Fall Semester 2018
On September 24th, with support from The William Penn Foundation, our Arab Arts After-School Program at Moffet School started up for the school year, filling hallways with Arabic songs and drumming, and unleashing the creative energy of young artists! Since then, everyone has been hard at work bringing vital arts enrichment to the community at Moffet. Read our Program Coordinator Elias’s blog post about the importance of this program to the students.
Choir Director Serge El-Helou introduced beginning students to songs in Arabic and English, while they also began studying the basics of Arab rhythms and the doumbek from Percussion Director Hafez Kotain. At our annual Ahlan event, these drummers eagerly showed off just how quickly they learned, playing a call-and-response with Hafez. One student told us that a performance by the Moffet drummers last year amazed him, but drumming seemed too difficult. Still, he took a chance and enrolled this year. After the first day, he told us that learning with Hafez was easy, and he was happy he tried something new.
Students returning to the program are now mastering more advanced Arab rhythms such as saidi, laf, and baladi, perfecting old songs and learning new ones.
With Visual Artist Lisa Volta, students have delved into a series of projects each informed by an artist from the Arab world. First, they learned about renowned Iraqi painter Dia Azzawi and decorated silk handkerchiefs with colorful dye and water-resistant silver paint, creating scenes relating to their history or heritage. They also took inspiration from the tree drawings of Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi, using pen and paper to sketch the beautiful trees in Moffet’s garden. Read assistant Jasper Saah’s reflections on the intersection of art and identity on our blog!
We loved seeing our students showcase their art, singing, and drumming, at Moffet’s Winter Concert on Friday, December 21st.
