Comments on: Music From the Heart

By: zeno

zeno — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:22:28 +0000

PS.

“Sally Beamish’s new song cycle is inspired by the bird and animal poems of the 14th-century Sufi mystic known as Hafez, and has been devised in collaboration with the Iranian-born visual artist Jila Peacock.” …

http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,2191120,00.html

By: zeno

zeno — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:19:09 +0000

Thanks for the heads-up, Michael, that Marcel Khalife will be performing at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on Nov 1 and 2 (the second date nominally is already sold out). I’m going to try to fit in the Thursday evening performance, though I presently have a professional engagement that night. Thanks also for the Arabic music documentary recommendations.

I don’t know Anouar Brahem’s work on ECM, but will firmly keep the name in mind. In the back of my mind is the ECM celebratory volume that Pliable (in the U.K.) mentioned a week or so back. I see that the large book apparently includes a “statement” by Amouar Brahem:

http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2007/10/horizons-touched-music-of-ecm.html

(I am including pliable’s link because the ECM link looks to long to copy and paste here).

Thanks again for the recommendations.

By: Michael McDonagh

Michael McDonagh — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:01:47 +0000

Dear Zeno Thanks for sweet comments on my piece. Marcel Khalife and co. are doing 2 DC dates . http://www.marcelkhalife.com has full tour schedule. Thanks also for Dhafer Youssef info. Very nice site. Do you know Anouar Brahem’s work on ECM? Think you’d like Florence Strauss’ doc on Arabic music, Between Two Notes, and Paul Smaczny’s doc Knowledge Is The Beginning: Daniel Barenboim and The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which I wrote up for http://www.culturevulture.net. Best Best MMCD

By: zeno

zeno — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:00:45 +0000

Based upon your review, Mr McDonagh, I look forward to hearing Marcel Khalife and his ensemble live — hopefully soon.

Two weeks ago, I heard the Tunisian-born Islamic singer and oud virtuoso Dhafer Youssef, now based in Vienna, Austria after a stint in NYC, perform at the Library of Congress with a ensemble of leading New York and London (and Tokyo) new music/’jazz’ performers. I don’t know whether the West Coast was on this tour, or whether you might have heard Mr Dhafer earlier in New York City. He was exceptionally charismatic, and well worth experiencing live. [The Library of Congress concert was co-sponsored by the Embassy of Austria.]

http://www.dhaferyoussef.com/

[memo item to david toub]:

Alfred Hertz, after whom the fine U.C. Berkeley Performance Hall is named, was the second conductor of the San Francisco Symphony [1915 to 1930]. He was a liberal who hired women players for the San Francisco Symphony, helped classical musicians suffering during the Great Depression, introduced classical music on the radio, and donated funds for the Berkeley Performance Hall and for musician scholarships. [He was partially crippled by polio after his birth in Frankfurt, Gemany.]

http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/hertz.html