World Premiere
Faraj Abyad: Andalusian Love Story
In association with NYUAD Institute
Wednesday, Apr 5 @ 9:30 pm, 2023
Past Event
Spend your Ramadan night listening to vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Faraj Abyad’s mix of contemporary and classical poetry blended with classical Egyptian and Syrian sounds.
Andalusian Love Story, composed by Faraj Abyad, is based on a series of love letters written between Ibn Zaydun and Wallada Bint Al Mustakfi. Influences from modern Khaleeji, Latin, and classical music intertwine with classical Egyptian and Syrian Muwashshah styles to create a new modern sound rooted in Arabic Turath and tradition.
Listen to the music:
Biographies
Faraj Abyad (Musical Compositions)
Faraj Abyad is a composer and a multi-instrumentalist of Syrian/Aleppian descent based in New York City, who specializes in performing traditional Arabic music. He often performs concerts in which he gathers distinguished musicians and singers from around
the Middle East to advocate classical Arabic music in a contemporary world. His goal as a musician and singer is to preserve and uphold the timeless beauty of ancestral Arabic music while advancing and progressing their historic melodies to appeal to the modern era. Although his primary role in his orchestra is singing, he is also particularly skilled on oud, violin, and percussion.
Faraj was the first Arabic singer/composer to have an exclusive video filmed in the Islamic wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Additionally, Faraj was recently featured at Carnegie Hall on Arabic Language Day in 2021. In 2022, he was commissioned by Abu Dhabi Music Festival to produce an album of modern Tarab to the greats of classical Arabic poetry. This album was recorded in the legendary Power Station Studios in New York City where some of the greatest American musical icons have recorded their albums.
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