Thanks to everyone who came to the show.  It was nice to see the audience enjoying the music so much.  And, it was impressive to see people who knew the show had sold out coming in hopes reserved seats would open up.  We're happy for those of you who could get in.

The reaction to last night and December's shows indicate that Kan Zaman needs to move to larger venues.  We have some in mind.  Current thoughts look towards September and December, and we're thinking Cal State Fullerton and the Duarte Performing Arts Center.  Sufficient seats, state of the art sound, ample parking and nice facilities.  

 Set 1

1. Wasla in Maqam Nahawand Farahfaza – G minor)

Sama'i Farahfaza – Camil Beh Tanburi (1873-1916)

Muwashshah: Ramani bi-Sahmi Hawah – Daoud Husni (1870-1937) - (13/4)Taqsim & Mawwal by Sam Masoudi

Muwashshah: Lamma bada

2.       Darit-l Ayyam - M. Abdel Wahab for Umm Kalthum (1907-1975)

3.       Ya Salat El-Zayn – Zakariya Ahmad (1892-1962)

4.       El hayat hilwa – Farid al Atrash (1910-1974) (Musa Nasser vocals)

5.       'ud taqsim in Bayyati by Sami Khoury (Special guest artist)

6.       Darj Bayyati Arabi

7.       Hadityat el Eid – M. Abdel Wahab (1907-1991)

Set 2

1. Wasla in Maqam Hijazkar Kurd

Sama'i hijazkar kurd – Nadim Darwish (1926-1987)

Muwashshah: Ghazel Turki

Muwashshah: Tiff ya durri – Sayyid Darwish (1892-1923) - (13/8)

Ya dhal qawam

2. Ahu dalli sar – Sayyid Darwish

3. Balad al-Mahbub – M. Abdel Wahab

4 Shufti Habibi – Mohmad Abdel Muttelib - (Adel Mansour vocals)

5. Habibi Nur 'Einayya – Wadi' al-Safi - (Tony Nicolas vocals)

6. Ya Umm al Dhafayir – Wadi' al-Safi - (Tony Nicolas vocals)

7. Ana Albi layk mayyal – Faiza Ahmad - (Gamal Gomaa – Special Guest Vocalist)

8. Innabi (Gamal Gomaa – Karem Mahmoud - Special Guest Vocalist)

9. Egyptian folk medley on mizmar & tabl baladi

10. Jordanian folk piece on mizmar – (impromptu, not part of program.)

Thank you to everyone who came.  I'm sure you agree it was a good, intimate theater, although it was a good thing we chose some place with a higher seat capacity than usual since we would have had to turn more than a hundred people away if we had been at Cal Poly or Barnsdall.

First Half:

1. Wasla in Rahat al Arwah

Huzam sama'i - M. 'Abdo Saleh

'ud taqsim by Afif Ta'ian

Ya Ba'id-l Dari - muwashshah by Zakariya Ahmad

Ya Nahif-l Qawam - muwashshah qadim

Lahdak Wasnan - muwashshah by Kamel al Khula'i (1879-1938)

2. El Wardi Gamil - taqtuqa by Zakaria Ahmad (1892-1923), started with mawwal by Sam Mas'udi and 'ud taqsim by Peter Refela.

3. Darit-l Ayyam - Mohammad 'Abdel Wahab (1907-1991) for Umm Kalthum (1901-1972)

-  set of traditional Turkish music by Soul of Anatolia -

4. Mabruk - Ahmad Fuad Hassan

5. 'Al Zira'iya - Egyptian folksong

Second Half:

-  set of Persian classical improv on tar by Sahba Motallebi -

Kan Zaman with Abboud Bashir

1. Wasla in maqam Hijaz

Hijaz sama'i - Mohammed Abdo

Ya Ghusayna'l Ban - muwashshah by Sayyid Darwish (1892-1923)

Ma'htiyali - muwashshah

Ya Fatina-l Ghuzlan - muwashshah

2. Quddud wasla in maqam Hijaz

Ya Warida 'al 'ein

Qaddukal Mayyas

Haru-l 'awazil

3. Wasla in maqam Rast

Ahinnu shawqan

mawwal

y tayra tiri

ya mal al Sham

There are pictures of the show posted. Thanks to Lee Varis for taking and sharing the photos.  Also, more concert photos and a short video clip of Sahbra Motallebi's performance can by found at ParsTimes.com.  (Qumars, khayli mamnun!)

Abboud Bashir is a master of singing muwashshahat, mawwal, and dore.  He began learning Quranic recitation at age six and studied under masters such as Nadim Darwish, Bahjat Hasaan, Abdel Qader Haj-jar, Abdel Ruhman Mudaal-lal and Mohamad Qadri Ad-dal-lal.  Bashir's first recognition as an accomplished vocalist came in 1983 when he was invited to appear on Da-erat al dhu (a program on Syrian national television that spotlights artists), and he has continued to appear on television and satellite giving performances and interviews ever since.  Already performing through the Middle East and Mediterranean, in 1989 Bashir was invited by film director Mustafa Akkad to tour the US, performing in a number of major cities.  He would return annually for the next ten years.  Our sound clips now include recordings of waslat in Kurd and Rast from the Fall 1999 concert at Occidental College. 

A key aspect of the performance is the energy between the singer and the audience.  As Bashir describes it "This idea is to warm up the audience with something slow, and build up, build up until you reach that point of reaction."  (See "Singer takes group to new level" by Sonia Fernandez, Goleta Village Voice, Nov. 24–30, p. 3.)

Soul of Anatolia is the meeting of veteran musicians with a vision of performing the traditional music of the numerous ethnic groups in Asia Minor.  Emin Bozkurt began studying baglama at age 12 with Musa Eroghu; was a member of Bogazici Conservatory's Folk Music Group in Istanbul; and has performed in cultural festivals across Turkey and in Southern California.  Okay Cihaner performed with various groups in Ankara; and since arriving in Los Angeles this September, has performed numerous events - including an enthusiastically received solo ney performance for the Turkish Republic Ball at the Queen Mary - and appeared on 'Hafla World Dance'.  Sako Sahagian, a multi-instrumentalist, brings decades of experience playing clubs in Dearborn-Detroit and Los Angeles.  Donovan Lerman became interested in Arabic and West Asian percussion in his late 20s, was a founding member of Youm it Talaata, performs around Los Angeles and manages Iqaat.com, compiling information on Arabic and West Asian musical events in Southern California.

Thank you to all who came to our concert this past Saturday.  We have been touched by the many kind emails that have come in. 

We are grateful to Mr. Saadoun Al-Bayati and his daughter for gracing the stage for a number of amazing Iraqi songs and kindly forgiving our enthusiastic inability not to play and sing along with them.  We loved it.  Many emails show we were not alone.  There are thoughts to co-ordinate a more involved exploration of Iraqi music in a future concert with Mr. Al-Bayati.  In the meantime, you can hear samples of his beautiful CD at www.SaadounAl-Bayati.com.

Performance:

1. Wasla in maqam 'ajam (G major)
'Ajam sama'i - instr by 'Adnan 'Abul Shama
Taqsim - 'ud (by 'Afif Ta'ian)
Mawwal (by Rashed Khzam)
'Ajam sama'i - instr intro by 'Ali Darwish (1884-1952)
Ya malikan minni fu'adi - muwashshah qadim
Man li sabbin -muwashshah qadim
Ayqaza-l hobbu fu'adi - muwashshah by Bahjat Hassan

Til'it ya mahla nurha - taqtuqa by Sayyid Darwish (1892-1923)
Hala lala layya - song by the Rahbani brothers for Fairuz

2. Tuta - instr by Farid Al-Atrach (1910-1974)
3. Wajhak mushriq - dawr by Mohammad 'Uthman (1855-1900)
4. Ya ward 'ala fulli w'yasmin - taqtuqa by Sayyid Darwish (1892-1923)
5. Qamar luh layali - taqtuqa by Daoud Hussny (1870-1937)
6. Gharib-l dar - 'atifi by Abdo Srugi (feat Michael Kamel)
7. Raqsat bint al-'Arab - instr dance by Sayyid Mohammad
8. Ya reem wadi thaqif - Khaliji (Gulf) style song by Najah Salam

Second Half
1. Wasla in maqam Nahawand (C minor)
Nahawand sama'i - instr by Yousef Pasha
Avaz (vocal improv by Rahman Baranghoori w/Wa'el Kakish on buzuq)
Nahawand sirto - instr by Camil Bey Tanburi
Layali (vocal improv by Sam Masoudi)
Nahawand sama'i - instr by 'Ali Darwish (1884-1952)
Subhana man sawwar - muwashshah by 'Omar Al-Batch (1855-1938)
Qum ya nadim - muwashshah by Nadim Darwish
Zaha fi khaddayka - muwashshah by Kamel Khula'i (1879-1938)

2. 'Es'al 'alaya - 'atifi song by Layla Murad (feat Nevin Rofail)
3. Khatwat habibi - instr piece by Mohammad 'Abdel Wahab (1907-1991)
4. A medley of Iraqi songs by Special Guest Saadoun Al-Bayati
5. Eqyptian & Jordanian folk songs on Mizmar & Tabl baladi

There are a limited number of song books from the concert left over. These contain the lyrics in the original Arabic, then a transliteration into the Latin alphabet (based on which pronounciations/dialect we thought most appropriate to the piece), and finally a translation of the text into English.  On the facing page is presented the music we ourselves used to recreate the songs - sometimes found only in written format, at others created by listening to often warped or scratchy recordings.

As you will notice, several pieces were by Turkish composers living and working in Syria and Egypt during the Ottoman Empire.  As you may also notice, although this organization was founded to and focuses on preserving Arabic music, we have begun exploring the patrimony from and interactions with Persian traditional music.  To view our work as preserving an authentic Arabic music (or at least what we can find of it post-colonial contact, since this was an orally transmitted music), in no way ignores the historically known influences of the Greeks, or Mesopotamians and Egyptians before them, much less the cross-pollination of influences through trade networks, the free travel engendered under the concept of the Dar-l-Islam or under the Ottoman Empire.  In that spirit we are very happy to have been able to include the beautiful Turco-Armenian style clarinet taqsim by our Mr. Sako Sahagian within a piece of Turkish origin which nevertheless, as a genre, made it's way into Arabic music.