerging Voices Fellow and currently teaches film and television at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. Shifting between the United States and Lebanon in her debut novel The Night Counter, she unravels four generations of Abdullah family secrets with a great sense of comic timing and a deft touch of magical realism. The beautiful and immortal Scheherazade has been roaming the earth for eleven centuries, and she yearns for a story to distract her. When she follows an American soldier home from Iraq out of curiosity, she runs into Fatima Abdullah in Los Angeles, a cantankerous and fiercely loyal matriarch of a sprawling Arab-American clan.

Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne in Concert:
"Complex Stories, Simple Sounds"

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Re-Orienting Occidental Art: Eastern Influences on Western Architecture, Renaissance to the Modern Day.
A talk by Reem Al Alusi

Thursday, January 8 at 7 pm
Free Admission
Arab Cultural & Community Center
2 Plaza Street (at Laguna Honda), San Francisco

In this talk Reem Al Alusi will paint a broad overview of the history of Western art and architecture, paying special attention to the global flows and phenomena that shaped the Western aesthetic. Far from being an isolated series of events, the development of European architecture, starting with the Renaissance and continuing through the modern day, was shaped by contact with the East. Political, religious, and cultural boundaries blurred in the Middle Ages, and did not crystallize into the hard borders of the modern nation-state until recently; likewise, the story of Western art is one of fluidity and adaptation. During this period of immense creativity and experimentation, economic cooperation and mimicry, travel and exploration, religious zeal and spiritual renewal found expression in precedents as varied as ancient Mesopotamia and then-modern Turkey. Reem will illustrate the talk with examples from Rome to San Francisco.

Reem Al Alusi took her Masters Degree in the History and Philosophy of Architecture from the University of Cambridge, where I wrote my thesis on the Eastern Influences on the Italian High Baroque. She specializes in the art and architecture of Spain and Italy since these were the points of contact for Islam into Europe in the early and Middle Ages. She has lectured on art and architecture in the UK and in the US.



An Evening with master Nay player Bassam Saba
Sunday January 25 at 6 pm
Limited Seating, $15
Arab Cultural & Community Center
2 Plaza Street (at Laguna Honda), San Francisco

An intimate evening of performance with one of North America's best Arabic musicians
Bassam Saba is a native of Lebanon, where he studied 'ud, violin, and nay (Arab flute) at the Lebanese National Conservatory. In 1976, he moved to France where he received a Bachelor's Degree in Western Classical music and Flute Performance from the Conservatoire Municipals des Gobelins in Paris. During this time, Mr. Saba was an essential member of Marcel Khalife's ensemble, Al-Mayadeen, playing nay, violin, and flute.

He moved to Moscow in 1985 and received a Master's Degree in Flute Performance and Music. After a period as Musical Director of the Beirut Symphonic Orchestra, he moved to New York, and began performing with Simon Shaheen, becoming one of the key members of Shaheen's Qantara group and the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, among many other musical activities.

Throughout his extensive career, Bassam Saba has performed many styles of music ranging from Western classical music to popular and traditional Arab music, as well as Arab fusion music. Considered one of the most outstanding nay and 'ud players in the United States, he has toured throughout the Middle East, Europe, Canada, South America, Australia, Africa and Japan.

His accomplishments include recording and performing with renowned international artists such as Ziad Rahbani, Yo Yo Ma, Marcel Khalife, Wu Man, Simon Shaheen, Fairuz, Kadim (Kazem) Al Sahir, Majida al-Roumi, Khaled, Santana, Souad Massi, and more. Currently based in New York, Bassam composes and performs with his own musical ensemble Myriad, and is directing the Middle Eastern Ensemble at Harvard University.
www.myspace.com/bassamsaba



3rd Annual Holiday Bazaar
Saturday, December 6, 11am- 2pm
The Arab Cultural & Community Center
2 Plaza St. San Francisco, CA

Join the Arab Cultural & Community Center for its 3rd Annual Holiday Bazaar In celebration of Christmas, Eid & the New Year. The bazaar will feature Arabic textiles, ceramics, Crafts, Jewelry, home goods, Olive Oil, books, calendars and much more for sale. Complimentary delicious holiday desserts and beverages will be served. There will be a children's craft table and free henna tattoos.

For information about vending please call 415-664-2200.



Saed Muhssin and the Arab Orchestra of San Francisco in Concert
Saturday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 pm
tickets $15
The Arab Cultural & Community Center
2 Plaza Street at Laguna Honda, San Francisco

The AOSF explores the boundaries between tradition and modernity, and continues to highlight the common elements of various idioms. The group relies the virtuosity of each individual player to create an exquisite listening experience. The repertoire of the AOSF is chosen from among the most demanding Arabic art pieces. The members of the orchestra are musicians with a solid background and the sound of the orchestra relies on the strength of each individual player, not just when they perform composed and improvised solos, but also when the entire orchestra is performing.

Ensemble director Saed Muhssin is a oud performer, teacher and music scholar. 

Saed has performed widely both as a soloist, and with other groups inluding as musical director of Al-Marjanah ensemble, the Saed Muhssin trio and Aswat Arabic choir. Most recently he has founded the Arabic Orchestra of San Francisco. As a scholar, Saed has studied Arabic music theory and oud performance for the past twenty years and is completing a book on maqam intonation.  Saed gives classes and lecture demos in many universities, colleges and cultural institutions as well as teaching music privately in his San Francisco studio.
www.saedmuhssin.com



Riad Abdel-Gawad in concert with Faisal Zedan
Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7:30 pm
tickets $20

Born in Cairo, Egypt and now based primarily in the Los Angeles area, violinist and composer Riad Abdel-Gawad is a graduate of the University of Southern California, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Harvard University. Riad Abdel-Gawad composes in several very distinct styles, from traditional to avant-garde, and his work fuses a variety of Western and Eastern genres and canons. His musical lineage is from the school of Abdo Dagher, legendary violinist for Om Kalthoum, whose teaching tradition has roots reaching to the Medieval Arabic writers' and practitioners' sources, and who instilled his unique method and improvisatory practices to his students. His latest CD, El Tarab El Aseel features a traditional takht (ensemble) of some of Cairo's best musicians on qanun, ud, nay and riqq.

After graduating from Harvard with a Ph.D. in music composition, Riad Abdel-Gawad principally resided in Belgium, Egypt and Germany and traveled to France and Italy before settling in the United States. A champion of the idea that trans-national composition and performance is one of the frontiers of music in the twenty-first century, Riad Abdel-Gawad strives toward this in his art. Riad Abdel-Gawad has performed his own compositions on violin in numerous festivals, workshops, and tours in Belgium, Cameroon, Congo (Democratic Republic), Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Spain, and the United States. Riad Abdel-Gawad's compositions have been broadcast worldwide on radio, and he has received awards, fellowships and grants from ASCAP, the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany, BMI, Harvard University, and the MacDowell Colony.
www.riadabdelgawad.com

A master of the derbakki (tabla), riqq (Arabic tambourine) and the frame drum, 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. 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. 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. In addition to his work with numerous local and national Arabic music ensembles he plays percussion with the Bay Area's Arabic choir Aswat.
www.faisalzedan.com



Reading and Book Signing:
Al' America by Jonathan Curiel
Thursday, November 13 at 7 pm
free admission

Local author and journalist Jonathan Curiel will read from his new book Al' America (New Press, Fall 2008) a look at the influence of Arab and Islamic culture on America. About the Book: Four out of ten Americans say they dislike Muslims, according to a Gallup poll. "Muslims," a blogger wrote on the Web site Free Republic, "don't belong in America." In a lively, funny, and revealing riposte to these sentiments, journalist Jonathan Curiel offers a fascinating tour through the little-known Islamic past, and present, of American culture. From highbrow to pop, from lighthearted to profound, Al' America reveals the Islamic and Arab influences before our eyes, under our noses, and ringing in our ears. Curiel demonstrates that many of America's most celebrated places - including the Alamo in San Antonio, the French Quarter of New Orleans, and the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina - retain vestiges of Arab and Islamic culture. Likewise, some of America's most recognizable music - the Delta Blues, the surf sounds of Dick Dale, the rock and psychedelia of Jim Morrison and the Doors - is indebted to Arab music. And some of America's leading historical figures, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Elvis Presley, relied on Arab or Muslim culture for intellectual sustenance.

Part travelogue, part cultural history, Al' America confirms a continuous pattern of give-and-take between America and the Arab-Muslim world. Al' America, which begins its narrative with Christopher Columbus sailing to America, ends its narrative in Dearborn, Michigan, where Curiel meets an Arab American football coach and includes a surprising historical text that features Edward Said.

About the Author: Jonathan Curiel, longtime staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has reported on Arab and Muslim issues here and abroad. His journalism on Arabs and Muslims has been honored by Columbia University and he has taught as a Fulbright scholar at Pakistan's Punjab University. He lives in San Francisco.



Riffat Sultana in concert
with Georges Lammam and Shiraz Ali Khan
October 23 at 7:30 pm
tickets $20.00

Riffat Sultana performs a wide variety of traditional and modern materials from Pakistan and India, including Sufi, Geet, Ghazal, Filmi, Qawwali, and Light Classical song styles. Highlighting Riffat's performances are her devotional, ecstatic Pakistani Sufi songs and her dazzling vocal improvisations. The daughter of the late Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, universally recognized as the finest Pakistani Classical singer of his time, Riffat is the first woman from her family's musical lineage to publicly perform in the west. Her stunning vocals have been recorded for numerous record labels including Ark 21/Universal, Triloka/Mercury, Hearts of Space, City of Tribes, 6 Degrees and XDot25. Her husband Shiraz Ali Khan accompanies her on 12-string guitar she features tabla, dhole, and other traditional or modern instrumentalists in her performances.

Of Palestinian descent, born in Beirut, Lebanon and living for 14 years in the United Arab Emirates, violinist Geroge Lammam is well-known as a violinist exemplifying the Arab style of instrumental improvisation and lyricism. Currently living in San Francisco, he and his ensemble have performed at the San Francisco World Music Festival, The Legion of Honor Museum, the De Young Museum in San Francisco, The Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley, and many more local and national venues. Mr. Lammam is instructor of violin and Arabic singing at the annual Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino, California and has taught Arabic music ensemble and vocal classes at the UC-Berkeley, Humboldt State University, Santa Fe College and Middlebury College in Vermont.

For more information about the artists:
www.myspace.com/riffatsultana
www.riffatsultana.com
www.amorfiaproductions.com



Arab Film Festival Screening:
Evening of Short Films from Palestine and Jordan
October 27 at 7 pm

This year the Arab Film Festival comes to the ACCC for a night of 9 short films from Palestine's 2008 Audio-Visual Project and Jordan's Amman Filmmaker's Cooperative.

For complete details and ticket prices, please visit www.aff.org

Political Engagement in the Arab American Community:
A Panel Discussion
Wednesday October 15, 2008 at 7:30 pm

The Arab Cultural and Community Center will host a panel and community discussion about the role of Arab-American and Arab Immigrant communities in civic processes, particularly in the upcoming elections. What are the issues facing the Arab community? Is the community being represented and listened to? How do we make our concerns and voices heard in the political process? Join the ACCC to discuss these questions and more.
Panelists:
Ross Mirkarimi, Board of Supervisor of the City of San Francisco
Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas initiative at San Francisco State University
Jamal Dajani, Link TV and the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Coalition
Jamal Shamieh of the Arab-American Grocers Association



The Arab Cultural and Community Center presents
14th Annual Arab Cultural Festival
Ya Hala
August 24, 2008
County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park

Ya Hala: 14th Annual Arab Cultural Festival On August 24, San Francisco's Arab Cultural and Community Center will present our 14th Annual Arab Cultural Festival, the largest celebration of Arab heritage in Northern California. This day-long event will showcase the arts, entertainment, food, traditions, and most importantly the spirit of the Arab and Arab-American people, and their contributions to the Bay Area's cultural landscape. This year's theme, Ya Hala (Welcome) expresses the tradition of hospitality and generosity that is a hallmark of Arab culture throughout the world.

Click here for more information



Arab Woman Talking
A one-person performance, written and performed by Lana Nasser
Thursday, July 31 at 7 pm
ACCC, 2 Plaza Street (off Laguna Honda)
San Francisco

A window into the inner world of woman, wearing different names. She examines her reflection and searches for meaning, in the dictionary, in ancient poetry, and in myth; she imagines the untold stories; talks, dances and sings. In English, Arabic, and without words, the play is about love and language, identity and reconciliation; a bridge between the inner and the outer, the Middle East and the West.

Lana Nasser is a performing artist, writer, and translator. Her work is based on research in mythology, dreams, and languae; much of her inspiration comes from the dictionary. She lives in California's Bay, leads trips to Jordan- where she was born and raised, and offers workshops. She first presented Arab woman Talking at La Pena in March of 2008, and did a one month run of the play at the Dream Institute in June of the same year. The play will be followed by a Q & A.

www.ArabWomanTalking.com
www.lananasser.com
Ticket price: $10 students, $12 ACC members, $15 general



April 20: ACCC's Spring Awards Luncheon

As a valued part of our community, the ACCC would like to invite you to our Spring Awards Luncheon, which will honor Alice Nashashibi's 80th birthday and her many contributions over the years as an Arab-American. In addition, we will present our annual scholarships and community awards. Renowned local musician Georges Lammam and Ensemble will perform.

Sunday, April 20th from 12-3 pm
Medjool Restaurant: 2522 Mission St.
(bet. 20th and 21st)
San Francisco, CA 94110

Tickets: $60 general, $35 student
Order your tickets by April 12!
To pay by check: mail to the ACCC, 2 Plaza Street, SF, 94116
To pay by credit card: call 415-664-2200 and pay over the phone

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.