Arabology Interviews by Dr. Ramzi Salti

Watch video at https://youtu.be/UusSbTLxK5o

Interview with Sandra Arslanian of Sandmoon, recorded in August 2016. Features 2 tracks by Sandmoon: "Home" and "Time Has Yet to Come." Arabology speaks to Sandmoon founder, singer/songwriter Sandra Arslanian about her new CD, fleeing her native Lebanon, and being part of the country’s diverse music scene. Sandra Arslanian was born at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970’s. Her fami...

Interview with Kelvin Bown who specializes in antique historical photograph restoration and continues work on a collection of historical images of the Middle East. Mr. Bown has a deep love and appreciation of the region, its peoples, religions, cultures and history, which deepened during the period of ten years spent living in Sinai, Egypt, with three of the Bedouin tribes there. This interview wa...

Recorded on June 13, 2016 New interview w/ Egyptian indie singer Dina El Wedidi who will be performing in concert on June 14 at El Cid in Silverlake and on June 17 at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. Interview is conducted in English and Arabic and includes musical excerpt of the kind of folkloric songs that Dina will be singing in concert.

Recorded in May 2016. Interview with Rama Chakaki, Executive Director of TechWadi, who brings 23 years of technical and communications experience to her passion: investing in social enterprises, using technology for social development and nurturing future social entrepreneurs in the region. She setup Baraka Ventures in 2006 to invest in social and tech businesses. She established Baraka Advisers,...

Recorded in May 2016. Interview with Jordanian indie singer/songwriter Hana Malhas who discusses her musical career and her Bala Feesh project which she created to give a voice to indie artists in the Arab world. Interview includes the following musical excerpts: 1. Hana Malhas/Olive Tree/ Shapeshift/CD Baby + iTunes 2. Hana Malhas (ft Yazan Alrousan)/ Trooh/ Shapeshift/CD Baby 3. Hana Malhas/ How...

Dr. Nihel Chabrak is a multi lingual Tunisian scholar and Associate Professor of Accounting, UAEU, College of Business & Economics, United Arab Emirates. She is also the Programs Director for UAEU, Science & Innovation Park. In this interview, Dr. Chabrak talks about her visit to Stanford, her projects at the UAEU (including The Science and Innovation Project), her published paper about "Student I...

Recorded in April 2016. Interview with Khader Abu Seif who stars in the award winning documentary "Oriented." Directed by Jake Witzenfeld, "Oriented" follows the lives of three Palestinian friends (Khader, Fadi, Naim) exploring their national and sexual identity in Tel-Aviv. Determined to make a change, these three best friends form a non-violent, cultural resistance group (“Qambuta”) in an attemp...

Recorded in March 2016. Interview with Algerian French singer Souad Massi about her new CD "El-Mutakallimûn" and about her film debut in Najwa Najjar's "Eyes of a Thief" along with Egyptian actor Khaled Abol Naga خالد ابو النجا.

Recorded in February 2016 at KZSU Stanford 90.1 FM Interview with Turkish Opera singer Mete Tasin who discusses his background, training and experience as an internationally known Opera singer. Includes live performance in Turkish. For more info about Mete Tasin: http://www.metetasin.com/ Interview includes mysical experts from: 1. In Questa Vita ("In This Life") [Mete Tasin + Jennifer Muhawi] 2....

Recorded on March 12, 2016 Interview with Saleem Haddad whose provocative new novel "Guapa" offers a unique look at gay life in an unnamed Arab country amidst a wave of political and religious upheaval. Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait City in 1983 to a Lebanese-Palestinian father and an Iraqi-German mother, and educated in Jordan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has worked as an aid worker wit...

Bonus segment (in Arabic) from Arabology's interview with El Morabba3. Full interview (in English) available at https://soundcloud.com/arabology/elmorabba3 Photo by Ali Saadi (c)

Interview with Mark Gonzales and Soraya Hosni, co-founders of 'The New Medina' project in Tunisia. The New Medina is a plan for kickstarting hope, possibility, and well-being by launching an 8000 square foot center for youth, creatives, and entrepreneurs to cultivate a solution driven culture. Support/Learn about 'The New Medina' at https://www.launchgood.com/project/the_new_medina Interview featu...

Recorded on March 9, 2016; aired on KZSU 90.1 FM (San Francisco Bay Area). Interview with the Jordanian post-rock indie group El Morabba3 (Muhammad Abdullah, Odai Shawagfeh, Dirar Shawagfeh) in anticipation of the release of their second album "Taraf El Khayt" on April 2, 2016. تتألف فرقة المربّع من محمّد عبد الله، بصوته و كلماته الناقدة، و عدي شواقفة، الذي يخلق الأصوات البعيدة و القريبة التي تملأ...

Interview with internationally acclaimed Israeli singer Noa (Achinoam Nini) about her Yemeni background, her new CD, her political views, and her musical collaborations with such Palestinian singers as Mira Awad and Nabil Salameh, as well as Algerian singing legend Cheb Khaled. Interview was recorded at KZSU 90.1 FM on Feb 9, 2016 during Noa's visit to Stanford University where she gave a talk (mo...

Recorded in Feb 2016 Interview with Stanford student Ari Marcus who, among other things, has founded the Stanford Middle East Ensemble, a group that invites community members to learn and play Arabic Music (facebook.com/StanfordMEE). During this interview, Ari speaks about his musical background, plays the Nay live on the air, and invites people to a FREE concert of Jewish Music from the Middle Ea...

Interview with Mona Damluji, Associate Dean and Director of The Markaz: Resource Center at Stanford University. She is a liberal arts educator, cultural activist and scholar with expertise in the Arab Middle East and broader Muslim World. Mona received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and was the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian & Islamic Visual Culture at Wheaton College in...

Interview with Lebanese-American painter and award winning writer Rabih Alameddine who has authored four novels and a collection of short stories. Interview is mainly conducted by Nadia Barhoum along with Dr. Ramzi Salti. Interview was conducted in December 2015.

Recorded at Stanford on Jan 19, 2016. Interview with Tunisian French musician Kerredine Soltani including 2 live songs in French. مقابلة باللهجة التونسية مع الفنان التونسي الفرنسي خير الدين سلطاني الذي يتكلم عن المهاجرين إلى فرنسا وعن ألبومه الجديد، كما يغني اغنتين بالفرنسية في بث حي ومباشر من الأستوديو

Interview with legendary Lebanese American singer, author, artist and inspirational speaker Gary Tannus Nassif whose musical career has taken him from Hollywood to Las Vegas, enabling him to befriend and collaborate with such classic stars as Donna Reed, Esther Williams, Danny Thomas, Doris Day, Cesar Romero and many more. In his book "Stop Crying and Listen to the Music" Gary writes about his stu...

Interview with Kuwaiti visual artist Lena Zubaid about her photography and her "Open Your World" Documentary which is available for viewing at https://youtu.be/HWOEOSDv-Co Lena, a Masters student at San Jose State University, wrote, filmed, edited, directed, and produced this documentary about the experiences of Gulf Arab students in America. The full film (available on YouTube) features interview...

Recorded on October 27, 2015 Interview with Yacoub Abu Ghosh whose new CD 'Ayqithini' was recently released to much critical acclaim. Yacoub is a Jordanian composer, performer, producer and arranger who is considered as one of the pioneers of alternative music in Jordan and the Arab world. Musical excerpts/credits: 1. 'Ayquithini' from Yacoub Abu Ghosh CD 'Ayqithini' 2. 'Al Sahrawi' from Zaman Al...

Interviews with members of the creative team for 'Intima' including Presenter Tayeb Al-Hafez, Composer Ilyas Iliya, Visual Artist Ali Kaaf, and Composer/Music Director Ashraf Kateb whose music (taken from his 'Dia Succari' CD) is featured throughout this segment including "Hommage a Sarasate" at the end. Intima is a fusion of visual art, dance and music that investigates the cultural history of Sy...

Recorded on Oct 18, 2015 Interview with Director Mike Mosallam whose film "Breaking Fast" is receiving much attention for broaching the topic of marginalized sexualities in/from the Arab world. The interview was conducted after a sold-out screening of his film at the 2015 Arab Film Festival. He is joined in this interview by Hany Haddad and Sarah Bazzi, both of whom co-produced the film.

Interview recorded on Oct 21, 2015; will air during next Arabology episode. Hamed Sinno, Lead singer of Mashrou' Leila, discusses the band's much anticipated new CD + North American tour including their upcoming gig in San Francisco on Oct 27.