[FA Worldmusic] SFWMFestival 2006

[Kutay Kugay]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 				CONTACT:
July 20, 2006							Michael Santoro, 415-5616571
www.sfworldmusicfestival.org									     msantoro at doordog.org

					
Door Dog Music Productions presents The Seventh Annual
SAN FRANCISCO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
 SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 7, 2006

(San Francisco)  The Fall Season of the SAN FRANCISCO WORLD MUSIC
FESTIVAL 2006 will celebrate its Seventh Anniversary with an exciting
gathering of some of the most interesting musicians in the world.

For the past five years of the festival, the San Francisco World Music
Festival has commissioned musicians and artists from different
countries to collaborate together to create a new evening-length
performance as the centerpiece premiere of the festival. The
commissioned centerpiece of 2006, premiering at the Fort Mason Cowell
Theater, is  "VOICES OF KURDISTAN", a new collaborative work in three
parts, combining traditional and newly composed Kurdish music, poetry,
and dance by Kurdish artists from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

Although the Kurds have existed for thousands of years with a unique
cultural identity, they have no country.  Today, there are more than
35 million Kurdish people in the worldgeographically, politically,
culturally, and artistically divided between the four countries of
Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.  They continually search for unity in
their sense of community and cultural identity.  "VOICES OF KURDISTAN"
will bring together artists from each of these regions for the first
time.  They will explore their common threads of Kurdish ethnic
identity and ancestry through the singing of Kurdish poems and folk
tales in several Kurdish dialects and through new music based on
Kurdish melodies, which have regional variations.

On Friday, September 29th at 8 PM, at Cowell Theater, VOICES OF
KURDISTAN (PART I), featuring AYNUR and her ensemble, is the first of
three focused on the Kurdish musicians from Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and
Syria. This evening will focus on the Kurdish music from Turkey,
featuring the music of rising superstar, Aynur, with her ensemble.
Making her US Debut, Aynur will sing in Kurmanchi, the largest Kurdish
dialect and in her regional dialect. Her ensemble includes musicians
from Turkey performing the blur (wooden flute), daf (frame drum),
tembur (lute), and viola.

On Saturday, September 30th at 8 PM, at Cowell Theater, VOICES OF
KURDISTAN (PART II) will focus on the Kurdish musicians from Iran,
Iraq, and Syria, featuring the vocal and tanbur music of master ALI
AKBAR MORADI, coming to the Bay Area from his Kurdish city of
Kermanshah, Iran; Bay Area female vocalist ROJAN; vocalist MICO KENDES
from Syria making his US Debut; and percussionists HUSSEIN ZAHAWY from
Iraq, KOUROSH MORADI from Iran, and OZDEN OZTOPRAK from Turkey. They
will be joined by ULAS OZDEMIR, renowned Alevi musician from Turkey,
also making his US Debut. A pre-performance, lecture-demonstration
will be presented in the theater by ULAS OZDEMIR. Participants will
learn about the Alevi Sufi Philosophy, listen to his music, and have
an opportunity to learn about the Anatolian Alevi saz tradition.

On Sunday, October 1st at 7 PM, at Cowell Theater, VOICES OF KURDISTAN
(PART III) will feature AYNUR and all the musicians from all four
regions of Kurdistan together on stage. A pre-performance lecture will
be presented in the theater by Kurdish educator, Rashid Karadaghi. A
culminating performance of all the Kurdish musicians of Voices of
Kurdistan will take place as a finale. Participants will learn about
the culture, history, and politics of the Kurdish people.

On Monday, October 2nd at 8 PM, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Film Screening Room, is a FILM SCREEMING: "AnTEAcipation", directed by
ILKAY NISANCI. This film depicts the role of tea growing on the
culture of the Laz people in the N.E. Black Sea region of Turkey.
Beginning with the lush green fields of Artvin/ Arhavi where the tea
is grown, to sipping the tea from the cup, the film takes us on a
journey to reveal what tea growing brought to the Laz people and what
it took away from them. Through gorgeous images, songs and interviews
with family members and villagers who work the fields, the story
unfolds in a gradual and personal way. Prior to the film at 7 PM,
Program Director of the festival, Kutay Derin Kugay, will host a
lecture-discussion about the culture and traditions of the Laz People
and an update about the Yayla Festival.

Continuing in our efforts to introduce cultures, music and artists to
the larger community we will include several community events On
Sunday, September 24th at 2 PM (1:30 PM Lecture), at the Asian Art
Museum, Bay Area ensemble TABLA RASA performs with ALICE FONG YU
PERCUSSION TROUPE, Chinese percussion elementary school students from
the Alice Fong Yu Alternative School. This is the culminating
performance of a Residency Program where percussionist Jim Santi Owen
taught the students Indian rhythms on Chinese percussion instruments.

On Monday, September 25th at 2 PM, we present a LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE
BLIND & VISUALLY IMPAIRED COMMUNITY CONCERT, featuring Bay Area local
Kurdish musician Ozden Oztoprak, performing a free concert for the Bay
Area blind community and their families.

>From October 4th  6th, at the My Opera Institute in Chinatown, SF, we
present THE ART OF CANTONESE OPERA. This series of
lecture-demonstrations will culminate in a recital of a famous
Cantonese opera scene, performed by some of the Bay Area's most
talented singers and musicians. Specific dates and times of each
Cantonese Opera focused event include: On October 4th at 7 PM a
Lecture on HISTORY, MUSIC THEORY, & STORYLINES; On October 5th at 2 PM
a Lecture-Demonstration on MAKE-UP & COSTUMES; On October 6th at 8 PM
(6 PM Dinner) an OPERA RECITAL & DINNER experience; & On October 7th
at 2 PM a CANTONESE OPERA WORKSHOP.

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WE HAVE EXPANDED THE FESTIVAL TO THREE SEASONS

The 2006 Summer Season is coming up overseas in North Eastern Turkey
at the Black Sea highlands on August 25th, 26th and 27th 2006.  The
FIRST ANNUAL YAYLA FESTIVAL at Abusor Yayla is our effort to create
more opportunities for communities throughout the world to revitalize
their indigenous and cultural traditions. For more information or to
attend, visit us at www.doordog.org. or www.yaylafest.org


The 2006 Spring Season opened with a youth focused program. On April
30th, we opened with the "YOUTH WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL", featuring youth
music groups from Iran, Hungary, China and India. On May 28th, we
continued with "A JOURNEY TO CHINA ARTS FESTIVAL", having a cast of
100 elementary students performing Chinese traditional percussion,
music, dance, calligraphy, Tang Dynasty poetry recitation, Cantonese
opera, and more.

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VENUES

COWELL THEATER
FORT MASON CENTER, San Francisco
Box Office: 415 345-7575
http://www.sfworldmusicfestival.org

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
701 Mission St @ 3rd, San Francisco
Information: 415 978-2787

ASIAN ART MUSEUM
200 Larkin Street, San Francisco
Information: 415 581-3500
http://www.asianart.org

MY OPERA INSTITUTE
138 Waverly Place, 3rd Floor, San Francisco
Information: 415 608-0750
http://www.sfcmc.org

 LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND
AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
214 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
Information: 415 431-1481 (TTY: 415 431-4572)
http://www.lighthouse-sf.org



THE SAN FRANCISCO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL 2006 is produced by DOOR DOG
MUSIC PRODUCTIONS

"The San Francisco World Music Festival has a reputation for
experimentation as an indirect call for cultures to share peace and
understanding." (The San Francisco Chronicle).

FESTIVAL BACKGROUND
Founded in 2000 by Executive Director Michael Santoro and Program
Director Kutay Derin Kugay, THE SAN FRANCISCO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
uniquely showcases the musical diversity from the Bay Area and around
the globe by presenting high quality world music performances by
master artists both locally and overseas, and from traditional to
contemporary explorations.

ABOUT DOOR DOG MUSIC PRODUCTIONS
Door Dog Music Productions is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization,
which produces the San Francisco World Music Festival.  Throughout the
year, events uniquely showcase the musical diversity from the Bay Area
and around the globe, presenting high quality world music performances
by master artists both locally and overseas, and from traditional to
contemporary explorations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
DOOR DOG MUSIC PRODUCTIONS
The Thoreau Center
1007 General Kennedy Avenue, Suite 215
San Francisco, CA 94129
Tel: 415-561-6571
Fax: 415-561-6572
Web: http://www.sfworldmusicfestival.org
Email: info at doordog.org

DOOR DOG FUNDERS & SPONSORS
Door Dog Music Productions is sponsored & funded in part by: Alliance
for California Traditional Arts, Bocce Cafi, Brooke Oliver Law Group,
Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California,
Berkeley, The Christensen Fund, Fort Mason Foundation, KPFA 94.1FM,
LEF Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Piper Jaffray,
Potrero Nuevo Fund of the Tides Foundation, San Francisco Foundation,
San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts Hotel
Tax Fund, Shulte Grants for the Arts & Crafts, W.A. Gerbode
Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas
Fund, WESTAF, and Zellerbach Family Foundation.

DOOR DOG BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mahsa Hakimi, President, Jim Block, Mark DeWitt, Lily Kharrazi, Xiao
Feng Zhang,
Welat Yuksel and Gregory Johnson.

DOOR DOG STAFF
Michael Santoro, Executive Director; Kutay Derin Kugay, Program
Director; Mathilde Agoustari, Public Relations/Community Development;
Yafonne Chen Santoro, Development; Matthew Antaky, Scenic Design;
Frederic O. Boulay, Production Management; Martina Ng & Terence Liu,
Graphic Design; Jim Block, Photography Documentation; Martha Cooper,
Bookkeeping/ Accounting; Brooke Oliver Law Group, General Legal
Council; and Henry Hu, Immigration Legal Council
-- 
Kutay Derin Kugay