Middle Eastern Arts Festival to begin Monday

The usual sights and sounds of the annual Middle Eastern Arts Festival kick off Monday with new style. \nEveryone is invited to attend the wide range of festival activities that go through April 20 and include music and dance from the region, as well as exhibits, museum events and art and scholar presentations. Most of the events are free.\nThe Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program expanded the festival this year to include a greater array of programs, such as more concerts, more exhibitions and the addition of an Afghan kite-making family program. \n“This (festival), I think, shows the program on its own and away from the department,” said Liese Hilgeman, outreach coordinator for the program.\nSalaam, a world music ensemble, will kick off the festival at 8 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The ensemble has been asked to focus on music from Egypt and Turkey. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Dena El Saffar, a member of Salaam, said the group chose to participate the group is fond of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program.\n“I think it’s great to have such a festival here in Bloomington,” El Saffar said.\nThe IU Lilly Library plans to host new programs for the festival this year.\n“Selections of Middle Eastern Manuscripts from the Lilly Library Collection” will run Wednesday through Feb. 20 and will feature both early and more modern materials. Breon Mitchell, director of the Lilly Library, said some of the earliest materials are a piece of Persian poetry dated to the year 1551 and a Koran from the ninth century. \nContemporary materials include a 19th century Koran and novels with translation manuscripts. Two 20th century authors, Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arabic writer to win the Nobel Prize in 1988, and Amos Oz, will be showcased.\nAnother new program is the addition of two translators of Arabic literature at 4 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Lilly Library. They will discuss their experiences and challenges in translating literature.\n“I think there will be a good turnout because there’s a great deal of interest in Arabic and Middle Eastern literature,” Mitchell said.\nOther festival activities include “Objects of War,” a video art show by Beirut artist Lamia Joreige at the School of Fine Arts Gallery; an exhibit of Coptic textiles dating from the third to 12th centuries at the IU Art Museum; the concert, “Choral music of the Middle East: Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: Chants from Holy Week in the Lebanese and Syrian tradition;” “Mosaic II: A Tapestry of Middle Eastern Dance,” two evenings of dances from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Turkey.\nFor more information, contact the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program at 856-3977 or meis@indiana.edu, or visit its Web site at www.indiana.edu/~meis.