Brooklyn Maqam presents:
Laura Elkeslassy: Ya Ghorbati, Divas in Exile - Ayin Press Folio Release Party
Featuring:
Laura Elkeslassy - vocals;
Ira Khonen Temple - music direction, accordion
Daisy Castro - violin
April Centrone - percussion
Nizar Dahmani - percussion
Daro Behroozi - winds
Marwan Allam - bass

Ya Ghorbati is an invitation to a musical journey across North Africa to discover the stories of Judeo-Arab divas from the early twentieth century through the 1960s. In it, singer Laura Elkeslassy excavates songs by Line Monty, Zohra Elfassia, Hbiba Msika, Salim Halali and more, recreating the musical soundscape of her family’s history in Morocco. In the process, she comes face to face with forgotten ancestors and reclaims her true family name as her artist name. Developed in collaboration with music director Ira Khonen Temple, Ya Ghorbati weaves together folk and sacred music spanning from the traditional Andalusi style, to popular Shaabi, to Francarabe cabaret. Ya Ghorbati looks across time and space to tell a tale of political upheaval and exile, ultimately questioning the binary between Arab and Jew.

Brooklyn Maqam is an organization dedicated to presenting Middle Eastern (in particular, Arabic) music, with the goals of expanding its audience, preserving it as an art form, and building community centered around the music.
Each second Wednesday of the month, they feature different musicians.