North Chicago Suburbs this Saturday Night: Music from the Tent of Abraham

[MaxwellSt <MaxwellSt...>]

"Music From the Tent of Abraham"
Unique Program Unites Jews and Arabs

WHAT:   "Music From the Tent of Abraham"    
WHEN:   Concert -- Saturday, March 13, 8:30 PM
        Educational Program -- Sunday, March 14, 10:15 AM
WHERE:  Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism, 
        1221 Lake-Cook Rd., Highland Park
COST:   Concert -- $20 in advance; $25 at door.
        Educational Program -- Free.
PRE-REGISTER:     Call (847) 432-7950 

HIGHLAND PARK, IL, Jan. 29, 2004... In a timely alliance, representatives 
from Arab and Jewish cultures will collaborate for a weekend of music and 
study when Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism hosts its annual 
Scholar-in-Residence weekend, March 12-14, 2004.  The multi-dimensional 
program -- "Music From the Tent of Abraham" -- will provide a unique 
opportunity 
for a Jewish congregation to welcome Arab musicians under its roof. 

The program is sponsored by Lakeside Congregation, honoring Genesis at the 
Crossroads, a Chicago-based non-profit organization dedicated to bringing 
together Arab, Persian and Jewish communities through music and the arts. 
This weekend-long program includes:

-  Saturday, March 13 -- The Hamsa Concert, which includes the Arabic musical 
ensemble Trio Mizan playing together with a quartet from the Maxwell Street 
Klezmer Band. Trio Mizan specializes in classical music from Morocco, Algeria 
and Tunisia using Middle Eastern instruments such as the ‘ud and qanun.  This 
Hamsa concert features Trio Mizan musicians Hicham Chami, Chicago Magazine’s 
"best exotic instrumentalist," alongside Yoel Ben-Simhon and Richard 
Jankowsky. 
The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band musicians perform a spirited style of music 
associated with Eastern European Jewish culture.

-  Sunday, March 14 -- An adult enrichment lecture led by ethnomusicologist 
and 
Fulbright Scholar Richard Jankowsky, entitled "Mutual Inflences; Arab and 
Jewish Music in North Africa."

Rabbi Isaac Serotta of Lakeside Congregation says, "This unique program helps 
us 
to see the similarities between Jews and Moslems, and opens doors to 
dialogue.  
In a world rife with destruction, I am pleased that Lakeside Congregation can 
join 
with Genesis at the Crossroads to be bonim -- builders of peace."   Cantor 
Michael 
Davis adds, "A popular perception is that religion can create conflict 
between 
communities. This weekend will bring Jews and Arabs together to unify 
cultures 
through music and to celebrate our common heritage.  The program offers a 
message 
of hope to the Jewish and Arab communities in Chicago and beyond."

"This event and other cross-cultural artistic collaborations can serve as 
catalysts 
for inter-ethnic dialogue and global understanding," says Wendy Sternberg, 
MD, 
founder and co-president of Genesis at the Crossroads.