Simon Shaheen, musician and composer, will give a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Rozsa Center. (Photo courtesy Rozsa Center)Shaheen's work incorporates and reflects a legacy of Arabic music, while it forges ahead to new frontiers, embracing many different styles in the process. Shaheen dazzles his listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles. His soaring technique, melodic ingenuity and unparalleled grace have earned him international acclaim as a virtuoso on the 'oud and violin.
A Palestinian, born in the Israeli village of Tarshiha in the Galilee, Shaheen spent his childhood steeped in music. His father, Hikmat Shaheen, was a professor of music and a master 'oud player.
"Learning to play on the 'oud from my father was the most powerful influence in my musical life," Shaheen recalls.
He began playing on the 'oud at the age of five, and a year later he was studying violin at the Conservatory for Western Classical Music in Jerusalem.
"When I held and played these instruments, they felt like an extension of my arms," Shaheen says.
Most recently, Shaheen has focused much of his energies on Qantara. The band, whose name means "arch" in Arabic, brings to life Shaheen's vision for the unbridled fusion of Arab, jazz, Western classical, and Latin American music -- a perfect alchemy for music to transcend the boundaries of genre and geography. The group's release Blue Flame earned eleven Grammy nominations and high accaim by the Los Angeles Times as "stunning" and "meticulously conceived."
While Qantara has been the focus of Shaheen's recent attention, he also continues to lead the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, which remains active by performing more traditional concerts in museums and art centers and participates in Shaheen's Arab Music Retreat. In 2009, Shaheen directed the multi-faceted orchestral program Aswat (Voices) -- Celebrating the Golden Age of Arab Music and Cinema, in association with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan.
A retrospective program of Shaheen's contemporary and traditional Arab music styles is offered in his most available North American touring format, a five-piece ensemble of master musicians. Additionally, Shaheen tours as a solo artist internationally and as a lecturer throughout the academic world promoting awareness of Arab music through numerous lecture and workshop presentations.
Sponsored by the James and Margaret Black Endowment.
Ticket prices for the general public are $20 and $15; MTU student prices are $15 and $10 (MTU student ID required). To purchase tickets contact the Rozsa Box Office at 487-3200, The Central Ticket Office (SDC) at 487-2073, Tech Express (MUB) at 487-3308 or go online at tickets.mtu.edu. No refunds, exchanges, or late seating, please.
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