Upcoming Events

Zikrayat is very proud to present two powerful guest artists for this premiere show at Le Poisson Rouge, soulful and beautiful vocalist Salma Marjieh, performing with Zikrayat for the first time; and virtuosic master percussionist Faisal Zedan, visiting from California. (Also featuring the full Zikrayat ensemble with lead vocalist Salah Rajab, along with dancers; Dameshe, Yowalka, Sherine, Mariyah and Jaida!)

Friday January 15th, 8pm-10pm (doors open at 7pm)
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker St, New York, NY
$15 advance /$20 at the door

Zikrayat’s last several shows have sold out, so we’ve moved to a bigger venue! buy tickets in advance here:
http://lepoissonrouge.com/events/view/897

Zikrayat at (le) Poisson Rouge

About Salma Marjieh:
Vocalist Salma Khshaiboon Marjieh began her musical career at the age of seven, singing and dancing on stage. As an adult she hosted a television show for children in Palestine for nine years and a daily radio show for seven years while also singing, dancing, and acting for adult and children’s audiences. Since coming to the United States, she has performed with Simon Shaheen and his ensemble in numerous concerts across theUnited States, and recently made her debut with Bassam Saba and the New York Arabic Orchestra in a concert produced by the World Music Institute at Symphony Space. Salma hosts a television show for Arab-Americans on ART America entitled “Min America.”

About Faisal Zedan:
San Francisco-based percussionist Faisal Zedan, born in 1972 in oum D’Baib, Syria, grew up impassioned with the derbakki. At the age of 15, after intensive study with a local drummer, Faisal embarked on a journey of learning through exposure to a wide repertoire of Arabic classical and contemporary music, and since then has become a master of the derbakki as well as the riqq and tar (frame drum). Upon arriving in California in 1992, he met UCLA’s noted professor of ethnomusicology, Dr. Ali Jihad Racy, and was then invited to join the acclaimed UCLA Near East Music Ensemble. In 1993, Faisal co-founded the Near East music group, Kan Zaman. Along with Donovan Lerman, Faisal is also a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Youm It Talaata percussion group. Since 1996 Faisal has taught at the Middle East Music Camp in Mendocino,California, and he also conducts workshops annually at the Kosmos Camp. Currently Faisal is a member of Eliyahu & Qadim, Stellamara, Kan Zaman and ASWAT, and in 2009 founded and directs a new group, Ajyal.

The Art of Drum Solo Improvisation: Master Class with Faisal and Mariyah

Saturday, January 16, 2010
2:00pm - 4:00pm
440 Studios
440 Lafayette St, 3rd & 4th Floors

An improvised drum solo is the exciting culmination of a traditional bellydance show! This workshop will reveal the elements of dancing an improvised solo with a live drummer.

Topics will include:

- Components and typical rhythms of a bellydance drum solo and movements and variations that the you can use to illustrate these rhythms with your body.

- Odd meters, combinations of basic beats that make new beats, and how to develop a feeling for these various rhythms and approach them in your solo.

- Relationship and communication between the dancer and drummer during performance (what dancers and drummers want from each other during performance).

- The ability to improvise with structure. Develop a sense of pacing, ebb and flow of energy and a balance of grace, fire and subtlety.

$40 advance / $50 at the door
Purchase Advance registration here:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=10901737

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TO VIEW THE COMBINED ARTISTRY OF FAISAL AND MARIYAH CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW (drum solo toward the end of the video….)

Zikrayat has been added to the Touring Artists’ Roster of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD), which will handle bookings to performing arts centers and universities across the U.S. For more information, or to contact CTMD about booking Zikrayat, visit our page here.  CTMD will be presenting Zikrayat in a showcase for the Association of Performing Artist Presenters (APAP) on Friday, January 8th, 2010, at Alwan.

Several Zikrayat members will be performing with vocalist Salma Marjieh in her solo debut at Alwan on Friday, December 11th, including Sami Abu Shumays, Tareq Abboushi, and Johnny Farraj.  For more details about the show, and to buy advance tickets, visit here.

Zikrayat is hosting a holiday party and belly-dance showcase at Je’Bon on Wednesday, December 16th, featuring guest dancers Tarik Sultan and Belly-dance Superstar Hannah Nour; details here.

Alwan for the Arts, in conjunction with Zikrayat, presents:

Egypt in the Golden Age - Music, Dance, and Film

Saturday, November 7, 2009
9:00 p.m. (doors open at 8:30)

Tickets: $15.00, available at the door or online here (use printout as your ticket): https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8763014

For more details on the event visit: http://www.alwanforthearts.org/event/409
Info: (646) 732-3261 or info@alwanforthearts.org

On Sept. 13th Zikrayat performed for the opening of R&B superstar Alicia Keys VMA Awards afterparty at Kush Lounge! A host of celebrities were on hand including Dennis Hopper and many more. We here that Alicia was extremely happy with the performance!

Zikrayat has been invited to perform at this unique festival celebrating the artistic diversity of Queens. The festival is Sunday, September 13th. Zikrayat performs at 3pm.

Visit the festival’s page on Facebook to see the full line-up:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Queens-County-Folk-Festival/151613496912

We’re proud to present 6 new videos, available on Zikrayat’s YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/zikrayatmusic

Zikrayat Presents: Ish-Showq Mihayyarni

Zikrayat Presents:

A Multi-Media Tribute to the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema

Thursday, June 4th, 2009, 8:00pm

Galapagos Art Space 718.222.8500 www.galapagosartspace.com
16 Main Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Tickets: $12 advance, $15 door

To conclude its 2008-09 performance season, Zikrayat once again presents its popular multi-media tribute to the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema, at the stage of Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn.  The acclaimed production, not shown since its premiere in May 2008 at the CUNY Graduate Center, features large scale video projection of clips and montages from Egyptian movie musicals of the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, synched with live performance.

Music Director Sami Shumays and Dance Director Robin Shumays collaborate to honor the amazing talent of the era.  Drawing upon its rich repertory, artists Farid el-Atrash, Naima Akif, Taheya Karioca, Fayza Ahmed, and many others, are brought to life on screen, while Zikrayat’s performers take the audience through a historical tour of mid-20th Century Egyptian Song and Dance, focusing especially on the decade of the 1950’s, when these art forms were in a dynamic process of transitioning from traditional to modern forms, in tandem with Egypt’s movements toward independence and a redefinition of national identity.

With equal parts sound, performance, and cinema, mixing flawless classical music, original compositions, inspiring improvisations and enchanting Middle Eastern dance, Zikrayat (2008 Independent Music Awards “Vox Populi” winner) recalls the variety-show character of musical theater and portrays the breadth of Arabic music and dance.

Special guest artists include master percussionist Faisal Zedan, returning from California, and renowned Egyptian Folkloric and Oriental dancer Mohamed Shahin.  Zedan, a virtuoso of the derbakki, riqq and tar, is a founding member of the UCLA Near East Music Ensemble and the Los Angeles-based Youm It Talaata percussion group.  Mohamed Shahin has performed and taught in Brazil, South Korea, Malaysia, Greece, Turkey, South Africa, Lebanon, Russia, Colombia, Cyprus and the in the USA.   His expertise includes all styles of Egyptian dance, including Tanoura (Whirling Dervish) and Saidi Tahtib.

For press tickets please contact Artist Manager Meredith Blouin at merblouin@zikrayatmusic.com or by phone at 954-937-0175.

“Their aesthetic leaves no sense untouched” - Ins and Outs Magazine

“This duo and ensemble is breathing new life in the performances of Arabic Music and Dance in the United States.”- The National Arab Times

“Shumays has become a renowned musician”- Aramica

Arabic Music Classes (Maqam)
taught by Sami Abu Shumays of Zikrayat

Mondays 7:30-9:00pm
May 4, 11, 18, June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, July 6
(no class May 25th Memorial Day)
Rates:
$15/class; $50 for 4 classes;
$100 for all 9 classes.

(students may attend classes on a drop-in basis, and are not required to attend all 9 in the session)

@  Joria Productions
www.joriaproductions.com
260 W. 36th Street (7th/8th),
3rd floor

Classes open to people with any level of music experience.  Sami leads the class in singing or playing melodies in a particular Maqam (Arabic melodic mode, similar to Raga in Indian Music).  Students imitate in a call-and-response fashion on their preferred instrument, or by singing, learning the building blocks of Arabic music in a way similar to how people learn language, by repeating common phrases.  Sami makes these classes accessible to all by presenting musical phrases that are short and clear enough for beginners to imitate, but which have subtleties and details that only the most advanced students will grasp.  Each class will focus on one maqam, and over the course of several classes students will gain an understanding of several different maqamat and an appreciation for the breadth of the maqam system.

www.maqamlessons.com for more information