Tarab Sacred Music Ensemble Set for 2/12 at St. Bart's

By: Kelsey Denette Jan. 26, 2012

Tarab Sacred Music Ensemble will play Sufi music from Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Tarab comprises five musicians who sing and play acoustic instruments (nay, oud, buzuq, frame drums and riq) from the Middle East, as well as a whirling dervish who dances along to the music.

Tarab is a term used by musicians to describe the feeling that comes along with the enjoyment of music, roughly translated as the "ecstacy of music." Tarab is the gate through which the Sufis cross into the world of true being, where they experience God as a whole. Music is used by many mystical traditions as a medium to experience the divine. The communal practice of music through repetitive chanting, rhythmic cycles and dance movements transports the devout into a state of trance where the laws of physics and reason, as we perceive them, are suspended. Sufi music is played on Muslim holy days, such as Mawwlad al-Nabawi, Laylat al-Qadr and throughout the month of Ramadan.

Founded in 1998, TARAB is an ensemble of New York-based musicians who focus on studying and performing the classical Arabic repertoire, instrumental (with such genres as samai, lunga, dulab) and vocal, with special emphasis on the Andalusi Muwashah and Sufi repertoire. The ensemble also explores traditional folk music from various regions of the Arab world. Importance is given to improvisation, both vocal and instrumental, to allow each musician to explore the maqamat, or scales.

The Tarab Sacred Music Ensemble
Tariq Abbushi, Buzuq and Vocals
George Ziadeh, Oud and Vocals
Ramze Edelbe, Tabla, Framdrum and Dancer
Taufiq ben Amur, Framdrum and Vocals
Zafer Tawil, Nay, Qanun and Vocals

Tickets at $25 with a $15 rate for students/seniors can be purchased at stbarts.org or with a credit card by calling (212) 378-0248, and will be available at the concert desk at St. Bart's Central daily from 9 am - 6 pm and will be available at the door on the afternoon of the concert.

The Great Music Series, produced by the Mid-Manhattan Performing Arts Foundation, Inc., offers a diverse variety of concerts from large scale choral works and organ concerts in the church to chamber music and jazz in the acoustically remarkable chapel. Crucial to the musical programming of the series is St. Bartholomew's Choir, a fully professional choir, and the Boy and Girl Choristers, renowned as one of the finest children's choir in the metropolitan area. The church also possesses an Aeolian/Skinner pipe organ of 168 stops, the largest in New York City and considered to be one of the greatest examples of the American Classic Organ of the 20th century.

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