Omar Offendum’s viral 2011 song #Jan25, inspired by the Arab Spring uprising, established the Syrian-American MC-poet on the global stage. Now he comes to BAM with this jewel of a show set in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood once known as Little Syria (1880—1940). Just south of the current World Trade Center, this vibrant cultural hub for New York’s Middle Eastern immigrants was home to artists and intellectuals including Kahlil Gibran. Against this backdrop, Offendum’s genre-bridging performance—spanning hip-hop, Arabic instrumentation, and ḥakawātī oral storytelling traditions of the Levant—imagines early 20th-century life in the heart of this Arab-American community. In this historical retelling of an under-told story, Offendum draws an audience attuned to stories of immigration, xenophobia, and the ever-evolving “American dream.”

Part of Music at BAM Curated by Hanif Abdurraqib