NUQOOSH

This season, the festival is taking a new direction. “We want to showcase African cultures in their Arab dimension,” explains curator Naseer Shamma. “This expansion has to do not only with geographical realities, but with shared memory, with rhythms that arise from the earth itself, and with voices that have remained alive in the human spirit across the ages.”

Shamma—who is not performing himself this year but will instead be appearing in a solo recital in March—has invited five ensembles featuring musicians from various African countries whose musical identities are shaped by centuries-old traditions.

“This music has been passed down from one generation to the next,” he says, “not merely as a legacy, but as a living, breathing organism that transforms and evolves, constantly reaffirming that what springs from the human soul never perishes.”

With a program that combines the musical heritage of the Imazighen and Tuareg with Andalusian influences and flamenco-inspired rhythms, Hisham Errish and his ensemble will perform on the third evening of the Arabic Music Days.