In celebration of Arab Heritage Month, a singing duo will present a concert of traditional Middle Eastern music Thursday, Nov. 30, at Moraine Valley Community College, 9000 W. College Parkway, Palos Hills.
The performance, which will be from noon to 1 p.m., in Building U, features Ronnie Malley and George Lawler. It is free and open to the public.
Malley is a multi-instrumentalist musician, actor, producer, and educator. With a background in global music and performance studies, Malley has collaborated with artists from around the world and has composed and consulted for many film and theater cultural music projects. He has performed with the University of Chicago Mid East Music Ensemble, Turath Ensemble, East Meets Middle East, and more. In addition to numerous theater and film credits, Malley is a teaching artist with Intercultural Music Production, Chicago Arts Partnership in Education, and Global Voices Initiative, as well as a faculty member at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
Lawler, an accomplished percussionist, drummer and music producer, has been involved in the Chicago music scene for more than 20 years. He is proficient in various genres of percussion from Afro-Cuban percussion, Chinese surf-pop, reggae, and indie rock to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. His specialization in Mid¬dle East¬ern, Balkan, Turk¬ish, and Greek per¬cus¬sion began in the mid-1990s as an apprentice to master Tunisian per¬cus¬sion¬ist, Najib Bahri. Through this mentorship, Lawler learned the nuances of classical and folk¬loric drumming styles of the Middle East and North Africa, and the teaching method of the Arabic music conservatory. He teaches Middle Eastern Rhythms classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music and is a music director for the Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society.
This performance is part of Moraine Valley’s Mosaics: Muslim Voices in America project, which highlights the artistic and cultural diversity of Muslim artists living and working in the United States.
Funding for this project is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ Building Bridges: Arts Culture and Identity, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
