133 Greene Street, NeYork,
NeYork 10012
Tel: 212.260.4014 Fax: (212) 477-4535
The Pomegranate Gallery presents Safaafir
Friday June 16, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.
The Pomegranate Gallery and the Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts are proud to present a performance by Safaafir in celebration of their first CD release, featuring:
Amir El Saffar: santur and vocals
Dena El Saffar: joza, violin and vocals
Tim Moore: percussion and vocals
Johnny Farraj: riqq and vocals
The
Maqam of Iraq
Maqam is the urban classical vocal tradition of Iraq. Found
primarily in the cities of Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Basra, the maqam repertoire draws upon musical
styles of the many populations in Iraq, sucas the Bedouins, rural Arabs,
Kurds, and Turkmen, as well as neighboring Persians, Turks, and other
populations that have had extensive contact witIraq throughout history. The
use of the word maqam in Iraq is
distinct from its use in the rest of the Arab world and Turkey, where the term
refers to a musical mode on whiccompositions and improvisations are based. In
Iraq, maqam refers to the composition
itself, eacof whicis a semi-improvised musical recitation of poetry,
performed within a formal structure that governs the use of melodies,
structure, rhythm, and poetic genre.
Safaafir is a name that evokes the ancient art of
coppersmithing in Iraq. Soug al-Safaafir,
or “the coppersmiths' market,” is a well-known market in Baghdad, memorable for
the din of hammers on copper and the glowing beauty of eaccreation. The sound
of the Iraqi Maqam - the timbre of the joza and santur and the hammering of
ancient rhythms - has often been likened to the Soug al-Safaafir. Amir and Dena El Saffar, brother and sister, come
from a lineage of coppersmiths (saffar
is the singular of safaafir), and
their ancestor's legacy has also inspired the music that they perform. Witthe
release of its first CD, "Maqams of Baghdad," Safaafir is bringing
the gift of this intricate vocal tradition to the ears of Americans, Iraqis,
and others, breathing nelife into the music of old, against the backdrop of
the 21st century.
Amir El Saffar (Santur, Vocals) was
born in 1977 near Chicago, Illinois to an Iraqi immigrant father and an
American mother. From a young age, Amir was exposed to a wide array of cultural
influences that have affected him throughout his musical career. In 2001, Amir,
already an established Jazz and Classical trumpet player, began to delve into a
completely different musical tradition, that of his ancestral past, the Iraqi
Maqam. This Classical music form, whichas fesurviving masters, is one of
the most sophisticated and complex traditional music forms of the Middle East.
In 2002, Amir set out on a journey that took him to Iraq as well as several
other countries throughout the Middle East and Europe, where he encountered
masters of the Iraqi Maqam, sucas Hamid al-Saadi, Baher al-Rajab, and Farida
Mohammed Ali and her ensemble, as well as masters of various other Middle
Eastern musical styles. From these teachers, Amir learned to sing the Maqam and
to play the santur, a hammered-dulcimer that is native to Iraq, and has nomastered a significant portion of the repertoire. Over the past two years, he
has performed, solo and withis ensemble, nationally and abroad, in NeYork,
Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Bloomington, IN, Montreal, Cairo, Beirut, and London.
Hamid al-Saadi, Amir's teacher, who is one of the leading Maqam singers in
Iraq, regards Amir as one of the important carriers of this tradition in his
generation, and has said "Amir is a great addition to the Maqam…he is
preserving the true essence of this music."
Dena El Saffar (Violin, Jowza) of Iraqi and American
heritage, was exposed to Arabic music in the suburbs of Chicago, where she greup attending Iraqi gatherings wither family. She began learning the violin at
the age of six. At age 17, completely engaged in classical music, she
accompanied her father to Baghdad and became enchanted by the music of Iraq and
the Middle East. In 1993, while obtaining a classical music degree from Indiana
University, she founded the group Salaam, a Middle Eastern music ensemble whichas performed throughout the United States. She has studied witHamid Al-Saadi
and Munis Sharifov and has performed witthe Master Musicians of Jajouka and
Youssou N'dour. Dena, who plays the viola, violin, djoze and kemanche, has also
performed witsalsa groups, bluegrass, blues and rock bands. She is the older
sister of Amir, is married to percussionist Tim Moore, and is the mother of
two: Jamil and Layla.
Tim Moore (Percussion) greup in the Midwest, and
began playing drums at the age of 12. He studied drumming throughout higschool and college, gaining experience as a percussionist in a variety of
genres including jazz, blues, salsa and rock. A degree in Computer Science from
IU brought him to the East and West coasts as a computer programmer, but in
1993 he began to pursue a music career. His drumming took on greater diversity,
learning rhythms and instruments from around the world, and eventually bringing
his focus to Middle Eastern percussion, whiche has played witSalaam since
1997. Tim plays the dumbek, riqq, naqqarat and bendir, tabl and zanbur as well
as drum set and guitar.
Johnny Farraj (Riqq) studied the riq (Egyptian
tambourine) and frame drum witKarim Nagi and Fairuz's percussionist Michel
Merhej. He also studied the oud witSimon Shaheen and Bassam Saba, and
classical Arabic singing witRima Khcheicand Youssef Kassab. As a
percussionist he has performed witSimon Shaheen/Qantrara (Symphony Space) and
recorded on the soundtrack of the play "9 Parts of Desire" by Heather
Raffo. Johnny has performed and given lecture demonstrations in universities
and museums throughout the US and Canada, and has taken part in several fusion
collaborations involving classical Indian, Persian and Jazz. Johnny has
created the maqamworld.com http://maqamworld.com web site to
teacclassical Arabic music (maqam) theory. Johnny was born and raised in
Beirut from a Palestinian family.
For more info, please visit ww.amirelsaffar.com <http://ww.amirelsaffar.com>
This event is supported in part by the Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural organization created to fund original artistic expressions that promote a greater cultural understanding of the Middle East, thereby fostering peace and hope around the world. The Foundation has already supported a number of Middle Eastern writers and poets by bringing their translated works to an American audience.
Suggested
Donation for this event is $15.