Date/Time
Date(s) – 08/23/2024
8:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Location
Corazón Performing Arts
Categories
Cost:
15-30 USD
Contact Person:
Email:
Website:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seffarine-music-of-morocco-spain-and-beyond-tickets-932806147297?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Phone:
Organization:
Corazon Performing Arts
Join Seffarine on Friday August 23rd at Corazón Performing Arts for an unforgettable evening of music that will transport your thirsty spirit. The sounds that stir the dry winds of Southern Spain and Morocco, two countries separated by only a whisper of the Mediterranean, are the musical DNA of the beautifully complex music of Seffarine. Seffarine’s unique blend of traditional Moroccan music with jazz, flamenco, and classical influences will leave you mesmerized. Don’t miss out on this cultural experience that will take your senses on a journey of musical traditions. Get ready to be swept away by the enchanting melodies and rhythms of Seffarine!
ABOUT SEFFARINE
The musicians of Seffarine, soulful singer Lamiae Naki who sings in Arabic, Farsi, Spanish and French and musician Nat Hulskamp who plays the flamenco guitar and oud, are joined by Cuban bassist Yosmel Montejo and flamenco dancer, singer and cajon player from Spain Manuel Gutierrez wows with explosive flamenco dance footwork. The result is a lively and enriching musical journey throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.
The evening’s ensemble explores the musical traditions of both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar with a culturally rooted yet thoroughly contemporary nod to the long period between the 9th and 15th centuries when Muslim, Jewish, and Christian cultures lived side by side and largely peacefully on the Iberian Peninsula, influencing one another’s cultures, including musically.
“Although we all have training in the traditional musical cultures represented in the group — Spanish flamenco, Persian classical, North African and Arab Andalusian — our music is a contemporary reflection of the centuries of exchange that happened at the mouth of the Mediterranean,” Hulskamp says. “Morocco and Spain — Africa and Europe — are only separated by a few miles at the Straits of Gibraltar, and of course this made Morocco a crossroad of Arabic, Iberian, Amazigh, Sephardic and West African music. Although Lamiae and I write the music, everyone in the group has learned a lot about each other’s traditions, which while giving color and texture to the music, also gives our originals a unified sound, rather than a patchwork.”
Naki was born in the old Moroccan city of Fez, where she began singing at an early age, learning Moroccan and flamenco music and eventually also studying classical Turkish singing in Istanbul. Hulskamp was born in Portland, where he began studying with acoustic guitar master Paul Chasman as a teenager. He soon began to study flamenco guitar as well, and then, in Morocco, the oud.
Rhythms are an integral part of the ensemble’s music-making: The name Seffarine comes from “the ancient metalworking square in Fez, which is famous for the complex rhythms that ring out from the blacksmiths’ hammers.”
ABOUT THE EVENING:
Doors Open 8:15. Concert begins 8:30 with two sets of music. Enjoy intermission as the crickets and frogs serenade in the Corazon Secret Garden. All Ages welcome.
$30 sit down chair seating
$20 pillow seating
Discounted financial hardship and Corazon members: $15
Corazon does not sell food and beverage. Enjoy the delicious food next door to us at Endless Color, or within walking distance is Topanga Bistro and Inn of the Seventh Ray.
You may BYOB, no hard alcohol please. Topanga Canyon General Store next to us, closes on weekends bwteen 9:30-10pm. They have a wonderful selection of all kinds of beverages. Otherwise, you’re driving down the hill.
Please, do not park in front of the General Store while they are open for business. Please do not park along walls that would not leave room for large vehicles, such as a fire truck.
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