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Middle East/Mediterranean Calendar for June 2003
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May 31-June 21—"Burnt By the Sun" Exhibits Five Contemporary Persian Artists
Curated by Farzad Karimi for the Pacific Arts Center gallery, "Burnt By The Sun" fea tures the work of Mehri Dadgar, Shahla Etedali, Habib Kheradyar, Houman Mortazavi, and Leila Salartash which explores light, shadows and the inner self.The exhibit runs June 21. Gallery hours: Monday through Saturday 12 noon to 5:00 PM. Opening Reception: Saturday June 7, 7 to 9 PM. 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. 90025. For more information, call 310.481.9966.
May 31 (Sat.), 7:30 pm—In "West of Babylon" Sufi Musician Saadoun Al-Bayati" Comes to Levantine Cultural Center
With a soulful voice and kinetic performance style, Saadoun Bayati brings Iraq's music, influenced by a Sufi upbringing in Baghdad, to an exclusive full-length performance at Levantine Cultural Center, on Saturday, May 31st, 2003, at 7:30 pm. As Iraqis struggle for freedom and prosperity, in what may become a new era of cultural exchange between Iraq and the United States, Al-Bayati celebrates Iraq through traditional and mystical music, offering an inimitable hieratic interpretation of Iraqi melodies and maqams. In "West of Babylon," Saadoun Al-Bayati will be accompanied by Summer Dadah, Jim Knight and Ensemble. The evening includes a healthy banquet buffet of Iraqi and Lebanese dishes, included with the price of the ticket.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, the son of a Sufi woman of the Na'imiyya order, Saadoun Al-Bayati was exposed to the meditative states produced through percussion and vocalizing as a child while attending Sufi rituals and ceremonies with his mother and maternal uncle, Shaykh Jasim Abd al-Sittar. His voice training took place through Qur'anic recitation, and as a young man, Saadoun often substituted for the muezzin at his neighborhood mosque, calling Muslims to prayer. Having internalized the spiritual essence of a Middle Eastern/Islamic aesthetic, Saadoun has performed the music of Iraq and other parts of the Arab Middle East since childhood.
Saadoun's unique musical expression emanates from the depth of his soul and transcends all geographical boundaries. He possesses a voice that stirs profound emotions and utilizes a technique that is at once powerful and sensuous.
In addition to vocals and percussion, Saadoun studied the oud, initially to better understand the musical structures of Middle Eastern music — specifically the maqamat or modal structures, with their distinct ascending and descending scales — and eventually to provide a reliable support for his singing voice (not easy, when one has perfect pitch). Saadoun was fortunate to be able to learn from close personal friends such as the pre-eminent Nubian musician Hamza El-Din, the Lebanese musician George Khayyat, and the Syrian oud-player Hussny El-Zaim.
“West of Babylon" with Saadoun Al-Bayati, takes place at Levantine Cultural Center/PAC, 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025, just west of Beverly Glen Blvd. Street parking. Saturday, May 31, 7:30 pm, tickets with delicious healthy Iraqi/Lebanese dinner are $28 general, $25 members. Advanced purchased recommended as seating is limited. Call 323.650.7010.
June 1 (Sun.), 6-8 pm, Special Double Bill: Laura Morton on "Islamic and Mediterranean Gardens," followed by Safaa Fathy, Egyptian poet and filmmaker.
A slide lecture by Laura Morton, award-winning published landscape designer in Los Angeles and world traveler. Ms. Morton covers the history and development of Islamic style gardens and their influence throughout the Mediterranean. She reveals the development and design of her own garden in Los Angeles, which has been described as a Mediterranean oasis in the heart of West Hollywood, and has been on several garden tours, and featured recently in Garden Design magazine. Laura Morton works out of her West Hollywood studio, consulting and designing extraordinary landscapes for a wide variety of residential and commercial clients. She won 1st-place awards for her work on the Corono High School Campus, and the Huntington Japanese Zen Garden.
Safaa Fathy, who made "Derrida's Elsewhere" (2000) about philisopher Jacques Derrida, presents her newest book of poetry and gives a talk in Arabic, French and English, on Egypt, Paris and more. Fathy was born in Minea, Egypt and studied theatre arts in France, where she wrote her Ph.D. on Brecht at the Sorbonne. She has been a translator, and co-author with Jacques Derrida, and her poems have appeared widely in Arabic, in Egypt, and in French anthologies. She has been at the helm of a number of documentaries and short fiction films, including "Maxime Rodinson, Atheist of the Gods," "The Silence," and "Hidden Faces," a documentary for British TV. In Paris, she has directed both her own plays and works by Jean Genet, Heiner Müller and Witold Gombrowicz, among others.
Tickets for both programs, including mint tea and pastries, $10 general, $8 members. Seating limited, reserve early, this program will sell out: 323.650.7010.
The City
The streets of the big city
Are a summer’s mourning
And its air
A pale breath
On the borders the desert is girding itself
The place is a hostage
And large eyes glow with darkness
The heart of this city
Is a liquid rich in finitude
The roads leading to heaven
Stop on the edge of the clouds
And on the heights
Rest the symbols of deafness
Deaf is the air
And over the town
Slithers a sickness
And the passers-by, to avoid the road
Jostle each other
Fight
Swallow the stagnant air
… in sidewalk cafés
Empty of birds
The sky of this ancient town
Her children dance in utter peacefulness
Her inhabitants
Stop, and stop again, exhausted
They get used to it
And from the dusty minarets
Tired throats
Chirp a last cry.
—Safaa Fathy, from "...Où Ne Pas Naître.
June 7 (Sat.), 5:15 pm—"In the 9th Month," Palestinian Feature, Screens With Director Q & A
Writer/Director Ali Nassar presents his latest film, in Arabic with English subtitles, and will answer questions after the screening along with starring actress Nisreen Fahour.
Synopsis: Khalil, Ahmed's older brother was forced to seek refuge in Lebanon a month after his marriage to Samira. For 10 long years Samira, loyal to their love, waits. Risking his life, Khalil now illegally returns to his village in the north of Israel. With Ahmed, his younger brother's help, Khalil secretly meets with Samira.
At the same time a young boy disappears. Ahmed, with his strange manners and black dress, is accused by the villagers of being "The man who drags his butt in a basket" - a mythic dark figure in an old fable about a man who kidnaps children and sells them.
The scandal that follows results in tragedy. This is a story of a family falling apart, in the context of a political conflict beyond control. But despite all odds the film carries a sign of hope and reconciliation.
The cast includes Ashraf Brhoum ( Ahmed - "The man who drags his butt in a basket"), Nisreen Fahour (Samira), Juliano Mar Khamees (Khalil).
At Laemmle's Farifax Cinemas, 7909 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles 90048, (corner Beverly & Fairfax), 323.655.4010. Screens as part of the 19th annual Israeli film festival. Come and support Ali Nassar and this intriguing film.
June 7 (Sat.), 7-9 p.m.—Reception for "Burnt By the Sun, " Meet Five Contemporary Persian Artists
Curated by Farzad Karimi for the Pacific Arts Center gallery, "Burnt By The Sun" fea tures the work of Mehri Dadgar, Shahla Etedali, Habib Kheradyar, Houman Mortazavi, and Leila Salartash which explores light, shadows and the inner self. 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. 90025. A block and a half west of Beverly Glen Blvd.
June 8 (Sun.), 3:15p.m.—Exclusive Screening of "Pinched Cheeks and Slurs in a Language that Avoids Her" andJagadakeer" by Tina Bastajian
Two Experimental Videos by Tina Bastajian Screen Under UCLA Aegis. The Friends of UCLA Armenian Language and Culture Studies invites the public to a special showing of two recent works of the LA-based experimental film/video artist Tina Bastajian, focusing on the construction of identity in the contemporary Armenian Diaspora.
"Pinched Cheeks and Slurs in a Language that Avoids Her," a video produced in 1996, will start the program. It presents a range of themes, positing layers of a monologue, mirrored images and a conversation heard and overheard. These motifs pose the question of how ethnic, cultural, racial and other stereotypes are formed and enforced within society and the tension between the different values, characteristics, and cultural practices, which form part of our multi-layered identity in the modern world. As the director comments, “The byproducts from my own Diasporic experience are densely layered elements or fragments, in which I find a connection, a space to weave new meaning.” This ten minute video is in English and Armenian with English subtitles.
The second work on the program is "Jagadakeer" ... Between the Near and East, a personal meditation that creates an intricate series of transitions to explore memory, nostalgia, displacement, erasure and reconnection using the Armenian Genocide as a point of departure. These are complex, challenging works.
At The Forum, All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena (just South of Walnut). The program will begin promptly at 3:15 p.m. Free parking is available on site and across the road at the Kaiser Center. Refreshments will be served. For further information call 310.825.1307, 818.986.0718 or 626.796.1172 or contact by e-mail FREE.
June 11 (Wed.) , 9:00 pm—Tunisian/World Singer and Songwriter Zera Vaughan performs in "Back to the Roots," A Journey of Discovery...
For Zera Vaughan, "Back to the Roots" goes back to her upbringing in Tunisia, North Africa. A daughter of an English painter and a French ballet dancer, Zera Vaughan began her musical journey at the age of 10, as a student of the Tunisian Music Conservatory where she discovered the traditional sound of "Malouf" as well as the popular tunes of Warda and Oum Khalsoum. Zera Vaughan moved to Paris and studied at the Paris Music Conservatory. Since then, she has perfected her voice and her act throughout the years as a regular on the French lounge circuit, as well as working professionally as a background singer.
While in the U.K, Zera Vaughan discovered the sound of Trip-Hop. Since then, with the help of five top French musicians, Zera has taken the challenge to explore the links between Europe and the Middle East, filling the gap by putting her own touch on the "world music" genre. The result is "Back to the Roots, including Almaz, a "World Music" version of a 1985 Randy Crawford song is one of the highlight of 2 new Compilation : "L'Etoile" and "Salon Oriental: Oriental Escapade."
The spices of the Middle East, added to the European sounds have convinced Los Angeles-based Radio KCRW to air Zera's music, referring to her as the perfect definition of "world music."Tickets are $10. Zera Vaughn performs at Sky Sushi - 7901 Santa Monica Blvd, 2nd Floor, West Hollywood, CA 90046.
For further information, call (310) 418-4233 or email at zeravaughan-live@sbcglobal.net.
June 12 (Thurs.), 7:30 pm—Laila Halaby Reads From Her New Novel, West of the Jordan.
Come meet Laila Halaby at Levantine Cultural Center in a reading and book signing free to the public. The daughter of a Jordanian father and an American mother, Laila Halaby knows well the difficulty of straddling two cultures. In her debut novel she explores the lives of four cousins, all young women struggling with issues of independence, identity, and loyalty. From the youth culture of Los Angeles to the religious traditions of the West Bank, Halaby pulls readers into these young women's lives.
"Laila Halaby is a deeply gifted writer. She describes complicated, culture-spanning lives in a poetic prose that is clean and compelling..." —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East.
Halaby's writing carries the flavor of the lands she writes of, west of the Jordan—rich and imbued with sorrow." —Gelareh Asayesh, author of Saffron Sky.
Offering flashes of humor and a window onto the customs, language, and rich religious traditions of the Arab world, West of the Jordan offers a penetrating look at the pain and confusion of blending two cultures.
Laila Halaby speaks four languages. She won a Fulbright scholarship to study folklore in Jordan, and holds a master's in Arabic literature. She lives with her family in Tucson, Arizona.
At Levantine Cultural Center/Pacific Arts Center, 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025. RSVP requested: 323.650.7010.
June 13 (Fri.), 11:00 a.m.—Special Guest Artists From Jordan Visit Levantine Cultural Center
Actor Mohannad Abdelfattah ABDELRAHMAN, who is affiliated with the Performing Arts Center, Queen Noor Al Hussein Foundation; actor Ashraf Akram AL AWADI, also affiliated with f the Performing Arts Center, Queen Noor Al Hussein Foundation; composer and musician Tareq Abdul Rahman EL NASSER; and Shereen Khaldoon ODEH, a freelance artist, will visit with Levantine Cultural Center, and interested members and friends are invited to come and meet these artists, who are touring the U.S. in a State Department-sponsored program, and brought to the Center localy by the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles.
Levantine Cultural Center/Pacific Arts Center, 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025. RSVP requested: 323.650.7010.
June 13 (Fri.), 7:30 pm, and June 15, 20, 22, 27—United States Premiere of "Props," Postmodern Armenian Theatre of the Absurd, by Aghasi Ayvazyan.
Under the direction of Dr. Anahid Aramouni Keshishian (UCLA), the ARENA Theater Company presents previously censored, oppressed, and unexplored works to the world art scene. ARENA's first production, Aghasi Ayvazyan's "Props," takes place at 7:30 p.m.,June 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, and 29 at MGN Paradise Studios (1631 Maria, Burbank, 91504).
Prominent contemporary Armenian writer Aghasi Ayvazyan's play, "Props" deals with the ongoing search for meaning and acceptance; lucidly abandoning four figures on stage, forcing them to create and live among newly established borders of thought. Through absurd, yet earnest verbal explorations, the characters
inspire an aura of intensity as they search for their place in their infinite surroundings. The universal elements within this production encompass the comical, bitter, and vulnerable realities of the individual. At the same time, the play does not refrain from alluding to pertinent political and social structures of our time, which further verify the limiting tendencies of human behavior. Will Ayvazyan’s haunting style nurture or crush his own creations? These issues innovatively come alive in ARENA Theatre Company's production of "Props."
Their fresh approach animates the playwright's text, creating an eerie yet invigorating performance. Author Aghasi Ayvazyan will be in Los Angeles from Armenia for the occasion where he will take part in special question and answer sessions following the first three performances.Tickets are $20, $15 with student ID. Tickets can be purchased at: Abril Bookstore 818.243.4112, Sardarabad bookstore 500-0790, IBEN Printing 818.246.5553, and by contacting Arena Theatre Company at 818.517.9896 or 818.240.7080.
June 14 (Sat.) Iran is My Home by Fariborz David Diaan Screens in IFP Fest. A rare glimpse inside a country that for most of us remains a faraway chimera. Iran Is My Home follows Fariborz David Diaan (who recently starred in America So Beautiful) as he returns to his birthplace after more than 20 years. An intimate portrait of a land in perpetual transition. IFP Los Angeles Film Festival 2003. Directors Guild Theatre, 7920 Sunset Blvd., L.A. 90046. Tickets $10. See L.A. Film Fest site for details or call 866.FILMFEST.
June 19 (Sat.), 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.—New Persian Classical/Folkloric Dance Classes Begin
Dance maestra Robyn Friend, who recently performed at Levantine Cultural Center's "From Uzbekistan to Morocco: Dance and Music of the Islamic World," proffers new classes at Pacific Arts Center in Persian Classical and Iranian folkloric dance, Thursday evenings at 7:00 until 8:00, beginning 19 June. She will focus on correct alignment and posture, body awareness, and dance technique that will students in all forms of dance, as well as technique specific to Persian classical dance. The class will work on choreographies, improvisation, music for different regional and classical styles of dance, "dancing to the music," and costuming for classical and folkloric dance. It's good exercise, and always a lot of fun! Classes are $12 each, or $40 for 4 classes purchased in advance. For info, please call 310.541.9694. Please call in advance of your first class to register and to check for blackout dates (which do arise now and then). For directions visit the Pacific Arts Center page.
June 21 (Sat.), 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Writing Studio Workshop, "Masks, Veils and Shields"
A day-long writing workshop exploring times in your lives you were masked, veiled and shielded, and what happened when the mask was shattered, the veil lifted, the shield removed. The stories are created from real life material but as we follow them they begin to transcend reality into literature. This creative process is surprising, satisfying and deeply healing.
"Elana is an inspiring guide, creating a mix of instruction, encouragement and safety for us to go beyond our perceived limitations." Simone Wallace, writer, co-founder Sisterhood Bookstore
"I didn't know I could write until I met Elana. I am totally amazed." Ivona Jezierska, team member Women's Chess Olympics
"Elana reminded me how much I love writing." Jimmy Cummings, screenwriter
Several professional writer members of Levantine Center (as well as non-writers who wish to express themselves on paper) have attended Writing Studio workshops, which take place in a very quiet, relaxing atmosphere in the Hancock Park area. Attendees can expect to arrive at an epiphany or two while producing material that may surprise even themselves. The cost of the workshop is $100, including lunch (active Levantine Cultural Center members receive 10% off).
Founder of The Writing Studio and an artist member of Levantine Cultural Center, Elana Golden is a writer, director, and teacher with a BA in Film from NYU, and MA in Spiritual Psychology from USM. A student of Eastern philosophy and meditation for 20 years, Elana combines art, spirituality and politics in her teaching.
For further information or to register, please contact Elana Golden at 323.936.2601, or email her.
June 22 (Sun.), 4:00 pm—"Under The Olive Tree" Concert Features The Yuval Ron Ensemble with Najwa Gibran
This concert of Middle Eastern and Israeli music features Palestinian vocalist Najwa Gibran and is the CD release party for the Yuval Ron Ensemble's first CD, "Under the Olive Tree." Ron is the musical director and performs on oud and saz, while Najwa Gibran joins in on voice, Maya Haddi also on voice, with Norik Manoukian on duduk, zurna, shvi (flute) and clarinet, Jamie Papish on percussion, David Martinelli on percussion, Carolyne Aycaguer-Ron on harmonium and keyboards, and Virginie Alumyan on kanoun. Guest dancers include Maya Karasso, Melanie Kareem Dance Company, Iman Sufi, Ruth Gould-Goodman.
At the Fine Arts Theater at West L.A. College, in Culver City. From the 405, exit at Jefferson and head northeast in the direction of Culver City. After crossing Sepulveda it becomes Playa and then Over land Ave. Cross two flashing lights and turn right on Freshman Dr. Make a second right on Albert Vera. Go up the hill to Parking Lot 8, across the lot is the Fine Arts Building and the Fine Arts Theater. Admission: $15 in advance - $20 at the door.
Order advance tickets by mailing a check for $15 per person payable to Yuval Ron Music to: Yuval Ron Music, 3812 Carpenter Ave. Studio City, CA 91604. Advanced purchases will be held by Will Call at the theater. For more info: e-mail: info@yuvalronmusic.com, tel.: 818 505 1355.
Elsewhere: Negotiating Difference and Distance in Time-Based Art
Thrugh July 27. Video and film by Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat, and Michal Rovner, women artists from the Middle East who now live and work elsewhere, explore negotiations of cultural, political, and gender differences over distance and time. The videos and films presented all deal with power struggles, signs of difference and the deep impact of that context on the individual — making the personal political and the geographic psychological. Time-based art, namely moving images, has implicit associations with narrative, temporality, and documentation. Elsewhere explores how these artists use this medium to visually articulate selfhood in relation to time and place and to explore the human condition at times of struggle, as well as the psychology of distance.
Wed.-Sun., noon to 5 p.m., Thurs. until 8 p.m., closed Mon/Tues. Free admission. UCLA Fowler Museum, of Cultural History, Box 951549, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1549. On UCLA campus, parking structure 3 or 5. Info Gennfo: Call 310-825-4361
And Save the Date...More events at Levantine Cultural Center!
Special Announcements
Learn Levantine Arabic at Levantine Cultural Center!
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.
