Iraqi Week

Casa Árabe devotes a week to Iraq, to show through speeches, music and cinema the diverse and complex reality of this torn country, which maintains its best force and hope in its intellectuals and  arts creators.

Sunday 20th and Monday 21st: Concert “Dialogue between both shores”

The main characters of this musical dialogue towards the seeking of common paths are the Arab oud (lute) and the Flamenco guitar. An instrumental concert where rhythm games,  virtuosity, improvisations and magnificent melodies are the waves that come from both shores, from the Tigris and the Guadalquivir.

A concert that joins Naseer Shamma, considered one of the best oud (lute) players in the world and the highest figure of the Baghdad Modern School, and the Spanish Carlos Piñana, famous for his delicate expressiveness and his original rhythm  structures.

At Casa Árabe's garden in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62) at 21.30. Free admission, prior tickets collection on 20th and 21st June, from 11.00 to 14.30. Maximum 2 per person.

Tuesday 22nd: Cinema and Tribune Women in Iraq

The film Open Shutters Iraq, will be showed and presented by its director, Maysoon Pachachi. This event is included in the cinema season “Stories from Iraq”, which will take place from 4th June on.

After the showing, there will be a round table on the diverse realities Iraqi women face. The participants in the round table are Maysoon Pachachi, filmmaker, founder of the group “Act together: Women’s Action for Iraq” and creator of the Independent Cinema and Television School of Baghdad, Hana Ibrahim, director of the Iraqi development NGO "Women's Will” and editor from the magazine bearing the very same name, and Gema Martín Muñoz, Casa Árabe's General Director.

At the Casa Árabe's Auditorium in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62), from 17.00 on.  

Wednesdey 23rd: Aida Nadeem Concert

Iraqi artist Aida Nadeem will release her unique musical universe in Madrid. It is known as “Arabtronica”, a  blend of electronic sounds and West Iraqi tradition inspired by artists such as Bill Laswell, Nina Hagen, Transglobal Underground and Talvin Singh.

Her talent is developed in different creative domains: dancing, singing, poetry... In 1991 she left Iraq and moved to Denmark, where she studied in the Royal Danish Academy of Music, while she started to become interested in the underground musical scene.

At Casa Árabe's garden in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62), at 21.30. Free admission, prior collection of tickets  on 20th and 22nd June, from 11.00 to 14.30. Maximum 2 per person.

Thursday 24th: Tribune Historiographical Invisibilities. The case of contemporary Iraqui Art

Conference organized by Nada Shabout, president and founder of the Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World,  Iran and Turkey (AMCA).
She is presently associated professor of Art History in the North Texas University, where she focuses her work on Arab and Islamic visual culture, orientalism and globalization processes, among other topics.
At Casa Árabe's Auditorium in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62), at 19.30. Free admission.

Friday 25th: War, love, god and madness and cine-forum with the director

The film War, love, god and madness will be showed and presented by its director, Mohamed al- Daradji. After the showing, he will take part in a cine-forum.

Al-Daradji portraits in this film the real Iraqi, his survival spirit, after twenty-five years of dictatorship, three wars and finally a military invasion.

At Casa Árabe's Auditorium in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62), at 19.30. Free admission.