Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble to Perform June 6

SAN LUIS OBISPO –The Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble will perform traditional and contemporary music and dance from the Eastern Mediterranean and larger Middle East with special guest artists at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 6, in the Spanos Theatre on campus.

The ensemble will perform vocal and instrumental selections by some of the most popular composers and performers of Arab art and popular music, including the eminent Mohammad Abdel Wahhab and the superstar Amr Diab from Egypt, as well as the legendary trio of Fairouz and the Rahbani Brothers from Lebanon.

This will be the ensemble’s most culturally diverse program to date, with a variety of music from the shared music culture of the larger region. Included on the program are songs in Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Ladino, and Turkish, as well as folk dances directed by San Luis Obispo dance instructors Saundra Sarrouf and Jenna Mitchell especially for this performance.

Guest artists on the program will come from Los Angeles and include Kan Zaman Ensemble Director Wael Kakish on buzuq, Lana Khalaf on vocals, Adel Eskander Wassif on violin and David Martinelli on percussion.

The 35-member ensemble is under the direction of Music Department faculty member Kenneth S. Habib, a composer and performer whose doctorate is in ethnomusicology with specializations in the Middle East and American popular music.

Tickets are $10 for the public and $8 for seniors and students. They are on sale at the Performing Arts Ticket Office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. To order by phone, call SLO-ARTS (756-2787).

The concert is sponsored by the Cal Poly Music Department, College of Liberal Arts and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 756-2406.

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