Volunteers needed to help the day of the event. Please email your interest.
For more information, contact the Office of Somerville at commissions@somervillema.gov
or call 617-625-6600 (x2406)
Our strength as an organization comes from you, our members, participants, donors and volunteers, who make the Center for Arabic Culture (CAC) vibrant and strong! The CAC is grateful for all you do for us throughout the year. Because of you, we have realized extraordinary growth and achievement since 2006….
This year you helped us 
grow the CAC Sunday School by 20%. We added the extremely popular CAC Children Choir and Arabic Kids Playgroup for younger children, the first of their kind in MA. “Cook with CAC” has been heavily attended, and now we have teamed up with KITCHENiNC in Somerville to make those classes a regular program on the cooking class scene. The center is also becoming a great educational resource for college student interns; in the space of a few months, we have helped train 11 interns and will continue our mentorship and outreach in that arena. And, these are only a few examples of the programs that you enjoy at CAC.
At the CAC, you will receive top-notch services, and you know that you will be treated in a warm and caring manner by dedicated, professional teachers, program facilitators, and staff. We are very proud of the milestones we have achieved, but we also think we can do better, grow even more, and add even more programs.
Your yearly gift of $100, $250, $500, $1000 or $5,000 can make all the difference for our Arabic Sunday School, for our cultural programming and lectures, for our art exhibits, or any other outreach and programs that we bring to you – and it will also make a big difference to everyone who works to serve you.
You can choose to join our monthly giving program today! You can become a CAC Champion Partner by giving $15, $20, $50, $100 or more every month. The CAC’s monthly giving program allows you to support our mission of bringing the community outstanding services on a recurring basis by way of automatic bank pay or credit card payments. Monthly giving is a convenient, automatic, and easy way to show you care.
Please help us continue our important work so that we can bring you more of what you have come to love and rely on. Without you, our community, we would not be able to continue our work. You give us meaning and a reason to exist! Please consider making as generous a gift as you can.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire CAC Team, thank you so much for your help and Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Gheed Amara Itani
Watch the CAC presenting a delicious Middle Eastern dish on the Boston Neighborhood Network this Thursday Dec. 18 at 3.30 pm.
The “Seniors Count” Program will air on Comcast channel 9 (Boston only) and RCN channel 23 (Boston only) or streamed online world wide at http://bit.ly/1km7JDq.
The program and the food are sponsored and provided by Saab’s Market in Norwood, MA! Thank you very much for your support of the CAC!
THE PERRY AND MARTY GRANOFF MUSIC CENTER
Tufts University • 20 Talbot Avenue • Medford, MA • 02155
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Media Contacts:
Anna Griffis 617.627.3679 Jeffrey Rawitsch, 617.627.2253
anna.griffis@tufts.edu Jeffrey.Rawitsch@tufts.edu
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MA – The Tufts University Department of Music presents Al-Mawlid Al-Nabaw?/The Prophet’s Birthday, a concert by the Noor Ensemble, in the Distler Performance Hall at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on Friday, January 30, 2015 at 8 p.m. The Noor Ensemble presents a program of sacred songs (mad?h) from Morocco, Syria and beyond, in a concert to commemorate al-mawlid al nabaw? – the anniversary of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. This concert is co-sponsored by the Department of Music and the Middle East Studies Program at Tufts.
The Granoff Music Center is located at 20 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter or call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.
This concert has been made possible by the Granoff Music Fund.
Friday, January 30, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.
Al-Mawlid Al-Nabaw?/The Prophet’s Birthday
Granoff Music Center, 20 Talbot Avenue, Tufts University Medford/Somerville Campus
Featuring: The Noor Ensemble; Abdou Adam, Imad Angham, Jamal Warma, vocals; Yussef Ait Lhadj, percussion; Mohamed Ali, oud; Kareem Azab, violin; Mohamed Majour, n?y; Boujemaa Razgui, buzuq; Jamal Sinno, q?n?n
###
Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs across the university’s eight schools is widely encouraged.
The Tufts Department of Music offers a flexible and eclectic academic program leading to a Bachelor or Master of Arts degree in music. Students concentrate in composition, ethnomusicology, musicology, or theory, while having the opportunity to explore all these disciplines, as well as the areas of music cognition, linguistics, sociology, and anthropology of music. Students also have the opportunity to perform in over twenty different department ensembles and chamber music groups, as well as study privately on the instrument of their choice (including voice). The Tufts Department of Music is housed in the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, home to the Distler Performance Hall, Fisher Performance Room, Varis Lecture Hall, and Lilly Music Library. The Music Center hosts over 180 events and concerts annually, the majority of which are produced and presented by the Department of Music.
For more information about this event, please click here!
The CAC is teaming up with KITCHENiNC, Union Square’s culinary incubator, to present this cooking class series.
Date: Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 — from 6.00-9.00 pm Location: KITCHENiNCJoin us for this new cooking class and enjoy home-style authentic cooking and “My Grandma” recipes that you cannot find at any culinary school. It is a “Prepare and Learn” class where all participants will taste authentic food made by the cook and then taste their own. This November session will focus on Middle Eastern and Arabic desserts: “Atayef and Baklawa.”
Class will give great information about the cultural background of Middle Eastern cooking–especially dessert–followed by hands-on preparation for each recipe, and finally, eating and celebrating the sweet taste of success!
For more information, please visit: http://www.kitcheninc.net/
email: info@cacboston.org; or call us at 617-893-1176
To see what we have planned for Spring 2014, please click here.
~~~~~
Beverages, snacks and Middle Eastern sweets will be served
Critically acclaimed Egyptian film director and producer Youssef Chahine was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1926. After university in Alexandria he traveled to Los Angeles, California to study acting. Upon returning to Egypt Chahine entered the film industry as a director, launching his first feature film in 1950 at age 23. His second film, Ibn an-Nil (Son of the Nile) resulted in his first invitation to the Cannes Film Festival in 1951.
Chahine is also credited with discovering and launching the career of actor Omar Sherif.
Chahine once said of his work, “I make my films first for myself. Then for my family. Then for Alexandria. Then for Egypt.” His work touched on controversial topics, from criticism of Egyptian society to homosexuality and what was considered anti-Americanism in a post-9/11 world. Despite being controversial, his films rendered him Arab cinema’s most celebrated director.
“If the Arab world likes them, ahlan wa sahlan (welcome). If the foreign audience likes them, they are doubly welcome.” In fact they did, and Chahine was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award in 1997.
~~~~~
Filled with beautiful location shots of Egyptian ruins and lush re-enactments of decadent cult rituals, The Emigrant is a fascinating retelling of the biblical tale of Joseph, told from an Egyptian perspective. Ram (“Joseph”), tired of his family’s backward superstitious life and bullying brothers, wants to travel to Egypt to study agriculture. His brothers travel with him across the Sinai but suddenly sell him to an Egyptian who works for a regional military leader. Ram soon finds himself a pawn in the political and sexual games between Amihar and his wife Simihit, a high priestess of the Cult of Amun.
~~~~~
The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgments are not liked by everyone especially the caliph’s political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect. It is a story about love, music, religion, power and destiny.
~~~~~
Egyptian director Youssef Chahine exposes the links between power and fanaticism and denounces intolerance in this bitter portrait of the Egyptian business world, where unconditional drive for money rules. Adam (Hani Salama), the son of a rich businessman, and his American wife meet Hanane (Hanane Turk), a journalist of modest means at the airport on his return from studying in the US. She is part of a campaign against a wealthy elite, which has thrived on plundering its own people. Corruption is everywhere in the country and American interests are taking over the lucrative tourist trade. Adam’s rich parents and their friends in the government are at the heart of this corrupt system. 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999.
~~~~~
~~~~~
For a full list of Spring 2015 films, please click here.
