Euler welcomes \u2018Salaam\u2019
\nThe walls and windows in the Euler Science complex will soon be echoing with distinctly Middle Eastern musical rhythms and melodies.
\nTaylor University\u2019s Middle Eastern Collegiate Association (MECA) will be hosting Salaam, a four-member band based out of Indianapolis that has created and performed Middle Eastern music since the 1990s. The event\u2014titled \u201cSalaam: Music from the Near East\u201d\u2014will take place in the atrium at 7 p.m. on April 17.
\nThe concert will be an unparalleled event for the cabinet\u2014and may possibly be the most unique one on campus this spring, said Hadleigh Brown, a junior social studies education major and co-president of MECA. Salaam\u2019s band members come from diverse backgrounds, and their discography spans a variety of areas in the Middle East, from Lebanese and Egyptian tunes to Palestinian and Turkish songs, among others.
\nMECA had originally planned on hosting an upcoming Passover event before Brown asked them to consider putting on a concert. The cabinet had struggled with producing events that could be easily repeatable but also deeply meaningful for the culture being celebrated and for those attending, she said.
\n\u201cSometimes it can be really hard if you have a very specific, intimate tradition\u2014that can be hard to materialize for all of campus,\u201d Brown said.
\nBrown became inspired to research Middle Eastern bands in the Midwest area after noticing that students would stop by MECA\u2019s mint tea events in the Office of Intercultural Programs\u2019 office because of their curiosity about the music being played. She and her cabinet see the concert as an opportunity for students to get a taste of the Middle East in a more experiential way than the mint teas could provide.
\nAfter reaching out to the band, Brown and her co-president Joshua Wilson, a junior communication major, had a conversation over Zoom with founder Dena El Saffar. They discovered that she possessed the unique knack of providing an educational element with her own mission behind the band and familiarity with teaching at universities.
\nSaffar formed the band after the Gulf War, naming it \u201cSalaam,\u201d which is Arabic for “peace.” She felt that it was important to express a unifying sentiment and shed light on what the Middle East has to offer besides war and oil, Brown said. She believes that the event will have the potential to showcase the Middle East in a way that could stimulate unique and constructive conversations.
\n\u201cI think this event can really articulate the holistic part of the Middle East that would be really hard to do with a traditional holiday,\u201d Brown said.
\nThe concert will have a semi-formal dress code, with a photo booth and mocktails. Attendees can expect a concert with several breaks in it to create room for conversations, in an effort to bridge the gap between listening and learning, Brown said. As part of this, Brown and Wilson plan on holding time for an informative discussion with Saffar.
\nBrown is hopeful that attendees will feel refreshed and experience a lingering feeling of openness towards their understanding of music and Eastern cultures. She anticipates that this event will be a repeatable one, creating a special connection between Indiana University, Salaam, the Middle East, and Taylor University.
\n\u201cI want (attendees) to be filled with the spirit of peace, which ultimately comes from our Heavenly Father but I think can be articulated through Middle Eastern music,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
#MiddleEasternMusic #SalaamBand #TaylorUniversity #MECA #CulturalEvent #NearEastMusic #DenaElSaffar #PeaceThroughMusic #InterculturalPrograms #CampusLife<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Euler welcomes \u2018Salaam\u2019 The walls and windows in the Euler Science complex will soon be echoing with distinctly Middle Eastern musical rhythms and melodies. Taylor University\u2019s Middle Eastern Collegiate Association (MECA) will be hosting Salaam, a four-member band based out of Indianapolis that has created and performed Middle Eastern music since the 1990s. The event\u2014titled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}