Friday October 20, the Boston Chapter of the World Lebanese
Cultural Union (WLCU) is presenting Simon Shaheen and Qantara in “A Concert for
Lebanon’s Children”.
Friday October 20, 2006 at 8PM
$40 Adult / $25 Students (must present student ID)
Tickets
available in advance: Go to www.wlcu.us (purchase online) or call 617.816.1388
for details
The program begins promptly at 8pm
Purchase Tickets Online ($40 Adult): Purchase Tickets Online ($25 Student):
http://boston.zebratickets.com/event/event_3802.php http://boston.zebratickets.com/event/event_3803.php
The concert is to raise awareness of existing non-profit organizations in Lebanon that provide medical and social services for children and to encourage ongoing support of sponsorship programs these organizations provide. The Chronic Care Center (www.chroniccare.org.lb) provides treatment for chronic childhood diseases such as diabetes and thalassemia. The Lebanese Association of SOS Children’s Villages (www.sos.org.lb) help orphaned and abandoned children by building nurturing relationships within a family and community structure.
SIMON SHAHEEN - Review
Quotes
...full of
dignified passion. On violin, his playing was throaty and sensual. His phrases
sighed and lingered over the tune, then spun off trills and filigree like
sparks. On oud, his crisply picked lines took on tension and drama, each
measured phrase holding suspense.
Jon Pareles, The New York Times
Shaheen, a
virtuoso of the violin and the oud, was the musical director both for the Sting
performance at the Grammys and for the Two Tenors concert. His electrifying oud
solo was the instrumental high point of the show.
Banning Eyre, The Boston Phoenix
Simon
Shaheen's success in combining characteristics of Middle Eastern music, Western
classical music, jazz and Latin rhythms into a gorgeous tapestry can be traced
to his capacity to find their common threads.
Don Heckman, Los Angeles
Times
The Qantara
group was formed in 1995 by composer and musician Simon Shaheen. Fascinated and
moved by his musician alliances with diverse musical cultures, he was inspired
to develop new works that would bridge the two musical worlds and a group that
could evoke the musical emotion of these culturally crossed exotic and
rhythmically charged sounds. Shaheen’s compositions for this ensemble fuse his
Arabic musical heritage with the contemporary sensibilities of postmodern jazz.
His works encompass strong classical Arabic and Spanish musical elements that
are crafted to integrate with jazz musical components, which provide the
harmonic and formal structure for this ensemble’s musical repertoire.
Qantara is
comprised of world-renowned musicians whose diverse and uniquely versatile
musical styles lend to this rare blend of traditional world music infused with
jazz concepts. The instrumentation for the group is comprised of Shaheen on the
‘oud and violin, complimented by artists performing on nay, flute, saxophone,
classical guitar, double bass, and world percussion instruments. Qantara is the
Arabic word for arch. Hence, the name Qantara reveals the gateway to a new
musical expression. After much collaboration with Shaheen, the musicians of
Qantara have acquired the requisite knowledge of Arabic music, and each adds
their own distinctive sounds to Shaheen’s compositions creating an exciting mix
of intricate melodies and counter rhythms.
The music of Qantara allows different styles of performance
and improvisation to stand out while providing a musical structure that goes
beyond the stylistic boundaries. This has resulted in multinational and global
musical exchange, which is both electrifying and enriching. The ensemble is a remarkable
and distinctive example of world acoustic jazz.