MONTREAL ? What does the term ?Arab? mean to you? Now?s the time to test your preconceptions by checking out what?s happening on the Arab cultural front in some of the 22 countries of the League of Arab States, as well as related countries, at Montreal?s Festival du Monde Arabe (FMA). The perimeters of the FMA extend to anywhere Arab cultural influence may be felt in the world.
And that includes Ontario.
Festival spokesperson Emily-Jane Aouad underlines that the FMA, founded in 2000 by Joseph Nakhl?, a Lebanese Christian, is ?a festival addressed to Canadian audiences. It?s not just a community event.?
One of the musical acts at the 13th edition of this festival is a group called the Sultans of String. Based in Toronto, this five-member ensemble led by Chris McKhool and Kevin Laliberte combines Arab folk music with Spanish flamenco, Cuban music and French Gypsy-jazz.
About 70 to 75 per cent of those who attend the festival are non-Arab Quebecers, Aouad said. The mandate of the FMA, which is produced on a budget of about $800,000, is to create a dialogue between Arabic and Western cultures. Last year?s attendance at ticketed events was about 17,000, she said, for an overall total of about 25,000.
Musical groups run the gamut from to Algerian hip hop (Lotfi Double Kanon and Foursen) to Afghan folk (Zohreh Jooya and the Afghan Ensemble). But there?s more to the FMA, which opens Friday at multiple Montreal venues, than music.
The festival has three mains sections: Performing Arts, Cultural Forums and Cinema.
This year, the FMA?s major spectacle, Dieu en 3D (God in 3D), combines devotional music and dance from Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Muslims are represented by a Syrian Sufi group, The Whirling Dervishes of Aleppo.
Yes, that?s Aleppo, Syria, where life still does go on, in spite of the ravages of a bloody conflict. ?Hopefully, nothing will happen to them before they arrive,? Aouad said.
Earlier versions of the show, seen here in 2003 and 2004, involved only the dervishes and a Christian Gregorian-chant choir. ?This year we have integrated the Jewish tradition,? she said.
Dieu en 3D will close the festival on Nov. 10.
The FMA is multi-generational, too. There?s a children?s play called Ali au pays d?Alice, by Francis D?silets, about early Syrian immigration to Montreal. Co-produced by the FMA and Place des Arts, it will play at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, at the Cinqui?me Salle of PDA.
Many free FMA events will be presented at Place des Arts during weekends between 5 and 7:30 p.m.
For adults, there?s a potentially controversial play called Les Monologues voiles, directed by Adelheid Roosen, billed as a Muslim woman?s answer to The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler. But this French import isn?t an official part of the festival, Aouad explained. It runs Dec. 6-15 at Place des Arts.
As for movies, the performing arts section of the festival is more fully developed than the cinema section, Aouad explained. Only five FMA films will be shown at Cin?ma du Parc, Nov. 2 to 4. Two of them are Lebanese (It?s all About Lebanon, directed by Wissam Charaf; and Marcedes, by Hady Zaccak). One is from Egypt (Cairo 78, by Mohamed Diab), another is from Morocco (Andalousia, My Love!, by Mohamed Nadif) and the final one is a Moroccan, German and French co-production (On the Edge, by Leila Kilani). All are in Arabic with French surtitles, except for Cario 678 and Marcedes, which have surtitles in English.
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