ReOrientalism,
multi-media "pocket opera"
Suheir Hammad, Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian,
Karim Nagi Mohammed

A show that explores the gulf between the way the Middle East is portrayed in the media, vs. the lived experience of American artists of Middle Eastern descent.

Twenty five years ago, Edward Said, a distinguished scholar at Columbia University, published a now-famous book. In Orientalism, Said suggests that the West's view of the East is distorted by both romantization and fear, and that the dominant narratives Europeans created were used in support of unequal power relationships.

Said's book is a landmark of post-colonial scholarship, and helped to instigate the creation of Middle Eastern studies programs at many universities.

Two years ago, the Center for Cultural Exchange instigated a project intended to address these issues from the perspective of Middle Eastern artists living and working in the United States today. Through major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the LEF Foundation, the Center was able to commission a new performance work from three exceptionally gifted artists.

Armenian composer and oud virtuoso Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian, Palestinian performance poet Suheir Hammad, and Egyptian designer and percussionist Karim Nagi Mohammed have created a performance that weaves poetry, original music, technologically manipulated sound, archival video and audio clips, Middle Eastern dance, projected images and quotations into a theatrical experience that uses Edward Said's concept of Orientalism as a point of departure.

It represents a bold voice reclaiming the narratives that have been used to subjugate the East, and turning them to become tools of justice.

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Artists bios

Suheir Hammad is the most outspoken and acclaimed Palestinian-American performer of her generation. A dynamic performance poet, she is currently touring internationally in Russell Simmons' "Def Poetry Jam", a program that was designated as one of the top three 2002 performance events in the world by the New York Times.
More about Suheir Hammad

Karim Nagi Mohammed (visual design/percussion) emigrated from Egypt to the United States in the mid-seventies. He is active as a designer most prominently in his work in the fashion industry and is among the leading masters of Arabic music resident in the Northeast.

He currently teaches at the New England Conservatory and produces an on-going monthly series of Arabic performances in Boston. Karim is a widely published writer, marketing consultant, graphic artist and fashion show producer. He also actively produces Turbo Tabla, a global house music that unites live performance with electronic music, visual imagery, text, movement and fashion.

Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian (music composition and direction) was born into an Armenian family in Massachusetts in 1951. Al took up the oud as a child, and by his teens had mastered the Armenian dance hall repertoire. In a move highly unusual for an Armenian, he sought out the great Turkish kanun master Esber Kuprucu, to whom he was apprenticed from 1977 until Kuprucus death last year, mastering the complex system of makam, Turkish classical music.

A prolific composer, Al performs regularly with the Bardezbanian Middle Eastern Ensemble, a sextet that he has directed for several years.

In addition, Al is widely acknowledged as one of the leading masters of both Internal and External Martial Arts in the United States. This summer he became a faculty member at the Arab Music Retreat, the reknowned Middle Eastern music program in the US.

James Bau Graves (director) is Co-Director of the Center for Cultural Exchange, in Portland, Maine. His work is focused on exploration of the personal, political, aesthetic and ethical issues embedded in the concept and practice of public culture. At the Center, he has facilitated the creation of an extended series of programs, in close collaboration with community groups and artists, which address grass roots cultural aspirations, questions of identity and social/financial power relations. Bau has performed and recorded with several jazz and traditional music ensembles. His first book, Cultural Democracy, is forthcoming in 2004.

Najla Said (actress) is a founding member of the Arab-American Theater Company, which has been prominent as a public voice of Americans of Middle Eastern descent. As the daughter of Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, Najla brings a unique perspective to her participation in the ReOrientalism project.

Seyyide Sultan (dancer) is a leading performer and authority on Middle Eastern dance, as distinct from stereotypical assumptions about belly dancing. She teaches in the Boston area and works frequently with Karim Mohammed

Bardezbanian Middle Eastern Ensemble is directed by oud and klarinet virtuoso Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian. The group performs folk music from Armenia, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Greece, as well as classical Arab and Turkish pieces and Bardezbanians large body of original compositions. The musicians include violinist Michael Gallant, accordionist Beth Borgerhoff, percussionist Eric LaPerna and guitarist/bassist Bau Graves. Their first CD album, Kef to Classical, was released in 2002.