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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
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Saturday, March 14, 2026
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center
The Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble’s winter concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 14, in the Performing Arts Center will feature a wide range of music in advance of its concert tour of Southern Spain during Cal Poly’s spring break.
Concert proceeds will help cover expenses for the Spain trip, where the group will perform concerts in Cordoba, Granada and Seville.
In a first for the ensemble, the program includes a fusion of Arab folksong and American rap featuring guest artists Fathi Aljarrah on kamanja (violin), and Star Brown on vocals.
Dovetailing with its concert tour, the ensemble will present several classic and contemporary examples of the “muwashshah” genre of poetry and music, which traces its roots to 10th-century Andalusia. The newer pieces are in the form of a musical and poetic suite by the famed composer-poets, the Rahbani Brothers, and the Lebanese superstar singer, Fairuz. Related, the megahit “Sa’aluni Al-Nas” by Fairuz will be performed. It was composed by her son, Ziad Rahbani, for whom the ensemble is making a year-long tribute following his death in July.
Also on the program will be a hit by the Syrian virtuoso, Farid Al-Atrash, from his stellar career in Egyptian film; a famous Ladino song with Spanish lyrics; a popular Levantine folksong; two original instrumental pieces by Arab Music Ensemble Director Ken Habib; a student “takht,” or chamber ensemble; and the participation of ensemble alumni members who will join the tour.
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 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)