Global Thursdays Fall Season Offers Musical Journeys to Latin America, Arab World, Eastern Europe and Beyond
Why does a museum with “Arab” in its name present performing artists from cultures unrelated to the Arab World or Arab Americans?
Global Thursdays at the Arab American National Museum (AANM) is a purposefully diverse performance series, designed to showcase the rich musical traditions of various cultures and ethnicities the world over.
It is also a fall-to-spring extension of the Concert of Colors, a free weekend music festival produced each summer by the AANM, ACCESS, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New Detroit and Detroit Institute of Arts. During its 18-year history, Concert of Colors has become a beloved annual event known for celebrating diversity through music.
“Like Concert of Colors, Global Thursdays is a reflection of America’s diverse population,” says AANM Deputy Director Devon Akmon. “We proudly present leading Arab and Arab American artists, but also take great pride in exposing metro Detroit audiences to important artists from the many cultures present in America.”
“We believe that our AANM mission, to celebrate and educate the public about the presence and contributions of Arab Americans, should extend to all other cultures as well. The more we know about a culture other than our own, the easier it is to understand, respect and enjoy that culture. And music is probably the most accessible entry point into almost any ethnic tradition.”
The Fall 2010 Global Thursdays season opens September 9 with an appearance by Jesus “Chuy” Negrete, who has made the preservation and celebration of Mexican and Mexican-American history and culture his life’s work. On October 7, acclaimed composer/violinist Riad Abdel-Gawad will showcase a unique genre of Egyptian music connected to legendary Arab vocalist Umm Kulthum. Closing the fall season on November 4 is celebrated Detroit-based world musician Sean Blackman, who combines his own Eastern European heritage with the music of nations including Senegal and Brazil.
Global Thursdays concerts are intended for general audiences. Those of Mexican heritage might find Jesus “Chuy” Negrete of special interest, for example, but any adventurous music lover or history aficionado is likely to have a satisfying experience as well.
Tickets for Global Thursdays concerts are just $10; Museum Members pay just $9. Advance tickets are available online only at www.arabamericanmuseum.org; tickets are also available at the door the night of the event.
All Global Thursdays concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. and take place in the Lower Level Auditorium at the AANM, 13624 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn. Free, lighted parking is available.
Global Thursdays is made possible in part by Comerica, MASCO and DTE Energy.
DoubleTree Hotel – Detroit/Dearborn provides artist accommodations.
GLOBAL THURSDAYS FALL 2010 SEASON
September 9, 2010: Jesus “Chuy” Negrete
In celebration of Mexican Independence Day Sept. 16, Global Thursdays welcomes Jesus “Chuy” Negrete, founder and director of the Mexican Cultural Institute in Chicago. An engaging teller of tales and master narrator of the Mexican experience through song and ballads, Dr. Negrete was called “the Chicano Woody Guthrie” by oral historian and radio personality Studs Terkel. With guitar and harmonica, he recounts the Mexican and Mexican-American experience through storytelling, poetic song and corridos (running-verse ballads) as he traces the history of Mexican-Latino experiences from pre-Columbian times to the present.
The presentation above is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from MCACA, General Mills Foundation and Land O’Lakes Foundation.
October 7, 2010: Riad Abdel-Gawad
Riad Abdel-Gawad is an internationally acclaimed composer and violinist. His compositions have embraced Arabic music, in particular a school of instrumental music that was developed by Abdo Dagher, a famous accompanist of legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum. This stylistic school is the only such teacher-disciple music school to develop in recent Cairo history. Abdel-Gawad is considered by his peers in Egypt to be one of the main protagonists and one of the most serious artists to come out of this particularly distinct school of musical style.
5:30 p.m. opening reception for new AANM exhibition Hawaii’s Alfred Shaheen: Fabric to Fashion precedes the Oct. 7 Global Thursdays performance. Reception, featuring complimentary refreshments, is free and open to the public.
November 4, 2010: Sean Blackman
Composer and accomplished acoustic nylon-string guitarist Sean Blackman has performed and studied worldwide and put down roots in Detroit for the sole purpose of working with the city’s deep pool of ethnic musicians. Recently he composed the score for the popular documentary The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato. His passion for the nylon-string guitar evokes his Armenian roots and blends old-world sounds from that country with the beats of sunny Senegal and rhythms of fabulous Brazil. Accompanying him will be celebrated musicians from several continents playing instruments such as the kora, kanun and oud.
All Global Thursdays performances begin at 6:30 p.m. in the intimate, 156-seat Lower Level Auditorium at the Arab American National Museum, 13624 Michigan Ave., just west of Schaefer in Dearborn, Michigan.
Tickets for Global Thursdays concerts are $10/$9 Museum Members. Advance tickets are available ONLINE ONLY at www.arabamericanmuseum.org until 5 p.m. the day before the event. Tickets are also available at the door the night of the event.
Free, ample, lighted parking is available behind the Museum; enter the municipal lot by turning north from Michigan Avenue onto Neckel Street, which is just west of the Museum.
Questions? Call 313.624.0215.