In search of good lectures about Mesopotamian Music, we came across this some twenty years old lecture by Rabi Paulos Khofri in Tehran. We thought it is a good source for education about our music so we put it on YouTube in three different clip.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Lecture on Mesopotamian Music
Friday, May 29, 2009
A Sample from Assyryt
The following slide show is a two minute sample from Assyryt No. 1. Mesopotamian Night 2009 will present two 10-minute Symphonic Suites named Assyryt No.1 and Assyryt No.2.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
A Tribute to A Patriot: Sargon Ishoo (1960-1999)
The Mesopotamian Night 2009 is somehow related to an Assyrian patriot Sargon Ishoo. It was him and Tony Khoshaba the president of AAS-A Central Valley Chapter who made a life long promise to their Assyrian language and literature teacher Rabi Nimrod Simono that the folklore Epic of Qateeni Gabbara, so beautifully documented by Rabi William Daniel, will live on and will not be forgotten. Over twenty years has passed from the day that the promise was made. Both Rabi Simono and Sargon Ishoo have already left us but the promise is finally fulfilled. Qateeni will appear in world stage as a master piece of literature and arts and will live forever in the minds of future generations of Assyrians and will lead them with the message of pride, unity and freedom.
Below is a biography of Sargon Ishoo written by his brother Ninous Ishoo.
Sargon Ishoo's Biography
Sargon Ishoo was born May 22, 1960 in a small, ordinary Assyrian family. He lost his father at the early age of 8. He had a challenging childhood but he was fortunate enough to have had a very good family and close friends. Sargon, in his teenage years, discovered his love for sport. Like his father, he had a passion for soccer. He started playing soccer for the Armenian team of Ararat. After awhile, he discovered his other passion, which was stronger than soccer. That passion was learning his native Assyrian language. He had never taken any Assyrian classes and didn’t yet know the alphabet. Sargon’s passion was strong enough to give him the determination to face the challenge. He started by asking one of his friends to write the alphabet with the pronunciations. He spent many hours of his free time learning the alphabet. With his strong motivation, it didn’t take him that long to start reading books in his own language. He used to say, “There is no better joy than to read a book in your own language”.
Reading all those books slowly but surely pulled him toward his third passion: Assyrian culture, his identity as an Assyrian and nationalism. He started researching, reading and meeting different groups of people. In this process, he made many new friends. At the same time in the neighboring country of Iraq, there was a new movement in Assyrian educators and youth called the Assyrian Democratic Movement or Zowaa. Saddam found out about it and he imprisoned some of the members and killed others to silence the movement. Saddam didn’t know that he couldn’t stop the Assyrian Youth Movement for Liberty by intimidation. Some of youth from the city went to the higher mountains and started an arms struggle against the regime. Some others went to Iran to regroup. Sargon met some of them and liked their ideology and courage, so he started helping them. When Sargon was in his early twenties; his family decided to move to the capital city of Iran (Tehran). For awhile he was far from his friends, but he kept in contact with them. In Tehran, Sargon met new friends in the Assyrian Youth National and Cultural Association (Qindroon). He joined them and started teaching the Assyrian language. At the same time he was studying the Assyrian language at an advanced level.
He later had to move out of Iran to Germany. He lived in Germany for two years and helped establish the Assyrian club and taught Assyrian. After two years, he moved to the United States and began taking English and electronic classes at Modesto Junior College. He established the Assyrian club of MJC. Also, he joined the Assyrian Aid Society and Zowaa’s local chapter. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer at this time and after a year of fighting; he lost the battle to the disease in Feb 2, 1999. He left us for a better place in heaven. Although he had a short life, he was very productive.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tribute to a “selfless” Assyrian
Last year after successful completion of the Mesopotamian Night 2008, we lost one of our committed members late Susan Rasho. Susan helped us with both MN-2007 and MN-2008 projects and profoundly influenced us by her “selfless” character and her unselfish commitment to our cause.
The projects that we were involved in were tiring and sometimes stressful. But we are grateful that we got to know individuals like Susan through being part of the AAS-A team.
We will be celebrating MN-2009 project in memory of our friend Susan Rasho. She has touched our humanity in ways that will last with us forever. God bless her soul.
Here is a short biography of Susan written by her daughter Arbella.
Susan Rasho
Susan Rasho, an AAS-Central Valley Chapter committee member since 2006, was born on March 25, 1956 and passed away on October 19, 2008. She was born in Baghdad, Iraq and came to the United States in 1974 to Chicago, IL. The family then moved to Modesto, CA in 1988 where they currently reside. Susan was a wife to Ashur Rasho and a mother to three children: Mark, Ramsen and Arbella. She helped in the planning of the last two AAS Mesopotamian Night events in 2007 and 2008. She was also the Treasurer of the Ladies in Diaspora group. Her creative talents were put to use in many fundraiser events to help our brothers and sisters in our homeland.
Not only was Susan a great asset to the AAS team, but she was a trustworthy friend to many. It was in her character to give useful advice and be there when someone needed a listener. Her strong Christian faith radiated through her actions and words. Susan Rasho will be missed and forever remembered.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The People Behind AAS-A Central Valley Chapter
Here is a few lines describing the dedicated members of the AAS-A Central Valley Chapter and the Mesopotamian Night project.
Elki Issa
Elki was born in Modesto, California. She earned her degree in Political Science from California State University, Stanislaus where she currently works as an Administrative Coordinator. She resides in Modesto with her husband George and children Andrew and Arbella. A fervent supporter of AAS, Elki is currently the VP of the Central Valley Chapter of AAS-A.
Rita Awdow Mulhim
email: Ritamulhim@yahoo.com
Rita was born in Dora, Iraq. She moved to U.S.A in 1975.
Rita has an associate degree in accounting and business from Truman College, Chicago, Illinois. She has worked in banking system for over 25 years has has a California real estate license.
Rita has been a volunteer for the Assyrian Aid Society of America Central Valley Chapter since September 2006. She has also served as vice president of the United Assyrian Chaldean Woman Union in Diaspora for two years. Rita is married to Albert Mulhim and has three children Rosemary, Ramson and Ryan.
“I will continue my work by helping my people in ATRA. My dream is to see our national rights to be recognized in Iraq, our ancestral homeland.”
Tony Khoshaba
Tony was born in Urmi, Iran. He finished his high school in Urmi. He earned an Electrical Engineering degree from Tabriz University in 1987 and then moved to Tehran. In Tehran he earned a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and completed his Ph. D. course works in Biomedical Engineering. In 1991 he moved to US and joined Northwestern University in Evanston to complete his Ph. D. degree. However he later settled for a Masters degree in biomedical engineering from Northwestern in 1995 and joined the workforce as a software engineer. Since then he has worked in various medical and telecommunication industries as a senior software engineer. Currently he works for a startup telecommunication company in Bay area California while he lives in Modesto with his wife Nahrin and three daughters Ayla, Edena, and Elona.
Tony has worked and contributed to various Assyrian organizations. In Urmi during 1980s he was one of the founders of Nissan Cultural and Art Association. He was also a member of Urmi branch of editorial board of Ishtar bi-weekly. When he was in Tabriz, along with other Assyrian students he helped revive the Assyrian Youth Center of Tabriz which published a newsletter and performed nationalistic performances. In Tehran while a graduate student he joined the Assyrian Youth National and Cultural Association and for several years served as member of its central committee. In Chicago, for several years he has served as a member of board of directors of the Assyrian Academic Society. In the past three years he has served as the president of the AAS-A Central Valley Chapter.
Sargon Alkurge
Sargon was born in Dora , Iraq , but his father moved the family to Kuwait in 1975 to seek employment opportunities. After graduating from high school Sargon moved to the U.S. in 1987 to join his uncle and lived with him in Sunnyvale , CA. The rest of Sargon’s family joined him four years later and settled in San Jose , CA. Sargon received his Associate degree in business from De Anza College in Cupertino , CA and pursued his education at San Jose State University for a Bachelor degree in Accounting. Later he switched to University of Phoenix and graduated in 1999. He’s worked as an accountant since 1993 and currently he holds the position of vice president of finance for a manufacturing company in Livermore , CA . In late 90’s, he joined the Assyrian Aid Society- San Jose chapter by serving as their Treasurer. Working along side great individuals such as Ashur Yoseph, Youkie Khaninia , Fred Aprim, Fouad Sada, Neil Karaman , Sam Kasim and others made Sargon realize the passion of helping our people. In 2001, Sargon married his lovely wife Rita and moved to Modesto , CA . They now are blessed with two daughters Bretele and Edessa. After few years away to take care of his new family, Sargon has decided to join the AAS-Central Valley chapter as their Treasurer.
“I passionately admire and support the Assyrian Aid Society for all their great accomplishments to our nation. I’m hoping that I could bring my passion and energy to this honorable organization and contribute in any way possible.”
Bata Sada-Younan
Mrs. Bata Sada-Younan was born in Barwar, Iraq and spent her childhood in Basrah. She received her Bachelors degree from University of Basrah in Geography. After teaching high school for seven years she immigrated to Canada in 1980.
Her family relocated to Modesto, CA to be closer to the Assyrian community. Bata started working with AAS in 1992. She was among the pioneers who greatly contributed to the foundation of the AAS-Central Valley Chapter.
She is a believer that knowledge is power and that the only way to maintain our culture, language and history is through continued education of our young people. She is a passionate supporter of the AAS because of the support it lends the Assyrian schools in Northern Iraq. She is married to Andreous Younan and has three daughters, Vian, Marian, and Suzan.
"I'm devoted to AAS because of our hard work in maintaining our roots in our homeland. I have been involved with AAS long enough to see our dreams of having Assyrian language schools come to fruition. It is a pleasure to see those young students who have started out in elementary school and who now have gone on to graduate from college."
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