15th Annual Arab Cultural Festival
October 11, 2009, 12:00-6:00 pm
County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park
9th Ave. and Lincoln
Admission: Adults $6, Children 6-12 $3, under 5 free
On October 11, San Francisco’s Arab Cultural and Community Center will
present the 15th 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. Since 1995, the
Arab Cultural & Community Center has produced this one-day event
celebrating the diversity and beauty of Arab and Arab-American cultural
expression. Taking place in Golden Gate Park, this event marks the
largest celebration of Arab heritage in Northern California. Enjoyed
by Arab and non-Arab audiences of 4000-6000 each year, it celebrates a
rich tapestry of performing and visual artists, food, traditional
clothing, and other cultural traditions.
Performance Times (Subject to Change):
- 3-3:45pm - Moroccan Gnawa music by Yassir Chadly, Bouchaib Abdelhadi and Ensemble
- 2-2:45pm - Iraqi maqam songs by Saadoun Al Bayati of Los Angeles
- 4:20pm - Arab hip-hop artist Cherif Triki of Tunisia
- 4:00pm - Qaba'el al-Yemen, Folk Dance from Yemen
- 4:50pm - Songs of Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt by the Ajyal Ensemble featuring Nazir Latouf and Faisal Zedan
Sponsoring or renting a table or booth at the festival is a way for you
to reach the Bay Area’s Arab and American community, who represent a
wide range of cultures, including Egyptian, Palestinian, Yemeni, North
African, Iraqi, Lebanese, and more. Your company will reach thousands
of individuals, businesses, and organizations.
For information about sponsorship, click here >>
For information about renting a booth or table, advertising in the program, or volunteering, click here >>
2009 Arab Cultural Festival Performers
Saadoun Al-Bayati and Ensemble
Saadoun Al-Bayati's inspired performances as singer, oudist, and percussionist derive from his experience of Sufi rhythms and meditative states in the Baghdad of his childhood and youth. Quranic recitation prepared his voice to achieve precise gradations of tone. Saadoun has performed the music of Iraq and other parts of the Arab Middle East since childhood. He has performed at concerts and other venues throughout the United States. Samar Al-Bayati Dadah is a gifted percussionist and vocalist who has performed with her father and teacher, Saadoun Al-Bayati, since age twelve. Samar was founding director of the International Drummers for Peace in Orange County - with 20 drummers of all ages and ethnicities - and currently leads the Claremont School of Theology drumming group. Nadim Al-Bayati, in addition to being a talented percussionist, is a photographer of some repute. He has performed with his father and sister from an early age and understands instinctively the complex musical and rhythmic structures of Iraqi music. Nadim is among the most accurate and articulate of the younger generation of Middle Eastern drummers. Saadoun is joined by a friend and colleague of many years, Jim Knight, an accomplished musician in his own right, who for 20 years was a member of the Aman International Folk Ensemble and has performed all over America and the Middle East.
For more information: www.myspace.com/saadounalbayati
Yassir Chadly, Bouchaib Abdelhadi and Ensemble
Yassir Chadly has been performing traditional Moroccan music since 1972, first in his native Morocco and then in the United States since 1977. His musical expression ranges from the melodic love songs of the Magreb and Egyptian traditions, to the powerful rhythms of the religious music of the Gnawa, the Sufi musicians originally from sub-Saharan Africa. His varied instruments include the oud (lute), the guenbri (a three-stringed bass-like instrument made from a camel neck), qarqabas (metal clackers from which the castanets are derived), bender, darbukkah, and taarija (percussion instruments native to Morocco). Yassir is well known as an inspired storyteller of the Sufi tradition in addition to his talents as a musician. He has recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston, Stephen Kent, and Steve Coleman. He is featured on two recent Omar Sosa recordings, Prietos and Sentir, and has performed with Mr. Sosa since 2001. Yassir has participated in other collaborative projects with Alonzo King, including Heart Song (2003) for the Ailvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Salt (2005) with the North Carolina Dance Theater, and Ocean (1994) and The Moroccan Project (2005) with LINES Ballet. He is also an Associate Professor at the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA where he teaches courses on Islam and Sufism.
For more information: www.yassirchadly.com
Bouchaib Abdelhadi
Bouchaib Abdelhadi, a native of Casablanca, Morocco, has had a distinguished musical career on both sides of the Atlantic. As leader of the Orchestre Abdelhadi, he performed throughout the Kingdom of Morocco in the 1980's. Since coming to the United States in the early 1990's, Bouchaib has been much sought out as a multi-instrumentalist (oud, Moroccan violin, percussion) and as a vocalist in Middle Eastern and North African traditions such as al-ÿqa (Andalusian), Gnawa (Sufi trance), and Chaabi ("popular"). Recent career highlights include collaborating in 2002 with Pharoah Sanders on music for Alonzo King's LINES Ballet Company, and live performances range from a US tour with Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa in 2002 to a performance with Stephen Kent and Trance Mission in 2001, and from playing at the 1998 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and and collaborating on The Moroccan Project (2005) with LINES Ballet. Bouchaib played with DJ Cheb i Sabbah on the album La Kahena, and in addition to traditional Moroccan music performance he enjoys working with artists from diverse musical traditions such as Hindustani, jazz, and rock.
Cherif Triki
Born in North Africa, Triki was raised in the capital of Tunisia, Tunis. He emigrated to the bay area in 1998. Influenced throughout his life by cultural and international music, Triki is now following his dreams of making music. In 2005 he hooked up with a Tunisian group called 216. He decided to go solo and take himself to another level. As a solo artist he is able to express his mind through powerful songs. He writes most of his lyrics.
For more information: http://www.myspace.com/trikimusic
Qaba'el Al-Yemen (Tribes of Yemen) Folkloric Troupe
Yemeni folk dancing is linked closely to the daily activities of its people, their customs and religious occasions, also involving other occasions, such as weddings, giving birth, welcoming guest tribes, celebrating victories or preparing for imminent war. Such social conditions form the background and framework of each type of dance, its rhythms and movements, and also ensure the continuation of these dances. The bara'a or jambiyya (dagger) dance, a martial dance which originated in preparation for battle and is now a symbol of national identity and cultural pride, is one of the most well-known Yemeni folk dances. It is performed throughout all regions of Yemen, with local variations in costuming and rhythms. The music, four different rhythms played on a large drum called the ta'sa, ends with a fast rhythm signifying fighting capability and the fighters' utmost readiness to carry their weapons and go to battle. Performed by men, the bara'a is a display of bravery, virility and unity. Tribes of Yemen is a local group of young people who are committed to sharing Yemeni culture throughout the Bay Area.
Ajyal (Generations)
The Musicians of Ajyal:
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 muwashshahat 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 joined the acclaimed UCLA Near East Music Ensemble. In 1993 Zedan became a founding member of 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. He works with numerous local and national Arabic music ensembles. www.faisalzedan.com
Originally from Damsacus, Syria, Nazir Latouf has been a cornerstone of Arabic music in San Francisco since his arrival here in 1979. Coming from a musical family, he trained extensively in both oud and accordion in Syria, and has worked as a touring and studio musician in Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, and Egypt, and also worked as a musician in Syrian radio and television. Since relocating to the Bay Area three decades ago, he has graced the stages of numberless San Francisco nightclub and theater stages, performing with local and touring Arabic musicians and sharing his vast repertory of song and music.
Born in Iraq, Husain Resan is a Bay Area composer, musician and singer. He began studied oud at Baghdad's Bayt al-Fann school and joined its music ensemble at the age of 16. He continued his studies of violin at San Francisco's City College. In addition to playing violin, oud and bass, he is also an accomplished vocalist and performs with San Francisco's Aswat ensemble, recently presenting the debut of his composition Wajhun min al-Madi at their winter concert. He also performs with a number of other local ensembles such as the Georges Lammam Ensemble and Layyali Sharq.
Susu Pampanin has explored and studied all types of percussion instruments and styles of music, and her incredible talent is especially evident in her work in Middle Eastern drumming. Susu is well known for her virtuosity in Arabic drumming and is one of the few female Middle Eastern drummers highly respected by the Arabic professional music community. She has worked and recorded with fusion ensembles including Wild Mango, Keith Terry and Crosspulse, Stellamara, Jazayer, Blue Nile, and Vince Delgado Quintet. Her first CD, Susu and the Cairo Cats, is known and loved by belly dancers throughout the world. Hands of Time is her most recent solo CD.
Past Festivals
