Interview with Abed Hathout of 'Khalas' Band

Abed Hathout (left) with DJ Ramzi at KZSU 90.1 FM

My interview with 'Khalas' guitarist Abed Hathout, conducted on May 8, 2014 at Stanford University. Includes music and interview.  Listen below or at https://soundcloud.com/arabology/interview-with-abed-hathout-of-khalas-band

'Khalas' is a Palestinian band from Israel that inoculates sensual Arabic beats and lyrics with aggressive metal riffs. The band members are influenced by AC/DC, System of a down, Black Sabbath, etc… and use their unique sounds to revive and adapt classics from the Arab world by such legends as Muhammad Abdelwahab, Farid El Atrache, Om Kolthum and Asmahan.
For more info about the band see khalas.net

Zahera Harb to Speak at Stanford about the Ethical Boundaries of Reporting on the Arab Uprisings

Zahera Harb (City University London; 2013-14 SHC-FSI International Visitor) will be giving a talk titled "Reporting the Arab Uprisings and its Ethical Boundaries" on Tuesday, May 13, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm at Encina Hall East, Goldman Conference Room, Room 409 (616 Serra Street) at Stanford University.

Abstract: Arab screens along with social networks have been flooded over the past three years with words, images and videos that were meant to shed light on the revolts and uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain Libya and Syria. What started as a celebrated influx of information soon turned into means for disseminating sectarian and ethnic hatred, mainly in the cases of Syria and Egypt. Dr. Zahera Harb will discuss ethical boundaries that have been applied in Arab media coverage of the Arab revolts and uprisings, drawing on journalism epistemologies in the Arab world and focusing on recent developments in Syria and Egypt.

Zahera Harb is one of the six 2013-2014 FSI-Humanities Center International Visitors and will be in residence at Stanford in May 2014. She is Senior Lecturer in International Journalism at City University London. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Journalism Studies from Cardiff University (United Kingdom). As an expert on Arab media, she has published widely on journalism ethics, conflict and war reporting, political communication and representation of Muslims and Islam in western media. Her recent publications include Narrating Conflict in the Middle East: Discourse, Image and Communications Practices in Lebanon and Palestine (2013) and Channels of Resistance: Liberation Propaganda, Hezbollah and the Media(2011). Dr. Harb also has 11 years of experience as a journalist in Lebanon working for Lebanese and international media organizations.

Zahera Harb will also be giving another talk, in Arabic this time, on Monday, May 19, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm in Building 30, Room 102.  Open only to Stanford students.

[Co-sponsored by the CDDRL Program on Arab Reform and Democracy, the Mediterranean Studies Forum, Stanford Humanities Center, Arab Studies Table, Stanford Language Center]

Meet Dr Zahera Harb, researcher and International Journalism MA lecturer http://youtu.be/7aqqvLG_od8

Ramzi Salti: Alhurra TV Report Ft Interview in English (April 2014)

Video at http://youtu.be/nS381bkfkio
Audiovisual content administered by Al Hurra TV

This TV report was produced by Louis Karim and aired on Alhurra TV in April 2014.  It  focuses on Dr. Salti's academic experience at Stanford University as well on his Arabology radio show. Video is at http://youtu.be/nS381bkfkio; Audiovisual content administered by Al Hurra TV

Artist Manal Deeb Broaches Indistinguishable Identities and Actual Memories

Artwork by Manal Deeb

Excerpts from this blog entry were written by Dagmar Painter.  They are included here with the permission of artist Manal Deeb.  All rights reserved.

Artist Manal Deeb

Manal Deeb is an Arab American artist based out of the Washington DC area. She was born in 1968 in Ramallah and then moved to the United States in 1986.

Manal studied studio arts at the University of Illinois in Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in the psychology of art from George Mason University in Virginia. She was the second in a series of three women artists featured at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery this past spring and she has had many solo and group exhibits in DC, Chicago, NYC, Boston & Dallas.

Manal's work presents many identities that are indistinguishable. Each identity has the same apparent memories and perceives identical surroundings, while believing, with evidence, to be representing the real self and the actual memories. 

Artist Manal Deeb Is FROM THERE


Paintings by Palestinian-American artist Manal Deeb. White—like the clouds of her reflections, as she explores her Palestinian origin, persistent memories of where she comes from and whom she has become. Born in Ramallah, Deeb grew up under Israeli occupation until she moved to the United States in 1986.

Collaging images, graphics, paint and even tree bark onto her highly textured surfaces, Deeb's paintings are layered like peeling posters on the walls of recollection. In some cases, words from the Qur'an are incorporated to capture the wisdom and power of the verses and to communicate their imaginative energy. Each painting follows a narrative arc in the rhythm of the brushstrokes and the overlaid elements, telling a story about how memories become reality, and how to preserve heritage through art. Pieces of tree bark evoke her childhood play time around the almond and fig trees of her homeland. All the incorporated materials become sacred talismans in the narrative of identity.

Deeb paired her paintings with the lyrical poems of Iyad Hayatleh, a Palestinian poet living in Scotland. An excerpt accompanying the painting "FROM THERE":

There—far away

where the sky, just a bow's length from a sigh,

overshadows the roofs of the houses

born out of tents

as it dries the tears of old women

who weep for the warmth of home they left—

which remain on their eyelashes

wherever they dwell, wherever they go….



"Delirious In Exile"

"Delirious in Exile" by Manal Deeb

The painting above was accompanied by a poem about the anguish of longing for home by Iyad Hayatleh.  Deeb's skillful handling of the pictorial elements enables her to become both painter and storyteller. Manal Deeb's eBook is featured on her web site and combines poems written by Iyad Hayatleh with Manal’s artwork and music.http://youtu.be/ZiA5f08nTrQ

الشعر والإلقاء للشاعر إياد حياتله للوحات الفنيه للفنانه منال ديب Video edit by FaDesign

For more info see Manal Deeb's web site at http://www.manaldeeb.com/

Aswat Presents Aleppo Alive Concert

Aswat’s Qudud Halabiyyah concert is directed by Fathi Aljarah and will take place on Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 7:30 pm at McKenna Theatre at San Francisco State University (SFSU).  Tickets are available online and at the door

“Aleppo Alive” will consist of a “Wasleh”, a suite of songs and instrumental pieces in the Aleppine tradition, which is threatened existentially by the current civil war in Syria. It is a concert borne of a sentiment to help save the endangered musical heritage of Syria – especially of Aleppo, a historically significant centuries-old artistic hub of civilizations. Since Zawaya’s mandate is to preserve, present, and promote Arab music, at no point in time is this mandate more relevant than the present with Aleppo’s ongoing destruction.

Interview: Dr. Zahra Sings Fairuz, Um Kulthum, Asmahan

Dr. Zahra at KZSU 90.1 FM

My interview with Dr. Zahra Calif who sings Fairuz, Um Kulthum, and Asmahan.  Listen below or at https://soundcloud.com/arabology/interview-zahra-akifi

Interview was recorded in March 2014 at KZSU 90.1 FM Studios (Stanford University)