Ya Habibi: A Musical Journey through the Arab World
Our newest residency
Ya Habibi: A Musical Journey through the Arab World, created by Teaching Artist Yacine Boulares, focuses on the varied and rich traditions of Arabic music.
Students will travel through a variety of musical traditions from the Middle East and North African regions. They will play musical games, explore melodies and rhythms from Moroccan and Tunisian trance music to Lebanese Dabke, Andalusian music, and Maqamat. They will learn popular children's songs from these countries and discover the great Arabic singers and composers (Oum Khalthoum, Fairuz, Warda, Mohammad Abdel Wahab).
Young New Yorkers will also be introduced to the traditional instruments of the Arab world.
Video of the Week
Yacine is the co-founder of the amazing Habibi Festival, which was created to give a snapshot of contemporary and traditional music of the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region.
We hope you enjoy this recap video from last year's festival!
Link to "Habibi Festival 2021."
Community Member Highlight
We are delighted to welcome our newest teaching artist, Yacine Boulares!
Yacine is a French-Tunisian saxophonist, composer, and educator based in Brooklyn who graduated from the Paris National Conservatory and the New School for Jazz. A Fulbright laureate, he has been awarded grants by the French American Jazz Exchange, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, and the Brooklyn Arts Council.
He writes, "S'Cool Sounds is the perfect framework to share my culture with New York’s young ones in a significant way. Last week, a hundred students learned a Tunisian song and went home speaking a little bit of Arabic. That’s quite extraordinary, I think!"
Welcome to the team, Yacine!