The Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble will present a wide range of classics at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, in the Performing Arts Center for its fall concert.
A suite will open the program with the instrumental “dulab” and “samai” genres rooted in the Ottoman Empire. Vocal pieces will follow, including “Yamurru `Ujban” (He Passes by Uncannily), an example of the “muwashshah” genre which arose in 10th-century Andalusia, and in this case features a 32-beat metric mode.
A much-loved contemporary song from Morocco will also be performed, as well as an esteemed piece from Greece and megahits from Egypt and Lebanon. Instrumental improvisation will be interspersed throughout the show.
Celebrated composers, poets and artists to be represented on the program include Abdelhadi Belkhayat, Abdelkader Wahbi, Ali Haddani, Badi` Khayri, Fairuz, Fakhri al-Barudi, Haralambos Vasiliadis, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Omar al-Batsh, Sayyid Darwish, Tatyos Efendi, the Rahbani Brothers, and Yiannis Stamoulis.
Nationally acclaimed guest artists will join the ensemble, including Ishmael on qanun (zither), Rafid Yalda on nay (reed flute), and Faisal Zedan on riqq (tambourine), daff (frame drum) and darbukka (goblet drum).
San Luis Obispo dance director Jenna Mitchell will lead the dance troupe in original choreography that dialogues with the music in an ongoing collaboration that began shortly after the founding of the Arab Music Ensemble in 2006.
The Arab Music Ensemble is an orchestra and choir with vocal and instrumental soloists. Its membership represents a wide range of majors on campus and professions off campus.
