EXHIBITION

Suad Al-Attar
Tree of Life: Visions from Gardens of Eden
October 1 – 28
Museum admission

Trees and their associated symbolism are key to the work of Suad Al-Attar, whose latest body of work – brought together for the Nour Festival - is informed by the theme of the Tree of Life. The first Iraqi female artist to have a solo exhibition in Baghdad, Al-Attar’s previous exhibition at Leighton House in 2006, ‘Tears of the City’, was a direct response to the devastating series of wars which blighted her country. Here, echoing the dream landscapes of her earlier work, which drew heavily on Iraq’s Mesopotamian heritage of bountiful gardens, her depictions of golden palm trees, rejuvenated forests with birds of paradise and jewelled butterflies look towards a brighter future for Iraq and its people.

SHOPPING

Nour Souk
Saturday 8 October
12.00 – 4.00pm
Free admission

Nour Souk: a display and sale of contemporary design, fashion, foods and artisanal wares from the Middle East and North Africa. Set within the beautiful Oriental interior of Leighton House, this special afternoon takes its inspiration from an eastern souk (or market), where jewellery, clothing, fragrance, unique art objects, and deli products are sold. Selected designers and makers include Hassan Hajjaj (Larache), Dia Batal, Mehran Gharleghi, Zaytoun, Fez, and many more.

COURSES

Iznik Plate Decoration Course
Saturdays, 8, 15, 22, 29 October
10.30 – 3.30pm
£165.00/£155.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Using the beautiful surroundings of Leighton House, this practical course explores Iznik plate decoration from the Golden Age of Ottoman art. Participants will be guided through geometry and composition using traditional tools and techniques. Our colour palette will echo the dark blue cobalt, bright turquoise and red found on classic Iznik ware. Students will paint a design using under glaze on a bisqueware plate which will be kiln fired.

MUSIC

Exploring Arabic hip-hop
Friday 14 October
7.00 – 8.00pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

As a musical genre, hip-hop is renowned for its political agenda and hard-hitting lyrics. More familiar through its association with the struggle for African- American rights, it now plays an important role in contemporary developments across the Middle East.

This special event sees music theorist Randa Safieh consider the place of Arab inspired hip-hop today and accompanying performances by the rapper Master Mimz (Myriam Bouchentouf). Randa Safieh is a full-time secondary-school music teacher and academic specialising in hip-hop from the Arab world (specifically Palestinian hip-hop). Master Mimz is a London based Moroccan rapper who has built up a wide following through her performance of hip-hop tracks at London clubs. In February 2011, she released the Egyptian revolution anthem ‘Back Down Mubarak’ which brought her worldwide attention.

FILM

18 Days
Monday October 17
7.00pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
£8.00/£6.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Directors: Mariam Abou Ouf, Kamla Abu Zikri, Ahmed Alaa, Mohamed Ali, Ahmad Abdulla, Sherif El Bandary, Marwan Hamed, Khaled Marei, Yousry Nassrallah, Sherif Arafa, Egypt, 2011, 120 mins

“18 Days” is a series of ten short films that tell the varied stories of the recent Egyptian uprising that led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. The narratives cover different perspectives and are contained within an original presentation that combines real-life footage, digital camera work and scripted sequences. A notable success of the project is the manner in which the directors have captured a sense of what such events meant to the Egyptian people on the ground.

FILM

Here Comes the Rain
Tuesday October 18
7.00pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
£8.00/£6.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Lebanon, 2010, 100 mins
Director: Bahij Hojeij

Hojeij’s second feature centres on a sensitive political issue; the story of Lebanon’s missing ten thousand people almost two decades after the ending of the civil war in 1991. The film tells the story of three women. A mother whose child was ‘disappeared’ without a trace, a wife whose life is thrown into turmoil when her abducted husband suddenly re-appears and the story of a woman who lives with the ghost of her husband.

FILM

Damascus with Love
Wednesday October 19
7.00pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
£8.00/£6.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Syria, 2010, 95 mins
Director: Muhammed Abdulaziz

When her father reveals a hidden secret, a Syrian-Jewish woman called Rima, decides not to follow through on her plans to emigrate but opts to stay and explore her family’s past. Her journey of discovery reveals that Damascus has many memories, human stories, histories and cultures, and above all, that it has a diversity of communities who live together in firm and rare harmon.

FILM

Qarantina
Friday October 21
7.00pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
£8.00/£6.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Iraq, 2010, 88 mins
Director, Screenwriter: Oday Rasheed

Rasheed (‘Underexposure’) continues his exploration of daily life in post-Saddam Iraq. The film is set in contemporary Baghdad and ‘describes life in the depressing, angst-ridden city where tanks, bombs and gunfire have become part of the urban landscape. Set with claustrophobic intent inside a large house, the story of a disintegrating family forced to co-habit with a dangerous lodger often feels more like a stage play than a film’ (Hollywood Reporter, 11/8/2010).

FILM

Man Without a Cell phone
Saturday October 22
7.00pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
£8.00/£6.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

France, Palestine, Israel, Belgium, Qatar, 2010, 80 mins
Director: Sameh Zoabi

A Palestinian tragicomedy that focuses on relations between the residents of a small Palestinian town under Israeli occupation. The hero, Jawad, is in his twenties and is having problems with his studies and girls! His dream is to flee the family nest, however, his father has other ideas. Mixed into all this, are quarrelling village inhabitants who wonder about the effects of a new Israeli cell phone transmitter on the olive harvest.

TALK

Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East
Brian Whitaker in conversation with Saeed Kamali Dehghan
Wednesday, October 26
7.00 – 8.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

Brian Whitaker was Middle East editor at The Guardian for seven years and is currently an editor for the newspaper’s Comment is Free website. He is the author of “Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East” (Saqi Books, 2006) and “What’s Really Wrong WithThe Middle East” (Saqi Books, 2009). His website www.al-bab.com is devoted to Arab culture and politics.

Saeed Kamali Dehghan is an Iranian journalist. He has written for the Guardian from the Iranian capital, Tehran, and was there during the crisis following the disputed presidential election in 2009. He is now based in London and was named 2010 Journalist of the Year at the Foreign Press Association Awards.

MUSIC

Hassan Hajjaj and Leighton House present...
Sona Jobarteh
Thursday 27 October
7.00 – 10.00pm (doors open 6.30pm, main act from 8.00pm)
Free admission. Early arrival recommended, limited capacity.

Sona Jobarteh is the only female virtuoso Kora player. She comes from a prestigious West AfricanGriot (storyteller) family that has a long line of hereditary musicians going back hundreds of years, and breaks with the father to son tradition. She is the granddaughter of the master Griot, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, and cousin of the celebrated Kora maestro Toumani Diabate. As a multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer and producer, Sona works with musicians from around the world.

FILM

Parallax Media in association with Leighton House Museum presents two short films as part of the Nour Festival of Arts
Museum admission applies
The Park
Directed by James Neil & Sahide Sanin | 2011 |
35mm | 15 minutes | UK

The Park follows a woman’s search for her lover who has mysteriously disappeared. She visits different parts of London and the city’s streets and inhabitants appear in a new light with heightened dimensions. Her path takes her to museums, galleries and the Arab quarter of Edgware Road, provoking memories and questions which reveal truths about men, women, love and modern life.

FILM

The Visit
Directed by Sahide Sanin & James Neil | 2011 |
HD | 15 minutes | UK
Museum admission applies

A young English-Turkish couple live in a small house with their five-year-old daughter. News bulletins promise better economic times, yet this is not reflected in the family’s situation. One day unwanted visitors to the flat jeopardise the family’s fragile sense of being as the mother is placed in an impossible situation.

James Neil is a filmmaker, producer, and film curator. He co-curated the “Women’s Cinema from Tangiers to Tehran film festival” and is the founding director of Parallax Media, which is dedicated to film and the visual arts.

Sahide Sanin worked as a fringe theatre director in Istanbul and then moved to London to study filmmaking.

She directed the short film “Salma’s Day” and is completing an MA Photojournalism at the University of the Arts: London College of Communication. She is currently developing her next film “The Return”.

FOOD

Chef-in-residence Thursdays
Thursdays November 3, 10, 17
2.00 – 4.00pm
Museum admission

An opportunity for members of the public to meet with Anissa Helou in the main studio space at Leighton House. Over three Thursdays, Anissa will discuss various topics relevant to Middle Eastern cuisine and hold some basic cookery demonstrations.

November 3 - Anissa will have a selection of essential Middle Eastern ingredients on show and will explain to visitors how they are used in classic dishes. She will also give advice on where to find them in London and how to buy and store them.

November 10 - This afternoon is all about spices, especially the different mixtures, including Moroccan ras el-hanout, Lebanese seven-spice mixture and Persian advieh. Anissa will have some of the spice mixtures with her and will demonstrate how to prepare some of them. She will give out the recipe for one of the spice mixtures.

November 17 - Anissa will demonstrate how to preserve seasonal produce through pickling. She will show how to make the brine and will explain about ratios to create the perfect brining solution, both for taste and for preservation.

FOOD

Saturday Masterclass
Saturday November 12
2.00 – 4.00pm
£15.00/£10 concessions

Strictly limited to 20 places. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit
www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

In this special masterclass at Leighton House with Anissa Helou, participants will learn about Middle Eastern recipes and how to prepare distinctive types of dips. Dips are an essential part of the Arab mezze and for this special Saturday masterclass, Anissa will demonstrate how to make three beautiful dips: a beautiful ivory smoky grilled aubergine with tahini and lemon juice; a striking purple beetroot with tahini and lemon juice; and a brilliant orange butternut squash with tahini and lemon juice.

FOOD

The Chef’s Kitchen
Saturday November 26
2.00 – 4.00pm
£20.00/£15 concessions

Strictly limited to 20 places.
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit
www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Leighton House Museum is delighted to offer a special visit to Anissa Helou’s kitchen to see how she works and what a chef/food writer needs in their kitchen-studio. For this special afternoon, Anissa will explain how she writes and tests her recipes, what is involved in her research and what are the essential tools of her trade.

Visitors will be offered a tasting of mini za’tar bites. Za’tar is a mixture of dried thyme, sumac and sesame seeds. It is mixed with olive oil and used as a topping for flat breads that are the quintessential Lebanese breakfast. Anissa has tweaked the traditional recipe and she uses the za’tar/olive oil mixture on tiny disks of puff pastry to produce elegant bites that have the same flavour as the Lebanese manaqish (the name of the za’tar flat bread) but a lighter, crisp texture. This is a rare opportunity not to be missed.

TALK

Saudi Arabia at the Venice Biennale
Speakers: Robin Start, Shadia Alem and Raja Alem
Saturday 29 October
7.00 – 8.00pm (doors open from 6.30pm)
Tickets £8.00/£6.00 concessions

Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

In 2011 Saudi Arabia took part for the very first time in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition: the Venice Biennale. The country was represented by two female artists, who also happen to be sisters, Shadia and Raja Alem. This special evening event brings the two artists to Leighton House along with one of the co-curators of their exhibition, Robin Start.

Shadia Alem is a renowned Saudi visual artist who has held numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Raja Alem is a writer and a recipient of the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for her book, “The Doves’ Necklace”. Robin Start is founder and Director of The Park Gallery, London.

EXHIBITION

The Bird Ghost at the Zaouia – an 8 channel sound art installation by Seth Ayyaz
Presented by Zenith Foundation in association with Leight on House Museum
October 31 – November 5

A description of the installation by the sound artist Seth Ayyaz: “The Bird Ghost at the Zaouia” is a composed machine for listening, a shifting sonic body that references, comments upon and reconfigures a notional Islamic sonic-social world through the politicised materiality of sound. I made many hours of recordings at various zaouia (sufi shrines), mosques and religious spaces in Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon while attending various prayers and ceremonies (adhan, salat, tilawa, dhikr, zar and lilat) between 2002 and 2010. At the request of the respective religious leaders, no “musical” material has been used. I found birds, resonant tails, breathes, winds, noise, overheard conversations, adhan and extraneous sounds floating in, sounds that were left behind. Orientalisation of sound is a kind of sonic tourism that captures the ‘ethnic’ and colonises the ear. The history of Leighton House and its association with the Imperial period offers a special context in which to immerse your ears. Seth Ayyaz lives in London and is composer/performer spanning live electronics, free improvisation, noise, electroacoustics and Arabic music – principally nay (end-blown flute) ghaita (reed pipe) and hand percussion (darbuka and daf). Drawing on his background in neurosciences, his work is concerned with embodied perception and how this resonates across psychological and social spaces. www.sethayyaz.com

TALK

Emerging Arab Voices
Peter Clark in conversation
Wednesday 2 November
7.00 – 8.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

In November 2009, the International Prize for Arabic Fiction organised a workshop for eight critically acclaimed writers from Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The result was eight new pieces of writing, which have been brought together in “Emerging Arab Voices”. Peter Clark is a Middle East specialist and former Cultural Attaché at the British Council. He has translated fiction, history, drama and poetry from Arabic into English since 1980. Peter has lived and worked in seven Arab countries, is a Trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and a contributing editor of Banipal magazine.

PRIVATE EXHIBITION TOUR

“SUBTITLED WITH NARRATIVES FROM LEBANON ”
Guided tour with curator Juliana Khalaf
Saturday 5 November
3.00 – 4.00pm
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153
Meeting point: Royal College of Art (entrance hall)

As part of the Nour Festival, Leighton House Museum is delighted to partner with The Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon (APEAL) and the Royal College of Art to offer a special private tour of this exhibition – the first comprehensive show in London of contemporary Lebanese Art. Exhibition runs Thursday 3 November until Sunday 6 November, 2011.

Juliana Khalaf studied Middle Eastern History at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and has an MA in Islamic Art and Architecture from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. She is Assistant Curator at the Sursock Museum of Modern & Contemporary Lebanese Art, Lebanon.

MUSIC

Riyad Nicolas
Saturday 12 November
7.30 – 9.30pm (doors open 7.00pm)
£10.00/£8.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Syrian pianist and composer Riyad Nicolas performs a repertoire by contemporary Arab composers such as Jabri, Al Succari, Wadi and Al Hajjar. Riyad Nicolas is a former student of Joumana Ilias. He joined the Arab Institute of Music in Aleppo in 1997 where, under the supervision of Michael Kotcharov, he won the Best Piano Student Prize of the Syrian Arab Republic for two consecutive years (1998-1999). From 1999, Riyad continued his studies with Vladimir Kasatkin and gave several concerto performances with chamber orchestras in Aleppo and Damascus as well as solo recitals. Since 2007 Riyad has been at the Royal Academy of Music working with Sulamita Aronovsky.

TALK

Songs From Two Continents
Moris Farhi in conversation with Mitch ell Alb ert
Wednesday 16 November
7.00 – 8.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

Prize-winning poet Moris Farhi reads poems from his new collection, “Songs from Two Continents”. Born in Turkey in 1935, Moris Farhi is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Vice-President of International Pen. He was appointed an MBE in 2001 for services to literature. His novels include “Children of the Rainbow”, “Journey through the Wilderness”, “Young Turk and “A Designated Man”. “Songs From Two Continents” (Saqi Books, 2011) is Farhi’s first published collection of poetry.

Mitchell Albert is a freelance book and magazine editor based in London. He edits the literary review of PEN International – the worldwide writers’ association and human-rights NGO, and is also Associate Editor of the magazine Steppe: A Central Asian Panorama.

EDUCATION

Talking with Gaza
Wednesday 16 November
11.30 – 1.00pm
Museum admission applies

Chelsea Community Hospital School in partnership with Leighton House Museum.

TALK

Roads of Arabia – Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Speaker: Dr Geoffrey King
Saturday 19 November
3.00 – 4.00pm
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

In 2010 the Louvre held a ground-breaking exhibition titled ‘Roads of Arabia’ on recent archaeological discoveries from pre-Islamic and Islamic period Saudi Arabia. In this talk Dr Geoffrey King discusses the stunning implications that these new finds pose to cultural studies in the Kingdom and across the Middle East.

Dr Geoffrey King is currently Reader in Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS, University of London and was Associate Professor in Islamic Archaeology at King Saud University from 1979-1987. He has carried out excavations and surveys in Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Libya and Iran. He has published extensively on Islamic art, architecture and archaeology.

TALK

Messages from Tahrir
Karima Khalil in conversation with Anthony Sattin
Tuesday 22 November
7.00 – 8.30pm (doors open from 6.30pm)
Tickets £8.00/£6.00 concessions
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153 or visit www.wegottickets.com/LeightonHouseMuseum

Writer and broadcaster Anthony Sattin leads a conversation with photographer Karima Khalil who presents some of the evocative images from her book, “Messages from Tahrir”. Khalil has managed to capture a sense of the protests that brought down the Mubarak regime and for this special evening she gives her personal account of these history-making photographs.

“Astonishing and often deeply moving images from the frontline of one of the most hopeful moments in modern history.” William Dalrymple, author, “Nine Lives”

“Photographs capture fleeting moments and live on, preserving truth and human emotion. This book chronicles the January 25 Revolution without text or theorizing; it presents the reality of what happened, changing Egypt and the whole Arab world.” Alaa alAswany, author, “The Yacoubian Building”

Karima Khalil is a doctor and photographer. She was overwhelmed by the power and eloquence of the signs many protesters were carrying so determinedly in Tahrir Square, and collected and captured these images and those of thirty-five other photographers in “Messages from Tahrir”, published by the American University in Cairo Press. She lives in Cairo with her husband, Max Rodenbeck, Middle East correspondent for the Economist,and their daughter Laila.

Anthony Sattin is a writer and broadcaster, a specialist on the Middle East and North Africa and one of the key influences in modern travel writing. He is the author of several highly-acclaimed books, most recently “A Winter on the Nile” and “Lifting the Veil”. Sattin is also a regular contributor to the Sunday Times and Condé Nast Traveller and has been widely published in the UK and internationally.

MUSIC

Hassan Hajjaj andLeighton House present...
Clara Sanabras: “Perilous Divide”
Thursday 24 November
7.00 – 10.00pm (doors open 6.30pm, main act from 8.00pm)
Free admission. Early arrival recommended, limited capacity.

Sioux and Gypsy blood runs through Clara’s veins; born in France, Barcelona-raised, now a Londoner, her music is as varied as her background. Since she burst into the global music scene in 2006, with the highly acclaimed album “Clara & The Real Lowdown”, she has continued to capture audiences with her virtuosic voice, powerful songwriting and striking stage presence.

“Perilous Divide” is a new project that combines traditional Spanish, Ladino and Arabic music from the Al-Andalus period as well as new compositions that illustrate the east-west divide through the centuries to the modern day. Clara has performed at international festivals including Glastonbury 2011, The London Jazz Festival and Womad.

TALK

Iran’s Endangered Heritage
Speaker: Roya Arab
Saturday 26 November
3.00 – 4.00pm
Free event. Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

This talk is based on an open letter sent to Public Archaeology Journal  (Arab, 2010, Vol 9, No2:108-120), which dealt with the dangers posed to the ownership, interpretation, preservation and dissemination of Iranian/Persian heritage by the socio-political and economic realities of the day. It has become increasingly difficult to comprehend the level of influence that modern political ideals and inclinations are having on Iranian heritage. In this talk, archaeologist Roya Arab considers the misinterpretation, misuse and threats to Iranian heritage outside Iran.

Roya Arab is a UK based Iranian musician and archaeologist. Roya is currently an Honorary Research Assistant at the Institute of Archaeology (UCL), where she received a Master’s degree in Public Archaeology and a BA in Archaeology. Her interests are in the socio-political and economic contexts of an artefact, once it has been removed from or highlighted in the landscape, for study and/or display. She has visited various sites around Iran and collaborated with scholars on excavations and public outreach studies, including workshops at the National Museum in Tehran. She is especially intrigued by how Iranian/Persian history is viewed and taught outside Iran and is presently working, with the support of Iran Heritage Foundation, to create an accessible academic on-line resource, on Iranian history, for young students and amateur historians.

TALK

Ziad Ghanem
‘First time I cried in a Turkish bath ’
Saturday 26 November
7.00 – 8.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Free event, places strictly limited
Booking essential on 020 7471 9153

International fashion designer Ziad Ghanem (awarded Best in Show at London Fashion Week 2010) unveils a new selection of work created specifically for this special evening event as part of the Nour Festival. Dubbed the “Cult Couturier”, Ziad Ghanem combines his cutting-edge couture skills with London underground style to create exquisite pieces of bespoke clothing. Internationally admired with a loyal following, the London-based designer has presented catwalks all over the world.

Crammed full of sensual drama and flamboyant silhouettes, his shows are more of a performance than a display of fashion. Using artists and club kids rather than models, Ziad incorporates the spirit of the individual into his designs by creating every piece onto the body and the personality of each wearer (www.ziadghanem.co.uk).

EVENT

Yalda –Celebrating the Iranian Winter Solstice
Wednesday 30 November
6.45 – 10.00pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Free event. Early arrival recommended, limited capacity.

Leighton house will be sharing the rituals of Shab-e Yalda, an ancient Iranian celebration of the winter solstice. A festival of ancient origin, Yalda has woven around it a night that embodies the highly textured heritage of this historic land and is still enjoyed in Iranian homes worldwide. Visitors will delight in fine delicacies complimented by music and the prophetic poetry of Hafez as we journey through Yalda.

• 18:45 - 19:45 - Music: Peyman Heydarian (santur Maestro)
• 20:00 - 20.45 - Roya Arab presents Alamute with Tansay Omar, Ashkan Koosha, Reveal, Sin.Laam, Masoud Sharifian and Hamid Navim.
• 21:00 - 22:00 - Divan of Hafez with Suzie Ziai.

There will also be textile designs on display by Diba Mehrabi and a book stad by Silk Roads books.