Simon Shaheen

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Simon Shaheen

Simon Shaheen (Arabic: ????? ?????; b. Tarshiha

Ma'alot-Tarshiha

Ma'alot-Tarshiha is a mixed city in the North District, Israel in Israel, some 20 km east of Nahariya.The city was established in 1963 through a municipal merge of the Arab citizens of Israel town of Tarshiha and the Jewish town of Ma'alot....
, Upper Galilee

Upper Galilee

The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit HaKerem valley and Lower Galilee in the south...
, Israel

Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, 1955) is a Palestinian oud

Oud

The oud is a pear-shaped, stringed instrument, which is often seen as the predecessor of the western lute, distinguished primarily by being without frets, commonly used in Middle Eastern music....
and violin

Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
virtuoso and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
.

At the age of 2, Shaheen moved with his family to Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in North District Israel, and the List of Israeli cities in the country, with a population of over 264,900. Haifa has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs....
, but he spent most of the weekends in Tarshiha

Ma'alot-Tarshiha

Arab citizens of Israel

File:Arab population israel 2000 en.pngArab citizens of Israel refers to Arab people or non-Jewish Arabic language-speaking citizens of Israel....
town.

The Shaheen family is known for its musicality.

egan playing the oud at 5, and the violin shortly thereafter. Following high school, he attended Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a large, public university, located in Tel Aviv, Israel. As of 2006, the Tel Aviv University has a student population of 29,000....
, earning degrees in Arabic literature and music performance.

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Simon Shaheen (Arabic: ????? ?????; b. Tarshiha

Ma'alot-Tarshiha

Upper Galilee

Israel

Oud

Violin

Composer

Haifa

Ma'alot-Tarshiha

Arab citizens of Israel

Music career

He began playing the oud at 5, and the violin shortly thereafter. Following high school, he attended Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's oldest university.The First Board of Governors included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber, and Chaim Weizmann....
. In 1980 he emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
to study music at the Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a world-renowned music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers Academic degrees on the Bachelors degree, Masters degree, and doctoral levels in the areas of european classical music and jazz performance and composition....
and Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen.

He formed the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, which performs classical Arabic music, and organized annual Arabic music retreats and arts festivals.

Shaheen, a Catholic

Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
Arab

Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
, lives in New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, where he leads an Arabic ensemble called Qantara which he formed. Qantara melds jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, pop

Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
, and western classical music with Arabic elements.

In 1994 he received a National Heritage Fellowship

National Heritage Fellowship

The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folklore and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts....
from the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded and donation assisted program that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence....
.

In addition to his work in traditional and classical Arabic music, Shaheen has participated in many cross-cultural musical projects, including performing with producer Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, Record producer and record label owner. He is married to Ethiopian singer Gigi .Laswell ranks among the most prolific of musicians, being involved in hundreds of recordings with many musicians from all over the world....
, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a country in north-western South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the north west by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean....
n singer Soraya

Soraya

Soraya is a female name of Persian origin meaning "rich" and "Princess", and is a reference to Pleiades. Soraya is the variant and the Persian and Spanish form of Arabic name "Thurayya." This name becomes common in Spain and other Hispanophone because of Arabic influence in Spain ....
, Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill is an United States composer, saxophonist and flautist....
, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is an exponent of Hindustani music .Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is one of the most celebrated shishyas of the guitartist...
, and with Jewish klezmer

Klezmer

Klezmer is a musical tradition which parallels Hasidic and Ashkenazic Judaism. Around the 15th century, a tradition of secular Jewish music was developed by musicians called klezmorim or kleyzmurim....
musicians The Klezmatics

The Klezmatics

The Klezmatics are a Grammy Award winning United States neo-klezmer Musical band based in New York City, who have achieved fame singing in several languages, most notably mixing older Yiddish language tunes with other types of more Contemporary music of differing origins....
.

Select discography

1990 - Music of Waheeb, Mango/Island/PolyGram
1990 - The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Axiom/Island/PolyGram
1992 - Turath (Heritage), CMP
1993 - Taqasim: Art of Improvisation in Arabic Music
2001 - Blue Flame, Ark 21/Universal

Simon Shaheen

Music career

Select discography

External links