Christiane Karam, assistant professor of Voice/Ensemble and Songwriting, and founder and co-director of Berklee’s Middle Eastern Music Festival, writes about the upcoming festival, and shares a rehearsal video. Read the official press release here.
Hi everyone! Christiane Karam here: assistant professor of voice/ensemble and songwriting, and Middle Eastern Festival founder and co-director with this year’s esteemed featured guest, multi-Grammy award winning flamenco great, Artistic Director of Berklee in Valencia’s Mediterranean Music Institute and our very own visiting professor, Javier Limon. Collaborating on this project has been an incredible joy and we are both very excited to present you with a rainbow of musical colors from the Middle East, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, with a focus on Spain and Andalusia, of course, in this Flamenco-themed edition of the Annual Middle Eastern festival. All these musical cultures share so much, and it’s fascinating to explore how deep these connections run, from rhythms to modes to instruments–we even share similar food and life experiences!