What are you most looking forward to this summer?
We had a lot of growth in the Middle East Music Ensemble (MEME) this year, and I had a great quarter teaching the Maqam Chamber Course. It was a big year for MEME, and it will be an equally big summer for the other projects that I work on outside the university. I am looking forward to carving out some time to finalize two projects that are near and dear to me, two upcoming albums set to be released in the summer. I am also looking forward to joining the faculty for the third year at the Arabic Music Retreat which takes place in Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts in August, and spending time with my family.
What else do you do during a given week besides your role at UChicago?
I maintain a rigorous schedule outside of my role at UChicago. I perform regularly with various projects, including two that I direct or co-direct: the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, a non-profit that I co-direct and oversee administratively, and East Loop, my “maqam”-jazz septet, both currently set to release albums this summer. Between those, composition commissions, various community engagement activities, and teaching, I am always either on the go, at a rehearsal, writing,or at a studio for a mixing session.
Do you have any extra memorable performance experiences you'd like to tell us about?
There are many, but two that come to mind are a performance that the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra gave at the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to a wonderful, enthusiastic audience. The music-making at that particular performance was transcending. The other one was a MEME concert that we gave in May of 2024. This was during a very tumultuous time in the world and on campus due to the appalling and extremely distressing situation in Gaza. At the time, it felt that MEME’s community and audience needed a space for healing, reflection, and collective grief, and MEME was able to do its small part to provide this through music.
What do you do to create a healthy work life balance?
Working in music often leaves little room for a healthy work-life balance, especially during the months where many performances take place. I try my best to take advantage of weeks where I have downtime to spend time with the family and attempt to reenergize and regroup. It takes a lot of energy to walk away from work that is piling up, especially when you love what you do. Committing time to doing other things that are not work related generally helps me separate work and life, as much as possible!
Tell us about your album that is coming out soon!
I am very excited about releasing East Loop’s debut full-length album this year. This is a project that I have been developing meticulously over the past three years, focused on the concept of bringing the microtonal “maqam” system used in Middle Eastern music, along with its rhythmic and melodic vocabulary, into a jazz septet framework. East Loop is a band that consists of piano, bass, percussion, drums, guitar, saxophone, clarinet, and trombone, along with the oud and buzuq. I composed and arranged all the music in it, reflecting my approach in expanding the parameters and pushing the boundaries of both the jazz and Middle Eastern traditions. It will be released along with live recording videos, which provide fun insight into the process and musical interactions between the band members.
It is not my only album being released this year, as the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, which I co-direct with Fareed Haque, will also be releasing a debut album in September, which promises to be a groundbreaking release in the field of cross-cultural music exploration, paying homage to Chicago’s very diverse musical landscape.
Both will be released on vinyl and all the major music streaming services.
