This Week in Palestine - Events
Issue no. 8  - May 1999

Events (01 May - 15 May)


Jerusalem

Ramallah

Birzeit
Bethlehem
 
Gaza Strip
 
Reviews of main events
 
  • Concert: Dozan Wa Awtar
  • The all-new, all-female vocal ensemble Awtar and the somewhat less new, less female men's ensemble, Dozan will each perform from varied repertoire that includes classical, Broadway, pop, Arabic and more. Shireen Abu Khader of the National Music Conservatory directs both. The craziest men and the hottest women sing together for the first time during the Spring Season organized by the National Music Conservatory. Crusaders Hall, Bethlehem 1 May 20:00 YMCA Jerusalem 7 May 20:00
  • Concert: The Oriental Music Ensemble
  • An ensemble of five professional musicians of the National Conservatory of Music perform oriental music of the late 19th and 20th century on traditional Arabic instruments. The members of the Ensemble are Khalid Jubran on Oud and Buzuq, Suheil Khoury on Nay and Clarinet, Ibrahim Attari on qanoun, Samer Totah on Oud and Yousef Hbeish on Percussion. The ensemble has brought their spirit and virtuosity to audiences in various Palestinian cities as well as to music festivals in Jerusalem, Greece, and Belgium. Kamal Nasser Hall, Birzeit University, Birzeit 15 May 17:00
  • Concert: Jamil Sayeh
  • Jamil has performed both locally and in festivals in Italy, France, Morocco and Tunisia. He also composes extensively, including writing scores for plays such as Ramzi Abu Al Majd. His musical style reveals many influences; the most important of which is the Sufi influence. He has delved into his own childhood to depict religious celebrations, songs, and images of whirling dervishes. In this season he is going to present some of his songs and others by Sayyed Darwish and Ziad Rahbani, as well as some improvisations. YMCA, Jerusalem 13 May 20:00
  • Concert: Transit
  • This Jazz trio with Tareq Abboushi on piano, Grant Chamberlain on saxophone and Rudy Felder on double bass are enjoying the short time they have left together - Tareq hopes to be in New York starting his jazz studies this summer. Currently, the trio plays to regular audiences in nightspots in Ramallah and Jericho.
    This season, in addition to jazz standards, they will be blending some traditional oriental music with jazz and experimenting with additional instruments, including guitar, percussion, didgerido, voice, and strings. Orthodox Club, Beit Jala 15 May 20:00
  • Art Exhibit: New Faces for Catherine
  • Deneuve Gazan Artist, Mohammad al Hawajri, lets his imagination add a thousand and one touches to the printed image of Catherine Deneuve with an astounding result. French Cultural Center, Gaza 29 April - 19 May
  • Photo Exhibition: Wadi Slaleib in 9 volumes by Ahlam Shibli
  • Nine books exhibited on stands are more like a photographic inventory of the memory of Wadi Saleib. Ahlam Shibli speaks the language of disposessino when the victims - inhabitants of the village were forced to an indefinite displacement in 1961 into apartments in Haifa and its suburbs, and all the village houses were totally shut down. French Cultural Center, Ramallah 15 April - 19 May
  • Deep Shit: A multimedia project by Sobhi Zobaidi
  • A multimedia installation derived from the artist's experience of living in a refugee camp. The "innocence" transformed into "shit" is depicted in a very personal and intimate presentation. " how can I speak when blood, smell, and memory penetrate my every word? I want to tell my story, the story of a street boy, s refugee, a ghetto kid who's never belonged. What marked me? Who chose my body for this malicious battle? My voice in this story comes straight from within me; my senses take over. Sounds and images crowd around me, repeating themselves endlessly, as if to reaffirm their existence." Where do these experiences come from? Where do they take him? The artist explains: " A refugee camp, after all, is a transitional thing. In political discourse it is mentioned only in terms of its eventual disappearance. It seems almost pointless to adore, nurture, or invest in the place where you live when it is not your home. Because however long you live there, it will never be home." Khalil Sakakini Center, Ramallah 08 May - 13 May from 14:00 - 19:00
  • Concert: Giuliana Mettini Soprano
  • A soprano from Italy, Giuliana has sung different roles in opera by Mozart, Puccini, Offenbach and others. Giuliana has also sung in many concerts accompanied by the piano, orchestra or chamber music ensembles. She has recorded some of the Rai music as well. Giuliana will be performing in Palestine for the first time in the Spring season of concerts with the National Conservatory of Music. Friends Girls School, Ramallah 08 May 20:00

    Film Review
     
    Film: Jerusalem: Occupation until when?
    Director, Camera, and Editor: Marty Rosenbloth Incitement video productions Documentary, 55 minutes Arabic, English, French, and Hebrew Copyright: The Palestinian movement for the right to habitat The film focuses on Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and other thousands of Palestinians who have been deprived of the right to reach their families and friends and get access to vital services in the city. These people speak about the destructive impact of Israel's attempts to extract the Palestinian existence from the city. They also speak about the Palestinian hopes for peace and security in their capital, Jerusalem. The film depicts the main strategies that the Israeli occupation used to deprive the Palestinians from reaching their city, Jerusalem, since 1967. Ramallah, Popular Art Center Saturday 15 May 19:00
    Film: Tension
    Director: Rashid Mashharawin
    Documentary, 26 min. Palestine 1998 The words in this film are colored images charged with emotions and subtle patterns of behaviour engulfed in silence. Details in the depth appearing on the surface. Language is impotent, and a socio-economic-political crisis is unfolding in the form of suffocating, small, intense details. Ramallah, Popular Art center Saturday 15 May 19:00.
    Film: Aleppo: maqamat of pleasure
    Director: Mohammad Malas Documentary, 52 minutes Arabic, English subtitles Syria
    This film is based on documenting and presenting the works of Sheikh Sabri Modallal who spent his life as Muezzin in the mosques of Aleppo. He depicted the enchantment and creativity that can be reached through an amalgamation between spiritual and terrestrial love in song and music. It is a portrait of this great Sheikh, through which we are introduced to the city of Aleppo and the Aleppo school of chanting established by the first teachers Omar Batsh and Bakri Kurdi and Ali Darwish. We are also introduced to the music and dance methods of this school through the "Turath" group established by Sheikh Sabri Mudallal. Ramallah, Popular Art Center, Wednesday 12 May 19:00.

    Play of the Week
    Women of Sand and Myrth
    Ashtar theatre, Jerusalem and Maralam theatre, Zurich.
    Director: Peter Braschler
    Adaptation: Peter Braschler and Iman Aoun
    Lyrical composition:
    Ghassan Zaqatan
    Music: Odeh Turjman
    Based on the novel by Lebanese writer, Hanan Al Shaykh, this play is performed by four actresses reflecting the four main characters in the novel. The novel, and the play, reflect on the way Arab women's lives interweave with the Arab desert through a limbo of alienation, sensuousness and cruelty, where beauty or intelligence are a trap, and where each struggles vainly to safeguard her inner truths. In striving to realize their individual identities, each of these four very different women evolves her own strategy for survival. Suzanne, a bland American housewife searching for significance; Nur seeks an inner axis to face a life born with loneliness; Suha, overwhelmed by alienation and confusion is determined to go back home; and Tamr, fighting for the right to self determination. Friends Boys School, El Bireh-Ramallah 6,7,8 May 19:30
     
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