Showcase
Brooklyn Maqam
Ahlan wa Sahlan! Welcome to Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival, featuring local musicians, bands, and dancers presenting Arab music traditions from Egypt, Yemen, Israel, Tunisia, Palestine, Iraq, Morocco, Syria, and Lebanon. Maqam is the Arabic word referring to the patterns of musical notes, based on a quarter note system, which form the building blocks of traditional Arab music. Join BAC Folk Arts throughout March 2008 for Brooklyn Maqam concerts, symposia, and workshops at venues big and small in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Brooklyn Maqam features local musicians and highlights folk traditions, classical forms, popular contemporary arrangements, and fusion pieces that integrate old and new styles. Many of the concerts are arranged thematically: ceremonial and religious music, women’s traditions, and solo improvisations. A special all-Arab Folk Feet dance showcase will sample dance genres such as debkah, bara’a, and the regionally variant wedding processional called zeffa.
Brooklyn Maqam features local musicians and highlights folk traditions, classical forms, popular contemporary arrangements, and fusion pieces that integrate old and new styles. Many of the concerts are arranged thematically: ceremonial and religious music, women’s traditions, and solo improvisations. A special all-Arab Folk Feet dance showcase will sample dance genres such as debkah, bara’a, and the regionally variant wedding processional called zeffa.
Check out the Maqam Events Archive
Learn about Maqam Artists
Learn about Brooklyn's Arab Music and Culture
Learn about Maqam Artists
Learn about Brooklyn's Arab Music and Culture
Brooklyn Maqam musicians are versed in a range of Arab forms and styles including Yemen Red Coast lahji; Moroccan gnawa; Middle-Eastern-American “Mediterranean” hybrids, Lebanese djbeli, and Syrian-Jewish pizmonim, to name just a few. Arab-world singing is stunning in its range and beauty and includes hundreds of genres, from muwashsha to maqam al-iraqi. Arab song is characterized by specific musical elements such as dulab (a short composition that introduces a song and its maqam) and mawwal (a vocal improvisation demonstrating the singer’s skill). Instrumentation features strings, including the oud, the long-neck buzuq, and the zither-like qanun and santur; drums, including the goblet-shaped dumbek and the frame-drum called dof; the tambourine called riq; and the ney, a single-reed flute. The social context of Arab music is integral to how it is performed; audiences are highly responsive and participatory.
Use the American Express® card at Brooklyn Maqam venues.
Brooklyn Maqam is made possible with major support from American Express, Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, Con Edison, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, New York State Music Fund established by the New York Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and National Endowment for the Arts.
BAC programs are made possible, in part, with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York City Council and its Brooklyn Delegation.Related Categories
BAC Performances, Folk / Traditional Arts, Music, Instrumentalist, Multi-Cultural, Traditional / Culturally Specific, Urban, VocalistMore from Brooklyn Maqam:
To view images, sound, and video excerpts from Brooklyn Maqam programs click on an event title. Sunday, March 2 Brooklyn Maqam Begins Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College ... more
Tareq Abboushi Abboushi grew up in Palestine and moved to America at the age of 16. A graduate with honors from William Paterson University with a B.M. in Jazz Piano Performance, he became more invol... more
BOOK YOUR SPACE FOR WALKING TOURS OF THE BOROUGH'S ARAB NEIGHBORHOODS. The Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival drew many of its talented musicians and its inspiration from two thriving Arab neighbor... more
Elebash Concert Series: Traditions and Evolution in Arab Music These concerts are made possible with major support from Baisley Powell Elebash Fund.... more
Arab -American cultures in Brooklyn have been evolving for well over 100 years. Syrian Christians first came to New York around 1870, settling in the area around Washington Street in Manhattan, near ... more
Below is a sampling of recent press coverage of the Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival.... more
Arab Music and Dance Resources Iraqi Maqam Maqam World Music Website Najwa Adra The Oudman - Najeeb Shaheen Rashid's Music Sales Co., Inc Turath ... more
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