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PBS to broadcast first ever MIT music documentary

In "Awakening," MIT Music explores the Arab Spring 
Friday, May 31, 10:30pm, on WGBH Boston



MIT's first-ever documentary concert performance "Awakening: Evoking the Arab Spring through Music," will air on Boston's WGBH on Friday, May 31 at 10:30pm. The 30-minute program features the world premiere of a three-movement work, "Awakening," by MIT alumnus and New York-based composer Jamshied Sharifi, first performed on March 17, 2012 by the MIT Wind Ensemble, led by Dr. Frederick E. Harris, Director of the ensemble, and Lecturer in the Music and Theater Arts Section.

Inspiring the future

“'Awakening' is in three movements,” explains Sharifi: “The first,' Maghreb/Bouazizi/The Uprisings;' second, 'Reflection: Let Each One Hear Her Own Thoughts;' and third, 'Ahead: The Real Transformation Has Barely Begun.'

The first movement gives us a sense of place, utilizing maqam Hijaz (a mode often associated with the deep desert), and continues in a somewhat programmatic fashion, touching on the tragic event that ignited the protests, and continuing into the propagation of the revolutions. The second movement is a respite, a chance to contemplate what has happened. And the third hopes to energize and inspire the work that is to come.”

 
For more information

Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. MIT webpage

MIT Music and Theater Arts Section 

Jamshied Sharifi | MIT Visiting Artist webpage

Jamshied Sharifi | The World's Music as 'One'

Preview of "Awakening"

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