Orchestra of Tangier

The District is going to be a hotbed for Arabic performing arts for the next couple weeks, mainly because of the upcoming Arabesque festival at the Kennedy Center (preview forthcoming). Those who can’t wait and want to get a head start on the music of the region should consider heading over to the Music Center at Strathmore, which will be hosting the Andalusian Music Festival tomorrow evening.

The concert will feature the critically acclaimed Orchestra of Tangier and 22-year-old vocal virtuoso Marouan Hajji, both from Morocco, along with Tunisian singer Lotfi Bouchnak, considered one of the great Arab musicians. The festival’s producer is Kazko Kawai, president of MENA music, a New York-based company founded in 2006 with the goal of enhancing mutual understanding between the Arab world and American people.

The music being presented tomorrow night draws its roots from the North Africa and Southern Europe of medieval times, when Islam and Christianity were vying for influence in the region.

“This is really the music of three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” Kawai told DCist from her hotel room in Atlanta, where the festival is taking place tonight. “This music is not very well known in this country, but it is very well known in Europe.”