Marcel KhaliféWith so many high quality artists stopping by The Cedar every season, it is easy to become somewhat blasé, and fail to give some truly exceptional artists their due--and in a blink, the opportunity has passed. In this special issue of @TheCedar, I shine the spotlight on one such artist: Lebanese oud player and singer Marcel Khalifé, appearing at The Cedar this Friday (10/19) evening with the Al Mayadine Ensemble (Rami Khalifé on piano, Peter Herbert on double bass & Bachar Khalife on percussion) (co-presented by MIZNA).

Please forward this email to family, friends and organizations you think might be interested--this WILL be a show worthy of your widest possible support. The music shines with its broad accessibility and appeal; emotions will run deep. Or as Pitchfork puts it: "Khalifé seems like a good dude: in addition to really wailin' on the oud, he's a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization "Artist for Peace". Not even Bono can say the same."

Marcel Khalifé won his UNESCO's Artist for Peace award in 2005, in “recognition of his fervent and generous commitment in favour of musical heritage”. But what really are the hallmarks of Khalifé's life and character? The following article from last week's LA Times (appearing under the heading The Dylan of Lebanon) captures the spirit of Khalifé well:

Marcel Khalifé tours the world with songs of peace and human rights.
By Elijah Wald, Special to The Times
October 10, 2007
This is not an easy time to be the musical voice of Lebanon. Marcel Khalife, who was born in a small seaside village about 25 miles from Beirut, has been singing and playing Lebanese popular and classical music for some 40 years and is the country's most respected singer and composer.

In 2005, UNESCO named him an International Artist for Peace. And yet, having toured the world, he is well aware that the only thing most people outside the Middle East know about his homeland is its recent history of war and ethnic strife.

"That is very hard," Khalife says, speaking in French from a European tour stop. "They always write about that, and if there is also beauty, they do not write about it. . . . Not only in Lebanon but in the whole region, there are great traditions of music, of poetry, of song, of performance, and it is too bad that the media sees only war.

"It was not us who started these wars; they came from outside, with colonization. So we need to say 'No' -- no to war. That is what I hope to do with my concerts: to give a different view of the region, another vision of the culture."

Khalife, who appears Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, has loved music since his childhood. Born in 1950, he is from a family of Maronite Christians and his first musical inspiration was in church: "I would hear the canticles, and I loved this sound," he recalls. "Because of that I became interested in music. And there was also beautiful music in the mosques."

He says that his family encouraged his interest: "My grandfather played a sort of flute called the ney, and he sang as well. In the beginning, I used to tap out rhythms on tables, on empty milk cartons. Then my parents bought me an instrument, an oud -- the Oriental lute -- and I started to study music."

Khalife went to the Lebanon National Higher Conservatory of Music in Beirut, where he studied Arabic and Western classical styles, and immersed himself in a thousand years of poetry and song. By 1970 he was teaching there, and in 1976 he formed the Al Mayadine Ensemble, and began to tour the world.

But Khalife's reputation is based on more than just his music. He has often been called "the Bob Dylan of Lebanon" for his songs on topical themes and his passionate avowal of the rights of Palestinian refugees. He is considered a hero by many fans for continuing to perform even during the worst years of warfare, appearing in bombed concert halls in spite of personal threats and omnipresent dangers.

"Life doesn't stop just because there is a war," he says. "Of course it is difficult, but art survives. Nobody can kill the dream of art, so one goes on, and one tries to work for peace."

Though he has not moderated his political stances, for the last dozen years Khalife has changed his musical focus, devoting virtually all his energy to extended instrumental compositions.

He recently premiered a work in Italy for full symphony and choir, and his current tour will balance his older songs with extracts from a new suite, "Taqasim," a composition for oud, percussion and double bass. (Extracts can be seen and heard on his website: www.marcelkhalife.com.)

It is easy to see this as a return to his classical, conservatory roots, but Khalife says that the whole idea of calling one sort of music popular and another classical disturbs him. "I like music to be open, like life," he says. "The sun is the sun, it warms everybody.

"After all," he continues, "what is classical music? All the great composers, all over the world, have been inspired by popular music."

Nonetheless, it can be hard to maintain a broad, viewpoint in a world more divided -- by politics, by religion -- every year.

Over the course of his career Khalife can take beleaguered pride in having been censored and attacked by Muslims, Christians and Jews, both at home and abroad. He has been banned from Tunisia, denounced by the parliament of Bahrain, and put on trial in Lebanon for using a passage from the Koran in a song about the plight of the Palestinians.

Just last month, he was forced to change the venue of his San Diego appearance after owners of the hall he'd been booked into decided that the group presenting him might be too controversial.

Still, he insists that at a deeper level none of this can affect him.

"One has to be optimistic. Because I look at the politicians who have done all this harm, and I think, 'They are nothing.' They know nothing of the philosophy of life, the philosophy of love. That is what matters. We have to be rich within ourselves. For me, I feel that art nourishes my spirit. Music gives me peace, inside myself, whatever may be happening around me."

Program
Marcel Khalife's program will be drawn from both his instrumental and lyrical repertoire. He will be performing from his new instrumental work Taqasim and from his lyrical works both old and new, primarily drawn from the poetry of the Arab world's most eminent poet Mahmoud Darwish.

Tickets
A good supply of tickets are currently still available, although we do expect the supply to decrease markedly as the concert date nears, and we strongly recommend advance purchase. Premium, centrally-located reserved seats are available from Ticketweb and the Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), and general admission seats are available from all Cedar outlets.

Other upcoming shows and ticket on-sale information:

1. Josh Ritter with Eric Bachmann (10/16) has SOLD OUT.
2. Still plenty of tickets for autoharp queen Karen Mueller's CD release (10/18) and has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed That 1 Guy (10/20)
2. Zipps Wine Show and Tasting (10/25) features samples of many great wines, and good eats from Seward Coop--and The Cedar is the beneficiary of this charity event!
3. ISSA (formerly Jane Siberry) Trio with Adrienne Pierce (10/26) Another inspirational artist with a strong vision of peace and world unity.
4. Yuri Yunakov and his Romani Wedding Band (10/27) Breaking down stereotypes of the Rom people.
5. The Pine Leaf Boys (10/28) and Erin McKeown/Ben Weaver round out a very strong finish to the month of October.
6. Get ready for a packed November, with tickets for these popular shows now on sale and selling well: Robyn Hitchcock (Nov 4), The Owls CD release (Nov 8), the NE Accordion Fest (Nov 9–11), Mary Gauthier and Diana Jones (Nov 11), Huun-Huur-Tu (Nov 15), Tinariwen (Nov 16), John Gorka (Nov 17), Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys (Nov 18), Asylum Street Spankers (Nov 21) and Over The Rhine (Nov 25).
7. December shows now on sale include Michael Monroe CD release (Dec 7) and the Neal and Leandra Holiday Show (Dec 16).
8. Tickets for these shows go on sale this Friday (10/19): Dick Hensold CD release with Piper's Crow (Nov 23), Chris Koza with JoAnna James (Nov 24), George Cartwright's GloryLand PonyCat with Andrew Broder, Adam Linz and Alden Ikeda (Nov 29), Peter Lang CD release (Nov 30), and The Klezmatics Hanukkah program (Dec 9).

Look for full details on all these November shows, and an update on the December shows in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, check the Cedar website for current information, videos and sound samples.

On behalf of everyone at The Cedar,

Brian Corner,

Publicity Support
Cedar Cultural Center
416 Cedar Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55454 USA
Voicemail: 612-338-2674, ext 306 (email preferred)
612-338-1687 (fax)
brian.corner@thecedar.org

www.thecedar.org
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