Art & Culture
Art & Culture
Dearborn Heights poet uses writing to heal from trauma
February 22nd, 20190 DEARBORN HEIGHTS— Sara Raad, a Dearborn Heights native and daughter of Lebanese immigrants, said she writes poetry to heal from past trauma. She reads her poetry at local events and posts it on her Instagram blog which has more than 11,000 followers. “I used to just write little poems here and there,” she said, adding...
Songwriter and singer Leila Milki releases new original song Feb. 22
February 13th, 20190 LOS ANGELES — Leila Milki, a first-generation Lebanese American music artist, will release her new original single and video on Friday Feb. 22. In “All That Remains", 25-year-old Milki collaborates with Brian Steckler and String Mob to bring a string quartet to life. “This project is deeply personal to me,” she said, adding...
Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki makes Oscar history
January 25th, 20190 It's definitely a great day for Nadine Labaki, who has made history as the first Arab female filmmaker to ever be nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign language film category. Labaki's film, Capernaum, gives Lebanon back-to-back foreign-language nomination following Ziad Doueiri's The Insult, which was nominated last...
Library of Congress acquires treasure trove of 19th century documents written in Arabic by Muslim slave
January 22nd, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. —The United States Library of Congress announced its acquisition of an extraordinary set of documents last week belonging to Omar ibn Said, who wrote what is believed to be the only surviving slave narrative of its kind in 1831. Also known as “Morro” or “Uncle Moreau” as a slave, he had been enslaved for...
Palestinian American artist exhibits paintings inspired by life
January 14th, 20190 DEARBORN - A Palestinian American immigrant living in Dearborn expresses her passions through her colorful paintings that she said imitate her experiences. 23-year-old Jenin Yaseen said she moved to the United Arab Emirates from Palestine, where she was born, when she was 10. She began studying at Rak International Academy in Dubai,...
Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan makes first visit to Detroit
December 14th, 20180 DETROIT — On Friday, Dec. 7, Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan performed a concert at the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Rivera Court, during her first visit to the city. On the previous day, she visited the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn for a viewing of Jim Jarmusch’s film, “Only Lovers Left Alive”, in which she...
Milwaukee Film Festival explores Arab community fears, hopes and culture
November 20th, 20180 MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — The 10th annual Milwaukee Film Festival hosted a range of motion pictures that celebrated the diversity of the Arab and Muslim communities from October 18 to November 1. Films were selected across a range of topics and groups, ranging from Palestinians to Somali Americans and old-age traditions to new-age...
‘FBI’ star Zeeko Zaki on the importance of playing an Arab American protagonist
October 16th, 20180 Reflecting that his résumé leans "toward the terrorist side of things", Egyptian American actor Zeeko Zaki couldn’t be happier with his role as FBI special agent Omar Adom "OA" Zidan on Dick Wolf’s latest crime drama FBI. Seeing someone like himself — Arab American and Muslim — as "a protagonist in law enforcement is definitely...
Looking for Oum Kulthum: An Iranian take on the Arab experience
October 16th, 20180 Shirin Neshat’s “Looking for Oum Kulthum” tells of an Iranian artist’s effort at making a film on the life and career of the late Egyptian legendary singer. Though the project was made with pure intentions, it has been met with distaste and skepticism from the Arab world. A main criticism of the film is Neshat’s role as...
WCCCD celebrates diversity with performance by Syrian opera singer
October 15th, 20181 TAYLOR - Lubana Al Quntar, a Syrian classical Arabic and western opera singer, will perform “A Celebration of Arabic Classical and Folk Music” at Wayne County Community College District’s Heinz C. Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center on Sunday Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. Al Quntar studied Western opera and became the first...
Artists denied visas to attend Arab Film Festival in Minneapolis
September 29th, 20180 MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. denied visas to two artists planning to attend the Arab Film Festival, while a third encountered a delay which kept her from getting her visa in time to travel. According to a report by City Pages, a fourth still waits to get back his passport after receiving his visa. The festival has never faces visa denials...
YallaPunk: A response to racism
September 24th, 20180 By Marrim Akashi PHILADELPHIA — Rana Fayez’s inaugural YallaPunk festival hit Philadelphia this past month and it has been revolutionary, to say the least. Self-described as “A direct response to negative depictions of populations of Middle Eastern and North African descent in mainstream media”, this is not another effort...
Contemporary Arab Cinema series premiers at Jacob Burns Film Center
September 10th, 20180 PLEASANTVILLE, NY — The Jacob Burns Film Center is premiering its Contemporary Arab Cinema series, in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Sept. 20-27. This year’s selections reflect the diversity of the multifaceted situations and feelings Arab directors have within their cultural and political environments,...
Documentary: How ‘Brooklyn, Inshallah’ excited Arab voters
September 8th, 20180 BROOKLYN, NY — Ahmed Mansour’s film “Brooklyn, Inshallah” documents Khader El-Yateem’s 2017 campaign for New York City Council. Not only did El-Yateem’s position as a Lutheran pastor make him distinguishable from other candidates, his identity as a Palestinian American immigrant did so as well. From that, he was even...
Arab festivals are popular everywhere, when will Dearborn’s return?
September 8th, 20183 DEARBORN – Between 1995 and 2012, thousands flocked to the capital of Arab America for a taste of their homeland’s culture, where nostalgia for music and food alike would meet their match at the Arab International Festival. It was a kind of celebration one could only experience in a city in which nearly half its residents are of......
Arab American Portland Festival aims to shatter stereotypes, promotes culture
September 7th, 20180 PORTLAND, Oregon — From Algeria to Yemen to Portland, Oregon, it takes a big, big tent at the festival to welcome everyone who's a part of the Arabic culture. Expats, immigrants and tabbouleh lovers from all over gathered for the Arab Mahrajan Festival on Saturday, Sept. 1 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast...
‘Kite Runner’ author pens tribute to refugees who die fleeing war
September 5th, 20180 LONDON — “Kite Runner” author Khaled Hosseini urged world leaders to “act with compassion” towards refugees as he launched his new book inspired by a Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Greece. Hosseini said on Wednesday there was a “deeply concerning” shift in attitudes in Europe - where several...
Lana Del Ray cancels Israel festival appearance
September 5th, 20180 Pop singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey has canceled her September 7 appearance at Israel’s Meteor Festival. Del Rey (real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) had pulled out of an earlier engagement in 2014. According to Variety Magazine, the entertainment trade paper, “the organizers are said to be livid”, especially since Grant...
The Arab supergirl fighting crime and smashing stereotypes
August 31st, 20180 By Heidi Pullyard A new vigilante supergirl is defying the genre. Emara doesn't wear spandex, skintight leather or masks — instead, she dons a hijab. The first homegrown female Emirati superhero, Emara is gaining attention around the world. By day, she's a typical teenage girl named Moza. By night, her fearless alter......
Yemen’s ancient architecture threatened by war
August 18th, 20180 SANAA — Yemen’s three-year war has taken a heavy toll on Sanaa’s historic Old City, a dense warren of mosques, bath houses and 6,000 mud brick houses, which date from before the 11th century. Part of the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been razed by bombing. Now only rubble and straggly palm trees remain, where...
Fewer Arab films and filmmakers at Traverse City Film Festival, but still impactful
August 3rd, 20180 TRAVERSE CITY – The Traverse City Film Festival, which runs through Aug. 5, will screen more than 100 new and classic films for movie-goers. Five of them will feature Arab filmmakers or stories featuring Arabs. Last year the festival had a “Travel ban sidebar” that featured seven films from countries affected by President......
Arab American stars in new CBS prime-time series
July 28th, 20180 NEW YORK— An Arab American immigrant will play a leading role in the upcoming CBS series “FBI”, created by Dick Wolf — best known for the “Law and Order” franchise. Zeeko Zaki, who plays Agent Omar Adom Zidan in the show, emigrated from Egypt at just 1 month old in 1990. He grew up primarily outside of Philadelphia in...
Hamtramck Historical Museum unveils new mural celebrating city’s diversity
July 21st, 20180 HAMTRAMCK — On Thursday, July 19, the Hamtramck Historical Museum held an official dedication of the “Coming to Hamtramck” mural installed inside the museum’s main gallery walls. The 150-foot-long by 6-foot-high mural was made possible by a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council amounting to $15,000. Since Hamtramck's......
