Join us for a hands-on cooking class with Chef Majed. He is a classically trained chef from Syria that is excited to teach you how to prepare the dishes he's most famous for. Over the course of this intimate class you'll get to know Chef Majed and the story of his journey from Syria as […]
The Arab Dance Seminar is the first repeating event of its kind in America. The goal of this intensive weekend of workshops, lectures, performances and dance parties is to give the student a comprehensive Arab cultural dance experience. Going beyond confusing nebulous monikers like "belly dance," "Middle Eastern" or "oriental", the Seminar puts all the skills, […]
Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World is an exhibition highlighting a selection of artists published within the eight editions of Tribe—a magazine founded in Dubai that is dedicated to covering developments in photography and new media from the Arab World. The exhibition contextualizes an expansive field of image-based work through various themes, while celebrating artists both […]
This family-friendly class is the third in our Taste of Syria series, a collaboration between the Free Library's Culinary Literacy Center and Swarthmore College's Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary. Abir Alarnab, a multi-talented cook originally from Syria, will lead us in a sweets-filled class. We will learn how to make tiramisu and kudrit kader, a decadent caramel cream cake that […]
To mark the launch of Gregory Buchakjian’s publication, Abandoned Dwellings: A History of Beirut, the author will be in conversation with Lamia Joreige and Valérie Cachard. Over the past 150 years, Beirut has witnessed a cycle of unbridled growth, war, economic and social crises, and migratory movements. It is in this territory – ceaselessly destroyed and […]
The Bil Afrah Project performs one of the Middle East’s most popular albums, Lebanese composer Ziad Rahbani’s 1975 masterpiece Bil Afrah with Michel Merhej, the legendary percussionist who played on the original recording. The instrumental song suite features some of the Arab world’s most beloved standards and the dazzling taqasim (improvisations) for which the Arabic tradition is […]
47SOUL are one of the most promising rising stars from the Middle East where they have many fans. They present the world their own and unique music genre called 'Shamstep' - a powerful mix of traditional street music from the 'Sham'-region (Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria) combined with deep electronic beats and influences from funk, hip-hop […]
A decade plus of collaborative work between Nada Saab of LAU and Robert Myers of AUB, which entailed researching, translating and producing seminal dramatic works from the Levant, has culminated in the production of two major new books. The first study, published by Brill, traces the recent history of political theater in the Levant through translations of significant […]
Hot off a summer tour of Europe’s big summer festivals, and on their way to a U.S. debut at Globalfest in January and Austin’s South by Southwest, 47SOUL will turn the BRIC House Ballroom into a party with a message. An Electro Arabic Dabke (Shamstep) band formed in Amman Jordan in 2013, 47SOUL’s members are rooted in […]
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear a master of Arab music perform in a style that is unique to Iraq. Vocalist Hamid Al-Saadi is joined by the Safaafir trio, the only ensemble of its kind in North America, performing on santur (hammered dulcimer), dumbek (drum), and rebab (fiddle). The program features classic Arab poetry set to the ancient melodic modes […]