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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2008, page 58 Music & Arts MESTO Brings Baalbek to Hollywood
MULTI ETHNIC Star Orchestra Maestro Nabil Azzam filled the 500-seat Zipper Concert Hall to capacity April 20 with his “Baalbek in Hollywood” concert in downtown Los Angeles. The 45-member symphony orchestra has performed in Amman and Jerash, Jordan and in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt, where audiences were thrilled to learn Los Angeles-based musicians are preserving their musical traditions. The April 20 program focused on signature songs of Lebanon’s foremost chanteuse, Fairuz. Palestinian singer Woroud sang favorites including the unofficial anthem, “Bhibbak Ya Libnan” and “Nassam ‘Alayna.” Other hit songs, ”Khatarna ’ala Balak” and “Biktub Ismik,” were sung by Maurice Raad. Some audience members began dancing in the aisles to the pulsating drum beats of the Khaliji-style “Laila Laila” (“What a Night”), made famous by Saudi singer-composer Muhammad Abdo. Qanun (a stringed instrument) virtuoso Lilit Khojayan enchanted concertgoers with a tribute to Lebanon’s Armenian community, “Trapizon Dance.” Maestro Azzam performed a violin solo while conducting “A ‘tini al-Nay,” a melody originally written by Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran. MESTO has been invited to perform again in Cairo, as well as in Bahrain. Its next California concert will be June 1 in La Jolla’s Sherwood Auditorium. —Pat McDonnell Twair |
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