SOUK at the Conservatory.

Saturday, December 10, 2022 - 6-8pm

$10 advance tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/souk-tickets-409548359167 , $15 at the door

Join us for a performance by SOUK, playing middle-eastern and Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Greek music, ranging between hypnotic and danceable, instrumental and vocal pieces. SOUK was formed in 2010 by Nikolai Ruskin, Jesse Koennecke, and Dara Anissi, who have been performing together for over two decades. Performing on violin, oud, percussion and several other traditional instruments, they will be joined by Middle Eastern dancers Anna Horn and Alicia Free.

SOUK plays traditional Arabic and Turkish music, based on Maqam, a complex modal system with emphasis on improvisation, and Iqa, a wide variety of rhythms. Their repertoire ranges from Raqs Sharqi, the music played in cabarets for bellydance, to Muwashahat, 16th century songs that migrated from Andalusia to Aleppo, Golden Era classics by famous singers like Ohm Kalthoum and Abdel Halim Hafez, to folk music from Upper Egypt and the Black Sea region of Turkey.

Nikolai Ruskin is a multi-instrumentalist specializing in Middle Eastern music. Born in San Diego, California, Nikolai grew up in San Francisco. In 2002, Nikolai co-founded the Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble with Professor Martin Hatch, of which he was Music Director until relocating to the Manhattan area in 2005. Returning to Ithaca in 2010, he formed the group SOUK with Dara Anissi, and Jesse Koennecke. Nikolai returned as Music Director for the Cornell Arabic Music Club in 2018.

Dara Anissi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1973. and came to the US at the age of 2 becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. He started playing guitar at the age of 5 and has been playing since exploring the genres of Rock, Classical music, Jazz, and Celtic music. He currently teaches music at the Lehman Alternative Community School where he has taught students for 22 years.

Dancer Anna Horn lives in the Trumansburg area, bringing along 20+ years of studying belly dance and music with local and world renowned artists, including her mentor, Suhaila Salimpour.

Alicia Free started studying music and dance with Nikolai Ruskin and June Seaney when she was a Cornell student in 2000. Dancing to live music is a form of magic that Alicia is devoted to.