Tags: accc | arts | culture | festival

Arab Cultural Festival Greets Record Number of Guests

October 1, 2011

The ACCC presented our 17^th Annual Arab Cultural Festival on Saturday and we were delighted to see a record number of attendees: an estimated 15,000 people came to Union Square for performances, food, handicrafts and fellowship!

The festival’s booth bazaar was also record breaking. We had more vendors this year than ever before, and their wares represented a full spectrum of Arab handicrafts, from I <3 My Homeland tee shirts to hand-painted calligraphic works. Vendors represented countries as diverse as Palestine, Lebanon, the Sudan, Syria and more, in addition to those offering Arab products and services. Our food vendors came from across the Bay Area to sell delicious Arab food like falafel sandwiches, kibbe, shawarma and fatayer, plus a full selection of delectable deserts.

At the center of the square, attendees were treated to an amazing show with performances ranging from traditional to contemporary Arab music. Alsarah and the Nubatones opened the show with a stirring rendition of Nubian and Sudanese songs of return, presented with a contemporary twist. Then Syrian-American Hip Hop artist Omar Offendum rallied the crowd with his beats. The audience was moved by the talents of Al-Juthoor at dabke, a dance they both as an art form and as a political message. Naser Musa, Faisal Zedan and company took the audience on a lyrical tour from the Gulf to Palestine, and Salma Habib closed the festival with a set of contemporary and traditional Arab songs that got the whole crowd dancing – quite a feat with 15,000 people in attendance!