FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Sarah Snyder
ssnyder3@umd.edu
301.405.8151
College Park, MD— Founded on the belief that music can change perceptions and inspire action, The Nile Project brings together 27 musicians from the 11 countries along the Nile to encourage dialogue about sustainability in the Nile basin. The Nile Project’s residency at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center culminates in a concert in The Clarice’s Dekelboum Concert Hall on April 26 at 7 p.m. and also includes three discussion panels. A lunch discussion on Female Perspectives on the Nile will be held April 27 at noon in the UMD School of Public Policy Atrium in Van Munching Hall on the University of Maryland campus. A creative dialogue on The Role of Musicians in Peace and Environmental Movements will be held April 27 at 6:45 p.m. in the Baird Auditorium at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. A panel on Crowdsourcing Solutions for a Sustainable Nile Basin, co-sponsored by the UMD Beyond the Classroom Living-Learning Program, will be held April 28 from 7-9 p.m. in the Leah M. Smith Lecture Hall at The Clarice.
About The Nile Project
The Nile Project was founded by Egyptian ethnomusicologist and music producer Mina Girgis and Ethopian-American singer Meklit Hadero in 2011. The collective holds periodic two-week residencies, where musicians from a variety of Nile basin countries gather to teach each other their musical styles. The musicians collaborate to compose songs that speak to their relationship with the Nile and with each other, combining a variety of languages, tonal systems and rhythmic systems. A powerful pan-Nile percussion section drives this orchestra of Ethiopian masenko and saxophone, Egyptian ney, oud, violin, simsimiya and tanbura, and Ugandan adungu, bass guitar and six vocalists singing in 11 different languages.
Founder Mina Girgis says the combination of instruments is a “really important paradigm for the water conversation we need to have. It’s a conversation that is not defined by one person’s priorities…but is an opportunity for every member to voice their concerns.”
Tickets
More information can be found on our website. Tickets for this performance are $25/$20/$10 (Regular/NextLEVEL/Students), and can be purchased online or by calling (301) 405-ARTS (2787).
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Located on the University of Maryland campus and a part of the College of Arts and Humanities, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a premier presenting arts venue and collaborative laboratory shared by the School of Music (SOM), the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) and the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. The Center made its debut in 2001 and has grown into a national model for campus performing arts centers, presenting performances and programs by visiting artists as well as by students and faculty of SOM and TDPS in an environment of creative learning, exploration and growth. The Center remains active in the larger university community through its innovative partnerships and extraordinary experiences.
This performance is funded in part by a generous gift from Charlie Reiher and a generous gift from Denny and Frances Gulick. It is sponsored by The Gazette & Gazette-Star.
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.