Arab American Cultural Center of the Silicon Valley » Events & Socials

Charity Concert & Dinner: Baghdadi Night of Music and Art

AACC Staff — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:40:19 +0000

Saturday November 1st, 2008, 6:30 PM – past Midnight
Diamond Palace, Fremont
Diamond Palace Hall 4100 Peralta Blvd, Fremont CA 94536

By Amir Elsaffar and the
Safaafir Maqam Group

http://www.safaafir.com http://www.amirelsaffar.com

“ElSaffar combines his dual heritage into a vigorous hybrid
and weaves mesmerizing new tunes out of traditional Iraqi maqam.”
~ Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper-Top 10 Jazz CDs of 2007

Open buffet menu with your favorite Middle Eastern main dishes, salad and deseert,
Cash bar
Door Prizes, Iraqi art sale & auction art by Halla Ayla, Ban Kubba & more
Raffle first prize an original oil painting “Road to Baghdad” By Afaneen Kubba

Tickets: $60 in Advance

To purchase tickets and for more information,
or contact:

Dina Aljuburi dina_aljuburi@hotmail.com
Vic Zikoor vic.zikoor@gmail.com
Emad Yahya emad.yahya@gmail.com
Voltaire Warda cyberelsar_2000@yahoo.com

Amir ElSaffar, an Iraqi-American, put down the trumpet to learn the centuries-old singing style known as maqam. He has now released his own CD of maqam and is writing music that blends the form with jazz. A true Music Bridge between Iraq and the US

ElSaffar traveled to Baghdad and London to study what some call the classical music of Iraq from the masters. Before that, Iraqi music was not a big part of his life. He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago , and jazz was his first love. After studying classical and jazz trumpet in college, he moved to New York City and worked as a sideman for pianist Cecil Taylor and others. He also led a band of his own.

He is the lead in the Safaafir – Iraqi Maqam group and will come to San Jose with the group from Chicago. The proceeds will be for the Iraqi Injured Children, an Iraqi community member has already pledged to pay the group fees and the travel cost.

That event will feature selective Iraq art and perhaps a silent art auction.

We are open for ideas, your input and do need your help, if you are interested in helping in organizing, promoting or selling tickets for this event please email us back. Volunteers are welcomed.

Attend the Santa Clara County Candidate Forum

AACC Staff — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:44:08 +0000

Election Time is Here. Come Meet the Candidates…

At the Candidate Forum

Friday, October 3rd, 2008
6 pm to 9 pm

County Government Center Building
70 W Hedding Street
San Jose, CA 95110
Isaac Newton Hall

Moderated by
San Jose Mercury News columnist
Scott Herhold

This forum is intended to educate the community on the candidates and the issues that affect our lives.
Please encourage all to attend; especially our young adults.

Participating Candidates:

San Jose City Council
District 8
Rose Herrera and Pat Waite

Santa Clara County
Supervisor
District 2
Richard Hobbs and George Shirakawa

Santa Clara County Supervisor
District 3
Dave Cortese and Otto Lee

For more information, please contact Richard Ajluni at (510) 745-1514

Sponsored By:

The Silicon Valley Arab American Council

The Ramallah Club of San Jose

The Arab American Cultural Center

August 22nd Social: “A Family Visit to Lebanon”

AACC Staff — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:05:03 +0000

Join us August 22nd at the Saratoga Library from 7-9:00 pm for a fun and visual ride through an experience visiting family in Lebanon after 8 years away. You will learn about the Lebanese people, food, and culture through the eyes of Adam Helweh, a Lebanese American living in the bay area.

The event is free and all are welcome. The Saratoga Library is located at:

13650 Saratoga Avenue • Saratoga, California • 95070-5099 • 408.867.6126

Save the Date September Social: Iftar “breaking of the fast”

AACC Staff — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:15:59 +0000

September Social, September 26th, Friday at the Saratoga Public Library Community Room: Iftar “breaking of the fast” – We will share the Ramadan tradition and learn traditional games of the season, taught by Emad and others. Please bring a dish to share, more details later on, but save the day….

The Caricature World of Tamer Youssef

AACC Staff — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:32:01 +0000

Come to the free event at the Saratoga library on July 18th at 7:00 PM. 13650 Saratoga Avenue • Saratoga, California • 95070-5099 • 408.867.6126

Click the flyer for more details

Press Release: July 18, 2008 AAVVSC Social

vzikoor — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:38:42 +0000

CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT

PRESS & INFORMATION BUREAU

San Francisco

P R E S S R E L E A S E

The Arab American Culture Center, Silicon Valley, with the cooperation of the Egyptian Consulate Press & Information Bureau, will host an “Egyptian Culture Night” on Friday, July 18, 2008, at 7:00 PM, at the Saratoga Community Library, Saratoga, CA.

Highlight of this event is an art show and a sellfolio presentation by Egyptian artist, Tamer Youssef. Mr. Youssef is a creative cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer. His works appeared in many newspapers and publications around the world, including Le Progrés Egyptien, The Egyptian Gazette, Live Colors, and Al-Ahram Weekly in Egypt, as well as in publications in France, Romania and the United States. He received various awards from Taiwan, Korea, Cyprus and Egypt. Likewise, he participated in many exhibits in countries in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

Mr. Youssef is currently the Vice President of the Federation of Cartoonists Organizations (FECO), and also a member of the Egyptian Association for Caricature and the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI).

Informational materials on Egypt, covering history, culture, the land, tourism, will be on display.

The Saratoga Community Library is located at 13650 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070.

For more information on this event, please contact -

Mr. Attiya A. Shakran, Press Counselor, Egyptian Consulate General Press & Information Bureau. Work # (415) 346-3427, cell phone (415) 548-0556.

Mr. Vic Zikoor, Vice President, Arab American Culture Center in Silicon Valley, Tel. (408) 239-9681.

1255 Post Street, Suite 1034, San Francisco, CA 94109

Tel: (415) 346-3427 * Fax: (415) 346-3430 *

E-mail: egyprsofsf@sbcglobal.net Website: www.sis.gov.eg

Victor Zikoor’s Interview with Catherine Evans Latta, author of Beirut Summer

vzikoor — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:32:58 +0000

Victor Zikoor’s Interview

with

Catherine Evans Latta, author of Beirut Summer

Arab TV, Comcast Chanel 15, San Jose, recently interviewed Catherine Evans Latta about her book of poems Beirut Summer published by Kings Mountain Press. Ms. Latta lived in Cairo and Beirut from 1963 through 1976, taught at the American University of Beirut, wrote for The Daily Star and is a resident of the Peninsula. The poems are a series of powerfully disturbing and vivid images detailing the pains of people living under fire in Beirut. She has included poems that cover several wars from 1967 to the present. Written from a woman’s point of view, the poems provide insights into the torn lives of ordinary people.

During the interview, she said that while the events in the poems are told in the first person, they were not all her personal experience “…there is poetic license after all,” but all the people in the poems were friends and it is their experiences and stories, as well as her own, that she drew upon for the collection. One poem tells of the extreme penury of two maids who came from the camps to work for her. She remarked how many had broken lives: — the gardener who moved his family to live in a tent in the garden because it was safer than in his neighborhood; — the friend whose farm was burnt to the ground, but felt obliged to remain to show her commitment to her country; — or the mother whose child could only sleep to a cassette playing the call to prayer.

Latta let her imagination take flight to describe the psychological pain of war. In fact, she sat under fire in 1967, sat out the 1972 War and in 1974 while teaching at AUB had bombs going off in nearby class rooms. She was in Beirut during the beginning of the 1975-1990 Civil War and again in 1983.

Other Writers praise Beirut Summer:

Marilyn Yalom: A powerful and highly successful presentation.

Nancy Packer: “a lovely collection—so vivid and so moving [it]

will stick with me along time.”

Beirut Summer is available at Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park, Tel. 650 324-4321

and Books Inc, Town & Country, Palo Alto, Tel. 650 321-0600

Catherine Evans Latta

This volume of poems presents a powerful series of dramatic images of the violence in Lebanon as seen through the eyes of a woman. The most recent round of hostilities was in the summer of 2006. In fact, most fighting in Beirut has been in the summer—hence the title: Beirut Summer.

The poems were first published in the prestigious “Beloit Poetry Journal.” Because of their timeliness and relevance to the turbulent conditions throughout the Middle East, Kings Mountain Press has published them in a limited, hand sewn, signed and numbered edition of collector quality.

About the Author: Catherine Evans Latta graduated from Cornell University and the American University of Beirut. She studied at Stanford with poet Denise Levertov and author Nancy Packer. Catherine’s poetry has been published in numerous journals: The Beloit Poetry Journal, the Stanford Literary Quarterly, Fresh Hot Bread and elsewhere. A feature columnist for Beirut’s The Daily Star, the largest English language paper in the Middle East, she taught in the English Dept. of the American University of Beirut and resided in Cairo for three years and in Beirut for ten. She currently lives in Portola Valley, Ca. and Boothbay, Maine, the setting of a forthcoming series of short stories

Social Event: Restoration of the Citadel and the old City of Aleppo

AACC Staff — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:21:29 +0000

Friday Social, May 16, 2008, at 7:00 PM

You are invited!

AACC Friday Social at the home of Carol & Abdel-Meguid El-Shaieb:

5023 Wilma Way,
San Jose CA 95124

Bader Kudsi will give a presentation about the Restoration of the Citadel and the old City of Aleppo with an introduction to other castles in Syria.

Carol and Abdel will provide coffee, tea and some light refreshments, you may bring a potluck dish if you like but that is not required.

Please RSVP so we know how many to expect – 408 356-8096

Directions: Take Highway 85 to Union Avenue. If coming from the north, make a right at the exit, you are on Samaritan. Make a left and go one block to Carlton., make a right on Carlton, and a left on Wilma. (It is not possible to make a right on Wilma.) If you get to the school / stop sign on Carlton, you have gone two blocks too far! We are on the right side of the street, just before it turns around and becomes Winton, a two story house with a palm tree and tile around the door.

If coming from the South, Highway 85 to Union, right at the exit, go one block, make a right, you are on Samaritan Drive, follow above instructions.

Santa Clara County Palestinian Cultural Day

AACC Staff — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:05:43 +0000

Join us for the raising of the Palestinian flag, sharing of untold stories, and performances. The day will also include informational displays and delectable Palestinian treats.

Where: Santa Clara County Government Center,
James P. McEntee, Sr. Civic Center Plaza,
70 W. Hedding St., San Jose

When: Thursday, May 15 – 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m.

A Day in Egypt at U.C. Davis

AACC Staff — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:41:00 +0000

CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT
PRESS & INFORMATION BUREAU
San Francisco

The International House, University of California, Davis, will host on Saturday, April 26, 2008 its Annual Conference with focus on Egypt. This event is co-sponsored by the Egyptian Consulate Press & Information Bureau. It will showcase the history, art, culture, literature and contributions and influence of Egypt to the world. Live bands on Egyptian music, samples of cuisine, children?s program, educati onal lectures and live museum by groups of elementary school children will make this day an event worth remembering and reflecting.

Ambassador Abdelrahman Salaheldin, Consul General of Egypt, will give a lecture on Egyptian American Relations. One of the great attractions is a raffle drawing for a Nile cruise donated by Mr. Mohammed El-Sherbini of King Tut Tours.

A fun day event from 12:00 noon to 5:00 PM for all!

For program schedule visit:
www.internationalhousedavis.org/prog/annual/2008/2008prog

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Attiya A. Shakran, Press Counselor, Egyptian Consulate Press & Information Bureau, at Tel. (415) 346-3427 or email: egyprsofsf@sbcglobal.net

Dr. Hamza El-Nakhal, International House, U. C. Davis, Tel: (530) 219-9508 or email: helnakhal@hotmail.com

For International House campus site visit:

www.cevs.ucdavis.edu/map/map_detail.cfm?centerTile=11_1&assetInfo=75

1255 Post Street, Suite 1034, San Francisco, CA 94109
Tel: (415) 346-3427 * Fax: (415) 346-3430 *
E-mail: egyprsofsf@sbcglobal.net Website: www.sis.gov.eg