Friday, March 28 Tarboosh Cafe 9:00pm-Midnight
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
Darrah Carr, artistic director of Darrah Carr Dance, has choreographed for and performed with Broadway productions and dance companies at home and abroad. She learned traditional Irish dance in her na... more
Dena El Saffar, of Iraqi and American heritage, was exposed to Arabic music in the suburbs of Chicago, where she grew up attending Iraqi gatherings with her family. She began learning the violin at th... more
From Athens, Greece, Mikelis is both an ‘ud and piano performer. He holds a B.M from Berklee College of Music in jazz studies (2003), a Masters in Jazz Performance from the William Paterson Universit... more
Diverse Traditions: Arab Folk Music in Regional Expression
Presented by BAC Folk Arts, Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival is a rare opportunity to experience the remarkable variety of Arab music traditions that flourish throughout the metro area! WHEN: Sat... more
Diverse Traditions: Arab Folk Music in Regional Expression
Saturday, March 29 Alwan for the Arts 9:00 -11:00pm
Don Coy, who made his way to Brooklyn from his native Louisville, Kentucky, in 1990, has trained as a square dancer caller since 1974. Don is also an expert square dance teacher, and country guitar pl... more
One of the most creative and successful Irish dancers, Donny Golden, is a North American step-dancing champion and a National Heritage Award winner. He has choreographed shows for his troupe at Radio ... more
Eddie Soubhi Ibn Farjallah Kochakhi was born and raised in Brooklyn, in a Syrian Catholic family on Atlantic Avenue. His sister brought him his first dumbek from Aleppo when he was ten. He came to be... more
This drum and dance ensemble specializes in Bomba, Puerto Rico's oldest art form dating back to its colonial history. Bomba's musicality and aesthetics are a combination of African, Indigenous, and Eu... more
El Mostafa comes from the Atlantic port city of El Jadida, Morocco. He bought his first instrument, a Moroccan wooden flute called gasbah, as a boy. He was drawn to its sad, yet sweet sound quality, a... more
Friday, March 7 Brooklyn's Maqam: Reinventing Arab Music in the Borough BAM Cafe at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Featuring Fahim Dandan, the renowned popular singer whose presence at Brooklyn Ara... more
Euston James, a native of Trinidad, has lived in Brooklyn since 1972. In the U.S. he has participated in West Indian carnival traditions as a dancer of calypso and limbo and as a fire-eater. His speci... more
Brooklyn-based Palestinian vocalist Fahim Dandan grew up with exposure to the folk music traditions of Haifa and nearby villages. Dandan’s mother was respected for her musical ability and noted for h... more
BAC FOLK ARTS: WHAT WE DO See a merengue típico dance at a Dominican party in Bushwick; the elaborate costumes on Eastern Parkway at the annual West Indies Labor Day Celebration; moko jumbies danc... more
Artists from BAC’s Folk Arts in Education Program perform songs, stories and dances and discuss their traditions and cultural history.
The terms “folk” and “traditional” describe the artists and art forms that our programming supports. Few of the traditional artists we work with have ever received formal training; most learn by obser... more
The following is a list of useful websites: Here are some helpful links to folk arts research, grants, publications, organizations and information about specific artists and art forms. Americ... more
Artists from BAC’s Folk Arts program perform songs, stories, and dances, and discuss the history and traditions of their native countries and cultures.
Here are some helpful links to folk arts research, grants, publications, organizations and information about specific artists and art forms. American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress ... more
Folk Feet is made possible, in part, by Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and The New York Community Trust.
BAC’s Folk Feet Dance Workshops connect you to Brooklyn’s traditional dance masters. These experts in different dance cultures are available to teach dance classes throughout the New York area. Learn ... more
Frisner Augustin and La Troupe Makandal
For over 20 years, La Troupe Makandal and its Artistic Director, Master Drummer, and National Heritage Award winner, Frisner Augustin, have thrilled audiences with the exciting traditional dances, mus... more
Gaida Hinnawi is a vocalist and composer working at the intersection of the New York Arab and improvised music scenes. Her compositions draw on classical Arabic song, Syrian folk traditions, and impro... more
Brooklyn-based Shafik grew up in a musical family in Cairo surrounded by Egyptian popular, folk, and classical music that made his Shobra neighborhood jump. As a young boy, he practiced percussion on... more
George was born in Birzeit, Palestine, and pursued music from a young age. In 1986 he moved to the United States, where he has studied oud with Simon Shaheen and classical singing and voice with Youss... more
Born in Nador, Morroco, to a family that practices music traditions, Hisham began playing percussion at age 13. His first lessons in music came from his cousin and a close friend, both of whom played ... more
Canadian-born Gutwilik’s interest in music began at a young age when his aunt gave him a Perez Prado album and his own transistor radio. School offered him an immersion into the world of traditional J... more