São Paulo – Arab music and joy, to the rhythm and sound of the darbuka, daf, katem and tabla, is the promise of the Percussões (Percussions) project, featuring the Lebanese singer and percussionist Shaker Akiki, and due next Friday (13th) at the Bella theatre in São Paulo. The concert will feature four other special guest percussionists, the Syrian musician Michel Tahhan, and choreographies by belly dancers Anara Zapello and Karina Felli, and by dancer and musician Ahmad.
"The concert will present folklore rhythms with a different concept, but will retain the brilliance and magic of this millenary culture. We will show a video art piece explaining where percussion came from and telling some of the story, using a projector, which will also be a part of the setting," explains Valéria Sbrissa, the show’s director and producer. "It will be a vibrant performance, with the sound that only percussion instruments can make," she claims.
According to her, the project should be held once a month, always with a different theme, and was devised to make audiences intimate with the rhythms and percussion instruments. "The idea is for it to be a major workshop between teachers and students in a theatre setting," she says.
Shaker Akiki was born in the city of Zahle, located in the Lebanese mountain region, approximately one hour away from capital Beirut. He grew up listening to the melodies sung by his maternal grandfather and played on the lute by one of his uncles. "Ever since I was a child, I was sort of hypnotized with the music. I started playing percussion at age 10, and then I started singing a few years later, and I never stopped," says the musician, who manufactures some of his instruments, such as the ceramic darbuka.
In Lebanon, Akiki put a band together and also played with Lebanese singer Najwa Karam in the 1990s. The youngest brother of four, Akiki came to Brazil on a leisure trip, in 2001, to visit his older sister, who lived in Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, and ended up adopting Brazil as his second country.
"Brazilians are very nice people. I felt at home here because they are joyful and enjoy partying, just like ourselves," he said. "I soon began playing at dinners, birthdays, weddings and night clubs, especially for the Arab community," he says.
Akiki tells that he has travelled much and played many concerts in the south of Brazil before deciding to move to São Paulo, in 2007. "I was already getting invitations to perform here, and I thought it would be worth moving. Fortunately, I am being successful," he celebrates.
Service
Percussions
When: August 13th
Time: 08:30 pm
Place: Bella Theatre (64 seats)
Address: Rua Rui Barbosa, 399 – São Paulo
Tel: (+55 11) 3283-2780
Tickets: 20 and 10 reals (US$ 11 and US$ 5)
Duration: 90 minutes
Contact
Shaker Akiki
Telephones: (+55 11) 8150-6487 and (+55 11) 7549-2095
E-mail: shakerakiki@hotmail.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
