Arab Music Ensemble

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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

Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center

The Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble and Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble will share the stage again!

The internationally acclaimed Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble consists of artistic director and founder John Chookasian on clarinet, Barbara Chookasian on lead vocals, Ishmael on kanun, Paul Ohanesian on oud, and Mark Toomajian on dumbeg.

John Chookasian was inducted into the California Central Valley Music Hall of Fame in 2024, and the group has received many honors, including Armenia’s National Gold Medal Award and an International Armenian Grammy Award.

The concert will begin with a suite of Arab art and popular music. There will be instrumental genres rooted in shared traditions of the Ottoman era, choir pieces that include famous examples of the muwashshah — a genre of poetry and song which originate from the artistic milieu of 10th-century Andalusia — and two contemporary dance pieces.

The second half of the show will feature a variety of traditional and popular Armenian music genres interspersed with solos by members of the Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble, then the two ensembles will join forces to perform “Ah Ya Zayna” (“Oh Beautiful”), a popular folksong arranged by Arab Music Ensemble Director Ken Habib.

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. The dance troupe, directed by San Luis Obispo dance director Jenna Mitchell, has collaborated with the ensemble since its formation in 2006.

Renowned composers, poets and artists to be represented in the concert hail from Armenia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Turkey and include Cemil Bey, Fairuz, Hayrig Ghazarian, Komitas Vartab, Morsi Gamil Aziz, Mounir Mourad, the Rahbani Brothers, Sayyid Darwish, and Tatoul Altounian.

Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)