Little Syria
Old Town School of Folk Music – Chicago, il
May 2023
May 12-13 2023
Set in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood once known as Little Syria (1880-1940), this genre-bridging performance – spanning Hip-Hop, Arabic instrumentation, and akaw t oral storytelling traditions of the Levant – imagines early 20th-century life in the heart of Arab-America. Just south of the current World Trade Center, this once vibrant cultural hub for New York’s Middle Eastern immigrants was home to artists and intellectuals including Ameen Rihani and Kahlil Gibran. This creative retelling of a tragically underrepresented historical narrative draws an audience attuned to stories of immigration, xenophobia, and the ever-evolving “American dream.”
