Solo Oud Performance by Essam Rafea

• Event Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2014
• Time: 4:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Performance

Winner of the 2010 "Best Composer Award" in Dubai International Film Festival for the film "Matar Ayloul," Rafeais the Chair of the Arabic Music Department at the High Institute of Music in Damascus and the principal conductor of the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music.

Co-founder and Oudist for the contemporary Arabic music group "Hewar," Rafea enjoys cross-cultural projects, among them a recent collaboration between "Gorillaz" and the Syrian National Orchestra. As a visiting artist at Northern Illinois University, Rafea directed the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble and performed with guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GaxSz8uJPQ (external link)

Presented and co-sponsored by the Spurlock Museum and the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music, this event is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.