Arab Musician Visits Schools To Preach Percussion, Not Politics, Through Young Audiences Of Massachusetts
MMD Newswire
Press release
What does a child growing up in Massachusetts think of when hearing the phrase “The Arab World”?
Karim Nagi wants them to think of soulful music, beautiful folk-dance and a rich cultural tradition. That’s why the Egyptian-born Boston resident takes time away from a busy international touring schedule to visit Massachusetts schools, introducing students to the voices of the oud, the tabla and the riqq and to the rhythms and movements of the Tahteeb Cane Dance, Dabka Line Dance, and Zikr Sufi Dance.
For seven years, this master of traditional Arab music and folk dance has been a roster artist for Young Audiences of Massachusetts (YAMA), a Boston-based non-profit which brings arts learning of all kinds to children in schools, libraries, community centers, museums, hospitals and homeless shelters. Nagi offers an interactive and engaging 45-minute performance for students in grades K-8. He wears traditional dress, brings a colorful map to show the lands from which his music and dance originate, teaches students some musical vocabulary in Arabic and regales students with tales of his rigorous training-but of course, the real hook is the music and dance.
“There is no better ambassador for a culture than its art,” Nagi says, “and sadly, with the focus of the media right now, the Arab Culture is in particular need of great ambassadors. Showing children that Arabs are real every-day, people and that our culture brings beauty and soul into the world, is my personal mission as an educator.”
Julie McConchie, YAMA’s executive director calls Nagi, “a master performer with incredible charm and warmth.”
“Children really respond to Karim’s enthusiasm,” she says, “and teachers are delighted to have his help in bringing their curriculum on the Middle East to life. We’re very proud to bring Karim’s work to students.”
MORE ABOUT KARIM NAGI
Karim Nagi is a native Egyptian drummer, DJ, composer and folk dancer. He is the creator of Turbo Tabla, and has released four internationally distributed CDs of this unique brand of Arab House/Electronica using acoustic instruments. Karim has authored instructional DVDs for the Tabla/Doumbek, Riqq tambourine, Maqam & Taqsim, Drum Solo for Dance, and Arab Folk Dance. He is well versed in the ultra-traditional styles of music, and has lead the Sharq Arabic Music Ensemble since 1999.
He promotes and fosters the study of Arab dance in the USA as the director of the Arab Dance Seminar. Karim performs and teaches Tahteeb Cane Dance, Dabka Line Dance, and Zikr Sufi Dance.
He taught at the New England Conservatory of Music for 5 years, and has lectured and presented at Harvard, MIT, Yale, Bowdoin, Princeton, Stanford, William & Mary, Georgetown, and several Community Colleges. Additionally, Karim Nagi’s Arabiqa program has conducted over 300 school assemblies across America, exposing young audiences to Arab traditional arts.
His performances boast a dynamic concoction of live drumming and dance, done in unison. Because of his proficiency in both music and dance, his workshops deliver students to a new physical understanding of the connection between these two disciplines. As a dance and drum teacher, Karim has taught in dozens of festivals in the United States, Asia, Europe and Cairo, as well as all major Arab Culture festivals in the USA. Karim Nagi is a true crossover artist, uniting the Cabaret and Tribal, Traditional and the Modern, the Ethnic and the Urban.
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