Muliticultural music at CSUS

An evening of Middle Eastern Music and Dance will be presented by the UC Santa Barbara Middle Eastern Musical Ensemble at the University Union Ballroom, Saturday at 8 p.m.

“This group is going to perform music that will focus on three nationalities, Arabic, Greek and Persian, but will also include one or two Jewish and Turkish songs.” said professor Ayad Al-Qazzaz president of the Middle East Cultural Association and professor at CSUS. “This is a special event; this is the third time that we are having this group perform at CSUS,” Al-Qazzaz said.

The first time was in 1995, the second in 1997, and both were sold-out concerts.

The Middle East Ensemble is an official Ethnomusicology Performance Ensemble in the department of music at Santa Barbara. The ensemble performs music and dance from Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, Jewish and even Assyrian cultures. Performance items range from classical pieces to religious, folk and popular songs, folk dances, and cabaret-style dancing.

The ensemble’s performances are noted for being colorful and fast-paced. Followed by a tradition developed in Cairo, Beirut, and Damascus, men wear tuxedos while women wear colorful traditional dresses. Group instrumental pieces are quickly juxtaposed with solo instrumentals, solo vocals are answered by choral pieces, with solo and group dances interspersed throughout. Performances generally end with the extended cabaret-style dance set.

“There will be about 40 members performing,” said Al-Qazzaz. “There are three professors, the rest are students.”

Founder and director of the UCSB Middle East Ensemble, Scott Marcus, professor of ethnomusicology, teaches in the music department at Santa Barbara. He studied Middle Eastern music at UCLA and in Cairo, Egypt.

Marcus will conduct a free lecture and demonstration of Middle Eastern musical instruments at 6 p.m. in the University Union Forest Suite.

The Ensemble’s dance troupe is led by Alexandra King, an award-winning dancer and choreographer who is the director, teacher, and principal choreographer of Folkloric dancers as well as the director of the Seher Dance Ensemble of Santa Barbara.

According to Al-Qazzaz, 80 percent of the students performing are Americans; few are from Middle Eastern origins.

The performance will be presented by the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Multi-Cultural Center, the sociology department and the Middle East Cultural Association.

Admission for CSUS students is $10, and $15 for the general public. To purchase tickets or for more information, contact Ayad Al-Qazzaz at 278-6267, Rami Hokan at 922-5870, or Josh Kaizuka at 631-0680.