Arab-esque

Syrian flag as seen during NAAP's NY street festival 2010. Low angle
Syrian flag as seen during NAAP's NY street festival 2010. Low angle

Last Saturday was the 8th Annual Arab American Cultural Street Festival which is the official kick-off to New York City’s Annual Arab Heritage Week. NAAP-NY has been organizing this street festival since its inception.

The festivities included an interesting and diverse array of live music & dance, food(of course) and several businesses/activities from all parts of the city and the Arab world.

By Kinan Faham

"the Silent Camera" was conceived in 2009 and was inspired by the music of Arvo Part especially his piece "Silentium". I perceive the modern world as oscillating between two extremes that are analogous to two of Arvo Part's pieces: "Perpetuum Mobile" represents the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the sea of people surrounding you, the noise in the streets, the deadlines, the challenges and the lessons to learn, the new technologies and risks facing our civilization, the musical pieces you learn [or fail to master],.. etc. "Silentium" represents the resolution of every musical note, every spoken word and every movement of your day. It is the moment that you are most likely to remember after the day's noise has settled and its turbulence has subsided. It is the moment that we all crave and the moment that will allow us to persist to the next day when the Perpetuum Mobile cycle starts again.

Shouts and Murmurs go here!