Arab Music Ensemble students help debut performance on Friday

Penn students in MUSC 007, the Arab Music Ensemble course, held their debut performance alongside the Philadelphia Arab Music Ensemble this Friday.

The ensemble played at the Trinity Center for Urban Life, a church on 22nd and Spruce streets. The show was organized by Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, a Philadelphia-based organization which aims to promote Arab culture.

Friday’s concert was the culmination of the new one-credit course offered to both students and the community in collaboration with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture. “Al-Bustan reached out to Penn” about starting this course partnership, Executive Director of Al-Bustan Hazami Sayed said. “We are the small fish, and they are the big fish.”

After greeting the audience with a warm “Ahlan Wa Sa’hlan” — “Welcome” in Arabic — Sayed, without further ado, began the concert.

After playing their first piece, Hanna Khoury, professor and music director of the ensemble, told the audience that they should sing and clap along if they wanted to.

“Go for it,” Khoury said. “We would love a bigger choir.”

When one audience member exclaimed, “Bravo!” Khoury informed the audience that it was the wrong terminology.

“If you really felt something, we usually say, “Allah!” — meaning God. “So if you hear an Arab audience exclaiming ‘Allah!’ it isn’t always what you think,” joked Khoury.

One percussion segment of the concert involved the audience clapping back to the beat of the drums. Members of the audience sang along to the popular “Nassam Alayna” and “Ana Winta.”

Halfway through, Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian Tony award-winning poet, emerged from the back of the church, reciting her poetry as she walked towards the stage.

Hammad read out light-hearted odes to her sister and her mother’s bakhlava, but also recited more serious poems about racial stereotypes, refugees and war.

“I will not hate for you. I will not even hate you,” read Hammad from her poem, “What I will,” to the applause of the audience.

The ensemble and Hammad received a standing ovation from the packed church after the performance.

“It was a beautiful combination of their music and her words,” said Erin McEwen, a new resident to Philadelphia who found out about the event from the Philly Fun Guide. “I’m so glad I came. It was very powerful.”

Marcus Mundy, a College sophomore, said he attended the event because he used to perform with Al Bustan in high school. “I had also watched Salt of this Sea” — a movie directed by and starring Hammad — “and I was interested to see what she could offer to the ensemble.”

Mundy says he would “definitely be interested” in joining the course offered at the University.

Khoury, who teaches the course, said he was pleased with the class’ turnout. “It’s still difficult to judge its popularity because we have only offered this for one semester.”

“However,” he added, “by opening the course up to everyone, I think we bridge the University with the community.”

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