By Matthew Wolfe
rooklyn has long been a home to the Arab community. The first of Brooklyn’s population of Arab-Americans – now numbering more than 30,000 – arrived in the late 19th century when groups of Syrian Catholics immigrated to New York. Initially settling themselves in Washington Street in Manhattan, the Syrians – mostly bankers, manufacturers and importers by trade – prospered and set up a community across the East River in an area now called Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill. In the century since, the community has flourished and so has its music: Atlantic Avenue, running through the center of that first settlement, became a thriving hub of cultural institutions including music clubs and record stores, where live performers played Arab pop, classical and the North African style called “rai.” Yet in the days after September 11, Brooklyn’s Arab music scene, once strong, suddenly struggled to survive. Raymond Rashid, owner of Rashid Music Sales, a retailer and distributor of Arab music located on Atlantic Ave., recalled the shift in attitude towards Arab music. “For two or three weeks after September, it was like a state of mourning,” says Rashid. “People’s interest in Arab music died down.” Interest fell, musicians couldn’t get work and a chill fell over the community. Yet now, in a bid to help revive the community, the Brooklyn Arts Council is presenting a series of concerts, symposia and workshops on Arab music as part of the Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival. Running from March 2 to 20, the festival will feature 100 musicians and groups representing music traditions from Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Lebanon. While more than six years after September 11, patrons have started to return to the clubs, organizers of the festival hope to spur further interest in the scene. “One of the reasons I did this project was we would sort of hear that Arab communities and businesses weren't doing so well,” said Kay Turner, Director of Folk Arts for the Brooklyn Arts Council, who helped organize the festival. “The music traditions coming out of Brooklyn are very rich and the music is just fabulous.” Brooklyn Maqam will feature local musicians, including the world-renowned oudist and violinist Simon Shaheen and the ever-popular Arab wedding singer Fahim Dandan, and highlights folk traditions, classical forms, popular contemporary arrangements, and fusion pieces. As the Brooklyn Arts Council explains, the history of Arab music in Brooklyn is long and rich. After WWII, nightclubs—Club Ibis, Cedars, Dervish and others—erupted in Manhattan, becoming hotspots for live music, primarily of Lebanese, Syrian, and Egyptian vintage blended with Greek, Turkish, and other hyphenated American sounds. In Brooklyn, live music featuring renowned local singers as heard at mahrajanat (festivals), house parties and at wedding parties at the St. George Hotel and the old Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights. Smaller clubs and restaurants featuring live music began to thrive farther south in Brooklyn in the 1980s and 1990s. Widdi Hall in Sunset Park became—and still is— the center for weddings celebrations, music and dance. Arab-influenced singing in Lebanese churches and Syrian synagogues and koranic vocalizations such as recitation and call to prayer in Brooklyn mosques also continue to preserve traditional forms. Today, a few coffee shops and restaurants such as Tarboosh and Le Sajj in Bay Ridge run live music shows and community centers such as the Arab American Association in Brooklyn produce cultural events that help keep Arab music alive in New York, but Brooklyn Maqam’s month-long celebration of the music will draw dramatic and sustained attention to artists who deserve a wider audience. The festival takes place in venues in Manhattan, such as Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street) and Alwan for the Arts (16 Beaver Street), and Brooklyn, including Downtown's BAM Café (30 Lafayette Avenue) and DUMBO's PowerHouse Arena (36 Main Street) and more. The Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival runs March 2 to 30 at various Brooklyn locations. All events are free and open to the public. For further information and a complete calendar of events, visit www.brooklynartscouncil.org.
