Monthly Archives: April 2012

Event recommendation: Escape Route curated by Jesse Cesario at the Port Authority.

Text by Jim Hoey
It’s always exciting to see artists on the streets of New York operating in one way or another, oblivious to all distractions, tuning all the dissonances of the city out as they stand focused and charged with their creation. It happens in Central Park all the time, a wide bush blossoms in the Spring or a bird lands on a rock and an artist with his easel sets up and begins drawing, and slowly a crowd gathers to enjoy the image evolving from life. Or in Williamsburg somewhere, you’ve got 2 painters in overalls reaching, dangling, off of stepladders, brushing an advertisement on the side of a red-brick wall, thick paint waves going up in multi-hued patterns as the day drifts by on a hazy summer afternoon.

Recently I came across Jesse Cesario in the same way, (curator for the Camera Club of NYC and Fashion Center BID), on 39th and Broadway, doing something (illicit, possibly), putting some flyers or stickers on a newspaper box, covering up the AmNew York, or Village Voice, or Gotham Writers pages with his own images of fashion and style around the Garment District.

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Recommended Event: 2012 Festival International de Louisiane (USA)

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Where: Lafayette, Louisana
Date: April 25 – 29, 2012

The Festival International de Louisiane is an annual  free to the public music and arts festival held in Lafayette, Louisiana celebrating the French heritage of the region. Drawing about 300,000 attendees. The festival was first held in 1987 and has become very popular, attracting musicians, artists, and craftsmen from around the world.

This year’s  highlights are: Cheikh Lô, Slavic Soul Party!, Khaira Arby, Seun Kuti & Eqypt 80, Gary Clark Jr., Bombino, Beats Antique, Radio Radio, Téada, and of course Lafayette’s Cajun and Zydeco music.

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Concert review: Simon Shaheen – The Call, Songs of Arab Pride, Dignity and Liberation!

Date: April 10, 2012
Location: CUNY Graduate Center/ Live@365 World Music Series, presented by Elebash, curated by Isabel Soffer
Reviewed by Brian Prunka
Simon Shaheen is well-known among Arabic music enthusiasts as one of the most gifted living performers on the oud, the fretless near-eastern antecedent to the lute and as a superb violinist.  For several decades he has worked tirelessly to increase awareness and understanding among Western musicians and audiences of the rich Arabic musical tradition, and encouraged Arab musicians to embrace their musical heritage. I became aware of Simon in the late 1990s when I first began learning the oud, and learned of the annual Arabic Music Retreat that he directs each summer.  Simon and his colleagues, such as Ali Jihad Racy and Bassam Saba, introduced to me and countless others the remarkable depth and richness of the Arabic Tradition.  While my opinions on this performance may not be wholly objective, I hope that my intimate familiarity with the playing styles of the musicians will compensate to some degree for that deficiency.

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Music listings – 4/16 through 4/22

1. The New York Arabic Orchestra – Spring Concert And Fund Raiser

Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Time: 8:00pm
Venue: Florence Gould Hall (of the French Institute Alliance Française, 55 E 59th St, NY, NY 10022)
Tickets: Ticketmaster.com
Genre: Arabic Classical music

The New York Arabic Orchestra is the home of contemporary and classical Arabic music in America. The orchestra, based in the New York metropolitan area, is an Arabic music institution of performance and education co-founded in 2007 by Bassam Saba, a world renowned multi-instrumentalist virtuoso, conductor and teacher of Arabic music; and April Centrone, the orchestra’s lead percussionist. The orchestra brings together a culturally diverse group of musicians around a common passion: Arabic Music.

The 35-piece New York Arabic Orchestra presents contemporary instrumental compositions by Bassam Saba, along with selections of Arabic vocal and instrumental music of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. The NYAO is comprised of the oud (Arabic lute), nay (Arabic reed flute), qanun (Arabic zither), Arabic percussion, strings, woodwinds, lead vocalists and chorus. Known throughout the U.S. and abroad as one of Arabic music’s finest conductors, Bassam Saba has led the NYAO to prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and has developed an authentic sound that is regarded around the world.

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Recommended YouTube video: Samurai Hip Hop

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Thirty years in Japan didn’t teach me what Samurai culture is about. After studying, practising Kendo and becoming a high rank Kendo-ka I found out that there is no Samurai culture in Japanese everyday life.  A couple of days ago I heard that Kendo is taught again as a school subject at Japanese public schools. Why I don’t know. Maybe  there are some people there who still believe that Kendo could be taught in a democratic fashion and could be an educational tool to make (young) Japanese aware of their roots. Maybe this video could be helpful as well.