Massive appreciation and respect to all the
artists who helped to make our last few events so special.
Our most recent event, Cooking From the Heart,
in partnership with Hafla
and Fertile
Ground, was a tremendous success - please watch this brief video
and see, and hear for yourself!
Thanks to the co-organisers, the cooks, all
the volunteers, and a very special thank you to the musicians:
Merit Stephanos specialises in singing
Arabic and Middle Eastern music, which she performs regularly with
Lebanese singer and oud player Abdul-Salam Kheir.
Merit was joined by fiddler Meg Hamilton
of She'Koyokh Klezmer Ensemble, and percussionist Elizabeth
Nott to explore the musical dialogue between Jewish and Islamic cultures.
And before that...
Balagan Boogaloo
28th August 2008
In partnership with London's JCC
and The
Ramadan Festival.
A night of storming Islamic and Hebraic hiphop from some of the world's
best:
New York's multi-lingual Y-Love
swooped in under the radar dropping his unique
cocktail of rhymes in English, Aramaic and Hebrew re-appropriated
from the sacred texts of the Jewish tradition, plus a sprinkling of
Latin for good measure...
www.myspace.com/ylove
And Wasim Hussain joined brand new Muslim-Jewish
hiphop super-group Lines of Faith for
a set drenched with passion, ancient wisdom colliding with beats,
breaks and bass...For a flavour of their sound, check www.myspace.com/linesoffaith
And before that, was this
- and it was such a hit we can't wait to do it again!!
Cooking From The Heart
Sunday 29 June 2008
St Ethelburga's Centre, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG
A celebration of food and culture from across the Middle East - delicious
food created by our mothers shared with guests in a wonderful evening
of food, stories and song.
This event was another joint
venture of Psychosemitic, Hafla (www.hafla.org)
and Fertile Ground.
And before that, another
corker, as recommended by TimeOut-
thanks to everyone who did their thing...
Sacred Slamming & Holy Graffiti:
Poetry and Painting that bring Tradition into the Future...
Sunday April 6th 2008, 93
Feet East, Brick Lane, London E1 6QL
· Mohammed Yahya www.myspace.com/mohammedyahya
Conscious Mozambican Hip Hop Activist, renowned
for his spiritually powerful lyrics
· Danny Raphael www.myspace.com/dannyraphael
Internationally acclaimed Hebraic poet and MC,
bringing ancient texts to fresh life
· Masikah www.myspace.com/masikah
Powerful Muslim Street Poet with unique flow
· Wasim Hussain
www.myspace.com/lyondapoet
Street Author bringing fresh unheard unrehearsed
universal expression
· The Tzadik www.myspace.com/elshaddei
Shtetl sounds for the 21st Century. Deep lyrics,
Piercing clarinet and Klezmer-infused Beats
· Warsan Shire www.myspace.com/warsanshire
Profound Somali Poetess - one of a kind · Jonny Hornig http://virb.com/jonathanhornig
Calming, invigorating guitar and words with
deep roots in Hebrew tradition
· The event also featured internationally renowned Muslim spiritual
graffiti artist, Mohammed Ali known for
his unique fusion of graffiti with Arabic script - www.aerosolarabic.com
· Plus Jewish graffiti artists Yoav
and Shesh - all working together to create
a Arabic-Hebraic masterpiece!
And before that...
Y-Love, Jake Break & dj handler
Multi-lingual NY hiphop lyricist extraordinaire
Y-Love and his crew ripped it up in a bunch of tongues, including
English, Hebrew, Arabic, Latin and Aramaic.
Filastine, Seth Ayyaz & Rabah (Barcelona)
Otherworldly-cum-middle eastern soundscapes
from Filastine were accompanied by Seth Ayyaz on the ney (flute) and
vocals from Rabah, MC from the Algerian-French hiphop group M.B.S.
