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Concerts at the Villa
Your Hope in My Heart: The Music of Orchestra El Azifet (performance)

Dates: Saturday, January 27, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 28, 2007, 3:00 p.m.
Location: Getty Villa, Auditorium
Admission: Tickets $25; $20 students/seniors.

Enjoy the melodies and rhythms of North Africa in two performances by El Azifet, the first all-female orchestra in Tunisia. These masterful musicians and choral singers perform a captivating, soaring program of malouf, Tunisia's national music form, on traditional instruments such as the oud (short-necked lute), naqqarat (kettledrum), rabab (fiddle), and qánun (zither).

Malouf, which means "familiar" or "customary," has its roots in a centuries-long tradition of Arab-Andalusian music, whose melodies and rhythms were brought to North Africa in the late Middle Ages by Muslims from Spain and Portugal. El Azifet shares not only classics of the genre, but also contemporary reinterpretations inspired by a wide range of musical influences, from flamenco to the French chanson.

El Azifet has played across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States and now makes its West Coast debut to complement the exhibition Stories in Stone: Conserving Mosaics of Roman Africa; Masterpieces from the National Museums of Tunisia, on view October 26, 2006–April 30, 2007, at the Getty Villa.

El Azifet


About Amina Srarfi, Orchestra Director
Amina Srarfi is the founder and director of El Azifet and the first female orchestra conductor in the Arab world. A musicologist, classically trained violinist and composer, and longtime member of the Symphony Orchestra of Tunisia, she is also the director of the Tunisian Children's Radio and Television Choir and a composer of children's music.



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