Program: World Refugee Day, Providence
Subject
Mohammed Kasim
(Iraqi)
Subject
Qusai al Bakri
(Iraqi)
Date2011 June 18
MediumPaper
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.24
DescriptionProgram for World Refugee Day on June 18, 2011. This event featured a required public presentation of the Year 13 Southern New England Apprenticeship Program team in Iraqi oud playing. Teaching artist Mohammed Kasim (Antesar) with apprentice Qusai al Bakri (Mustafa Adil).
NotesSubject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from RI, MA, or CT with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society.Subject Note: In Year 13 (2010-2011) Mohammed Kasim (Antesar) and Qusai al Bakri - Two young refugees from Iraq living in CT and RI were involved in this apprenticeship to share oud-playing techniques and repertoire. CCHAP connected them with the assistance of IRIS, a refugee service organization based in New Haven. In addition to fostering a new partnership, the project helped them to counter their sadness at being far from their home.
Biographical Note: Mohammed Kasim (Antesar) is an Iraqi oud player living in Rhode Island. He performs and composes music and leads the Arabic Harmonic Orchestra in Rhode Island. He received a B.A. in music performance and composition in 2007 from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad where he performed in several bands and the orchestra, then studied music composition at the Turkish Music Academy from 2007-2009. In the US, after continuing his music studies at Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island, Mohammed has worked as a translator and manager/supervisor in several companies.
Biographical Note: Qusai al Bakri, stage name Mustafa Adil, is an Iraqi oud player who trained at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad. Many members of his family in Iraq were musicians. He came to the US in June 2010 as a refugee, and is now a citizen residing in New Haven, Connecticut. The music of Mustafa Adil brings classical Arabic music together with contemporary sounds. He plays the oud (an eleven-stringed gourd shaped instrument similar to a lute) and keyboards, performing solo or with a group, and he is an expressive singer. He has performed at several events in New Haven and for CCHAP events including the opening reception for an exhibit in 2016 at the CT Office of the Arts Gallery.
Additional audio, video, and photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these artists.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
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