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The Arab Music Ensemble is an orchestra and choir with vocal and instrumental soloists and with a membership that represents a wide range of majors on campus and professions off campus. Instrumentation includes the oud, qanun, nay, accordion, violin, viola, cello, double bass, riqq, daff, darabukka and more.
Concerts feature world-class guest artists and a dance troupe that sets the music in motion with original choreographies and beautiful costuming. In addition to the seminal selections of Arab art, popular and folk music to be featured in the concert programs, the ensemble will present celebrated pieces of historically interconnected cultures of the Mediterranean and larger region.
Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble Fall Concert
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Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center
The Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble’s fall concert will feature a tribute to Ziad Rahbani and a world premiere.
The program will open with a tribute to Rahbani who passed away in July, and who is widely regarded as a musical genius in Arab society. The ensemble will perform his 1977 classic, “Raqsat Tahiyyat” (A Dance of Greetings). Rahbani was from a family of artistic giants at the center of which is the superstar singer Fairuz, and a selection of her songs will complete the first set of the show.
Arab Music Ensemble Director Ken Habib’s new composition “Ahbabna Al-Rahilin” (Our Departed Loved Ones), will have its world premiere in the second half of the program. “This composition employs a relatively piquant melodic mode and several metric modes,” said Habib. “It also features instrumental layering and improvisation.”
Habib will perform the piece on oud (lute) with returning guest artists who will play throughout the concert: Ishmael on qanun (zither), Fathi Aljarrah on kamanja (violin), Rafid Yalda on nay (reed flute), and Faisal Zedan on riqq (tambourine), daff (frame drum) and darabukka (goblet drum).
Another special feature of the program will be the presentation of a series of chamber ensembles featuring advanced members.
San Luis Obispo dance director Jenna Mitchell will lead the dance troupe in original choreography that dialogues with the music in an ongoing collaboration that began shortly after the founding of the Arab Music Ensemble in 2006.
The Arab Music Ensemble is an orchestra and choir with vocal and instrumental soloists. Its membership represents a wide range of majors on campus and professions off campus.
Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)
Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble Winter Concert
(Click image for full-size file)
Saturday, March 14, 2026
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center
World-class guest artists and a dance troupe that sets the music in motion with original choreographies will be featured. Celebrated pieces of historically interconnected cultures of the Mediterranean and larger region will be performed.
Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)
Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble Spring Concert
(Click image for full-size file)
Saturday, May 30, 2026
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center
World-class guest artists and a dance troupe that sets the music in motion with original choreographies will be featured. Celebrated pieces of historically interconnected cultures of the Mediterranean and larger region will be performed.
Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)