YES, MAQAM!
Arabic music group celebrates two years of jams
By Rose Adams They’re issuing a call to players!
A Brooklyn group that hosts
twice-monthly concerts of
Arab music will celebrate its two-year
anniversary during its Jan. 28 show.
Brooklyn Maqam’s fortnightly events
have helped unite the borough’s Arab
and musical communities while also
introducing locals to the Middle East’s
soulful, microtonal melodies, said one
organizer.
“We just set it in motion and people
in the community really loved it,” said
Prospect Lefferts Gardens resident
Brian Prunka, who founded Brooklyn
Maqam with fellow musicians Marandi
Hostetter and John Murchison. “Most
of our events are completely sold out.”
The group’s popular concert series
Maqam Hang, at Sisters bar and
restaurant in Clinton Hill, features a
different Arabic music ensemble
every two weeks, followed by an hour
long “jam session,” when audience
members can get on stage and play Arab
standards together. The open sessions
are more structured than the average
improvisational jam — musicians can
pick up sheet music for beloved Middle
Eastern tunes and join other attendees to
bring the songs to life. The system keeps
the music diverse, and helps to bring in
artists new to Arab music, said another
co-founder.
“There’s kind of an educational and
preservationist aspect to it,” said John
Murchison, of Clinton Hill.
COURIER L 44 IFE, JANUARY 17-23, 2020
The three founders say they started
the organization to unify the borough’s
splintered Arab music scene and create
a consistent space for musicians to get
together. Each Arab band tended to
operate in its own sphere, and their
fans rarely interacted, said Murchison.
“By having one event with lots of
different artists, it’s helped connect
these communities that overlap,” he
said.
They called the organization
“Maqam” after the system of melodic
tones used in Arab music. The title
includes non-Arab music that also uses
the maqam scale, including Persian
and Turkish songs, said co-founder
Prunka, and they hoped the foreign
word would entice non-Arabs to learn
more about the event.
“By using a word people didn’t
know we were hoping it would spark
conversation,” Prunka said.
The events have grown significantly
over the last two years, and draw a
diverse audience, including Arab oldtimers,
seasoned musicians, and young
amateurs. The success of the series has
prompted Prunka to think about hosting
other types of Arab art events, he said.
“At some point we might try to do
some more multi-disciplinary events,”
he said.
Brooklyn Maqam’s two-year
anniversary show on Jan. 28 will star
Shelley Thomas and Brooklyn Takht, a
group that performs songs by Egypt’s
“Golden Era” singers from the early
1900s.
Maqam Hang at Sisters 900 Fulton
St. between Washington and Waverly
avenues in Clinton Hill, (347) 763–
2537, www.sistersbklyn.com. Jan. 28
at 8 pm. $10.
The best reads
— handpicked
by some of the
best Bklyn
bookstores
Word’s picks:
“Hitting a Straight
Lick with a
Crooked Stick,”
by Zora Neale
Hurston
The title of this
collection of “lost
stories” from renowned
Black writer and ethnographer
Zora Neale Hurston encapsulates her very unique
way of framing complex, subversive ideas about
race, gender, and class within the assumed narrative
confines of heterosexual and familial relationships.
Balancing local folklore and highly specific dialect
with delicate prose, Hurston uses her “crooked stick”
to deliver hard truths about America’s troubled past
that prove shockingly relevant as we enter 2020.
— Althea Meer, Word 126 Franklin St. at
Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.
wordbookstores.com.
Community
Bookstore’s pick:
“Don’t Believe a
Word,” by David
Shariatmadari
This book, subtitled
“The Surprising Truth
about Language,” is a
brain-twisting tour of
a linguistic cabinet of
curiosities from a renowned scholar of
languages. With wit, clarity, and anecdotes drawn
from around the globe, linguist David Shariatmadari
reveals that, all too often, the very language that
grounds our thoughts is actually quicksand.
— Samuel Partal, Community Bookstore 43
Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield
Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.
commu nityb ookst ore.net.
Greenlight
Bookstore’s pick:
“Cleanness,”
by Garth
Greenwell
Garth Greenwell’s
prose is remarkably
elegant. On style
alone, one might
mistake “Cleanness,”
the follow-up to his
debut “What Belongs to You,” for some
lost classic novel, if it were not so contemporary in
its frank exploration of desire and cruelty and the
mixing of the two. It is already one of my favorite
books of the year.
— Matt Stowe, Greenlight Bookstore 686
Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland
Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.
greenlightbookstore.com.
Hanging out: A group of Arabic musicians jam at a recent Brooklyn Maqam Hang concert.
Photo by Shelley Thomas
FLUFFED UP
Fake history podcast comes to Brooklyn
HBy Ben Verde e’s the most interesting man in
the world.
A local comedian might
discuss his tour with the Beatles, his
membership in the Brat Pack, the time
he accidentally launched Brexit, or
any number of other tall tales at a
live recording of the podcast “History
Fluffer,” at Park Slope’s Union Hall
on Jan. 24.
The improvised fake history
show stars Dave Hill as a comedic
“Forrest Gump”–like figure recalling
his involvement with key historical
moments, while fellow comics Jim
Biederman, Jodi Lennon, and Chris
Gersbeck add details and egg him on.
“I basically just b------- the whole
story,” Hill said. “It’s really fun and
silly.”
The stories are completely offthe
cuff, with the team of comedians
coming up with a historical subject a
few hours before each showtime. The
comics sometimes build a narrative
based on accurate details before
veering off into the absurd, but just as
often start with no facts at all, and only
touch on the ostensible subject in the
last five minutes of the hourlong show.
Past episodes have fluffed Hill’s
time as a member of the Ramones, the
time he helped J.R.R. Tolkien write
“The Lord of the Rings,” and his time
as the Son of Sam’s dog walker.
The podcast has been recording
regularly for about a year, with the
comedians alternating between episodes
taped in the studio and live shows.
The live episodes are a kind of improv
endurance test, said Hill, with everyone
having to think on their feet with no
breaks, but having a live audience
provide laughs is a worthy payoff.
“The fun thing about having the
audience is just getting that reaction,”
he said. “It’s even more of a challenge
because you’re trying to keep the ball
in the air.”
The mystery of history: Comedian Dave
Hill will offer listeners a front-row seat to
historical events at Union Hall on Jan. 24.
Photo by Mindy Tucker
The “History Fluffer” show
at Union Hall is a part of the third
Brooklyn Podcast Festival, which
will host more than 15 live podcasts
between Jan. 22 and 26, including an
episode of NPR’s “Ask Me Another”
featuring “High Maintenance” star
Ben Sinclair at the Bell House on
Jan. 22, the Dungeons and Dragons
podcast “Rude Tales of Magic” on
Jan. 23, and accurate history podcast
“The Bowery Boys” at the Bell House
on Jan. 26.
“History Fluffer” at Union Hall
702 Union St. between Fifth and Sixth
avenues in Park Slope, (718) 638 –4400,
www.unionhallny.com. Jan. 24 at 9:30
pm. $15.
/www.greenlightbookstore.com
/www.wordbookstores.com
/www.wordbookstores.com
/www.communitybookst
/www.communitybookst
/www.greenlightbookstore.com
/www.sistersbklyn.com
/www.unionhallny.com
/www.sistersbklyn.com
/wordbookstores.com
/ore.net
/greenlightbookstore.com
/www.unionhallny.com
