Dozan

Festival of Modern Oriental Music
at El Genaina Theatre, Al Azhar Park
Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy) presents, for the first time in Egypt, a festival of modern oriental music featuring six of the most prominent composers and instrumentalists in Turkey and the Arab region. Dozan is an attempt at exploring new musical grounds for traditional oriental music.

Dozan, Festival of Modern Oriental Music, will be held in El Genaina Theatre at Al-Azhar Park from 6 to 8 July 2007. The festival’s program includes three major concerts by musicians Khaled Jubran (Palestine), Barbaros Erkose (Turkey), Youssra Al Dahaby (Tunis), Andre Hajj (Lebanon), Abdou Dagher and Hazem Chahine (Egypt). The musicians will present solo performances as well as joint pieces and improvisations.

The six musicians who will take part in the festival are:
Khaled Jubran – Palestine
Khaled Jubran is a composer and a master of Buzuq and Oud. He studied music composition and theory at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem where he later worked as a teacher. In 1993 he founded and headed the Arabic music department in the Palestinian National Conservatory in Ramallah (Edward Said Conservatory). In 2000 he founded Al Urmawi Center for Mashreq Music which he currently leads. Al Urmawi Center works to promote excellence and innovation in Arabic music and to develop the skills and knowledge of young Arab musicians. Khaled Jubran has two music albums: Em El Khelkhal (2000) and Mazamir (2005).
Barbaros Erköse – Turkey
Barbaros Erköse belongs to a Turkish family of musicians who won international fame through their unique repertory of Roman music. His father played Oud for the famous Turkish singer Hafiz Burhan. He started playing the clarinet at the age of nine. He accompanied many famous Turkish singers such s Zeki Müren and Nesrin Sipahi and recorded with famous jazz players such as Anouar Brahem and Craig Harris. He also participated in a musical project, which involved seven musicians, resulting in a world tour and an album entitled Morungen/Songs from Visionary Musical.
Andre Hajj – Lebanon
Andre Hajj learning music at the age of 15, and earned a diploma in Oud (Lute) performance from the USEK (Holy Spirit University of Kaslik), and later became a member of the faculty of the USEK. In 1995, he joined Lebanon’s National Conservatory of Music as an Oud Professor and jointed Arabic Music Orchestra, an auxiliary of the Conservatory, as its first Oud player. Andre Hajj now supervises the student ensemble of USEK. He has one album, Simply Music (2004).
Youssra Al Dhahabi- Tunis
Youssra Al Dhahabi was born into a musical family in Tunisia. Her father was a Sufi singer who encouraged his children to sing and to go to the rehearsals of his troupe. Youssra spent several years studying and working in medicine, but she continued to play music and eventually gave up her job to pursue a musical career. Today she is one of the most highly regarded musicians in the Arab world and one of very few women working in this field.
Abdo Dagher – Egypt
Egypt’s foremost violinist, Abdo Dagher learnt music in Tanta from his father, a professional musician, a music master and a manufacturer of musical instruments. At the age of ten Dagher embarked on his musical career working with music troupes in Tanta. He moved to Cairo in 1955 where he joined famous Arabic music orchestras and played with Um Kolthoum and Mohammed Abd EL Wahab. He later met Abdelhalim Noueira with whom he founded The Arabic Music Troup. Dagher has many compositions in which he combines oriental music with western techniques.
Hazem Chahine
studied oriental music and Oud playing since he was in secondary musical school in Alexandria, then he moved to Cairo to continue his studies of oriental music and oud instrument at university level. In 1999 he joined the Oud House Project in the Cairo Opera House, where he studied and later worked as a teacher. Hazem now works as an Oud teacher at Cairo Opera house and is founder and leader of the group Iskenrella. He composed and played most of the album “Salt and Bread” in 2006. .
Dozan Program
Friday 6 July, 2007
Khaled Jubran, Palestine
Barbaros Erkose, Turkey
Saturday 7 July, 2007
Andre Hajj, Lebanon
Youssra Al Dahaby, Tunis
Sunday 8 July, 2007
Hazem Chahine, Egypt
Abdou Dhagher, Egypt
All concerts start at 9:00 PM – Please make sure you arrive 30 minutes before event starting time

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