Spring Caravanseri Program Brings Music, Film and Lecture to Northwest Arkansas

Photo Submitted

The Orchestra of Fes will perform as part of the Caravanseri program April 16-19.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Caravanserai: A Place Where Cultures Meet will bring its spring program to the University of Arkansas, local high schools and the Walton Arts Center April 16-19. The program will feature musical performances, a documentary film and a lecture.

The spring 2013 Caravanserai music residency tour continues to focus on Moroccan culture and will feature masters of classical Judeo-Arabic music from the Andalusian tradition. Andalusian classical music evolved over centuries of cultural exchange between North Africa, Spain, Portugal and southern European Muslim traditions and is at the core of contemporary Moroccan culture. The Orchestra of Fes will perform, directed by the legendary violinist Mohammed Briouel. Briouel inherited the rich traditions of Arab-Andalusian music that have been preserved in ancient cities like Fes.

The orchestra members will perform and discuss their music in workshops at Bentonville High School on Tuesday, April 16, and Fayetteville High School on Thursday, April 18.

They will perform and have a question and answer session from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in the Pomfret Hall Great Room. This event is free and open to the public.

The orchestra will hold a free and open musical workshop from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, at the Fayetteville Public Library.

At noon on Friday, April 19, in Old Main Room 319, Philip Schuyler, professor emeritus of music at the University of Washington, will give a lecture on classical Andalusian music. Schuyler is an expert on the music of North Africa and the Middle East and has done extensive research in Morocco and Yemen over the past 40 years. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Orchestra of Fes will conclude its visit from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, in the Baum Walker Hall of the Walton Arts Center. Members of the orchestra will discuss their music, give a full performance, and have a post-concert reception. Tickets are $5 for students and $10-25 for community members.

The Caravaneri program will also include a screening of the documentary film They were Promised the Sea at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in Giffels Auditorium. Filmmaker Kathy Wazana will present her film, an investigation into the circumstances that led to the exodus of Jews from Morocco after Israel was established in 1948. Wazana was born in Casablanca but is now based in Toronto, and her current work focuses on Jewish-Arab relations in Morocco and in Israel-Palestine. The screening and discussion that follows are also free and open to the public.

Caravanserai: A Place Where Cultures Meet, comes to Northwest Arkansas through a partnership between the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas and the Walton Arts Center.

The program is produced by Arts Midwest on behalf of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations with leadership support from the Building Bridges Program of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Major support is provided by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and MetLife Foundation All-In: Re-imagining Community Participation Program. Additional assistance has been provided by the lead Moroccan partners, the Essaouira Mogador Association and the Office of Moroccan National Tourism.