Legendary King Biba honored at Mesopotamian Night 2013

The legendary singer Edward Yousif also known as King Biba (1945 - 1995) will be honored at the 6th Annual Mesopotamian Night concert on June 15, 2013 by presenting four of his songs for our audience.  Two singers will perform Biba's most popular re-arranged songs along side the 50-piece "Mesopotamia Symphony Orchestra"  

Biba's Biography
(This biography is taken from Qeenatha.com website maintained by Moneer Cherie. Per Moneer's comments the source of this article was the A.A.W TV segment and coverage of late Biba’s funeral in Chicago.)

Known and recognized as "King of singers’ by Assyrians in Iraq, Biba’s life is one riddled with talent, fame, love pain and tragedy…all of these factors have manifested themselves in his music, lyrics and unique and enduring voice, giving his performances a powerful impact on the listener. For many Assyrians, Biba’s songs were a mirror of their lives, reflecting in beautiful melodies their experiences of love, joy, suffering and nationalism.

Biba, Edward Yousif, began singing in Assyrian and Iraqi gatherings at the age of 11. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1945, and initially only sung in Arabic, imitating his hero, the world famous Farid Al-Atrash. Influenced by the beloved traditional voice of Oshana Youel Mirza, Biba began to sing in Assyrian in 1961. He enhanced and invented a new style of Assyrian Music, a blend of keyboard instruments, Guitars and drums.

According to Biba, he and musician George Ishu sought to bring to life something never heard before, a new type of music - a new sound. "We did not want to imitate Western music," States Biba, "We wanted to continue in the path of Eastern music, but possess a new sound, provide a new dimension".Biba became an instant sensation in 1961, when he began singing in Assyrian.

Assyrians, Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmans in Iraq loved and admired his songs and purchased his record and tapes. His 1962 song, Near My Sight, became a hit due to the beauty of its lyrics, the uniqueness of its melody, and the fact that it was a reflection on a life experience; the song was written about Biba’s first love. Within a period of six months in 1962, Biba sold over 5,600 records in Iraq. 12,000 were subsequently produced and sold in Iran.

In 1965, the president of Iraq awarded Biba a gold watch in honor of his winning singing contest on television. From 1962 to 1979, Biba appeared on Iraqi television continually. His performances in wedding, concerts and gatherings of all types have given Assyrians fond and lasting memorable Memories which are contained in this recording to last for many years to come. Late Biba resided in Chicago with his wife and daughter Krystal.

Rabi Yacoub Bet Yacoub Songs to be Revived

Mesopotamian Night 2013 will have a special presentation of late Rabi Yacoub Bet Yacoub old songs thank to a generous contribution by the Jacob family and in particular Mr. Ted Jacob. Below is a short biography by Mrs. Samira (Shamiram) Hermes, his daugher.

Rabi Yacoub was born on December 25, 1896, in the village of Goolpatalikhan, Urmia, Iran, to Yacoub and Marganita.

He was named after his father who had passed away only a few months before his birth. He and his older sister Shooshan were raised by their mother Marganita and maternal grandfather Zaia (known as chokha Zaia).

 In 1917 he graduated from the American Mission College, which was known to the Assyrians as “Madrashta the’ Qalla”, taking general subjects.  Amongst his teachers at the college were Rabi Pera Amrikhas of Ada, Rabi Isaac Urshan, and Qasha Isaac Malik. And for advanced studies, he was sent to Sardari College. Due to War turmoils, the American Mission College was closed in April 1918. That year Rabi Yacoub enlisted in the Assyrian Army in the Artillery division under the command of Agha Petros and Agha Mirza. He was involved in the battle of Ushnuk Saboulack.

 In Apshina (Hamadan) he re-enlisted in the army for a period of three months. The British and Agha Petros were enlisting men for the purpose of returning and taking Urmia. Later the British changed their mind and the enlistees were disbanded. The Assyrian exodus from Hamadan to Kirmanshah and eventually Baquba (Iraq) took 35 days. During this period Rabi Yacoub was sick. After his recuperation, he was requested by a Mr. McDonald to teach in Camp No. 1 in Baquba. About 150 students, mainly, “Assyrians “ attended school for a period of two years.

While in Baquba, he met an Armenian widow Nevart Khachatorian “known as Mervat”. They were married by Qasha Keena. He adopted her two daughters Arpineh and Kenarik. In 1920, the Assyrians were sent to Mandan (Iraq) and the Armenians to Basrah (Iraq). Meanwhile his son Emmanuel was born. Rabi requested that he and his family be sent to Basrah, hoping that from there they would go to the United States of America. This did not happen. Because of his slight military experience, he was asked by a British commander, whom he had met in Baquba, to train a platoon to guard the Armenian camps. Later he worked as a Tally Clerk for the Port of Basrah. In 1922 he resigned this post and moved the family to Baghdad where he was involved in a business for two years.

 In 1924 Rabi Yacoub was called to attend a meeting of Assyrians and Armenians in Henaidi under the sponsorship of Mr. Ingram who was the camp superintendent. In the meeting Rabi Yacoub was offered the position of School Principal. He was School Principal in Henaidi from 1924 to 1938. During this time period his son William and daughter Shamiram were born. He continued serving as school principal in Habbaniya from 1938 to 1944. During these years, he was instrumental in educating several thousands of Assyrian and Armenian Students. Along with his busy life he found support from his wife ”Khata” Mervat who was active in the community by teaching embroidery and needlework to the ladies in Habbaniya. She also hosted meetings of school staff at home. She was a sweet, quiet, loving and respectful lady.

Rabi Yacoub was an Assyrian scholar-educator, prolific writer-poet. He has translated several Shakespearean and other plays in Assyrian and had these played on stage by students. Rabi has also written extensively on different subjects. Unfortunately most of his work was borrowed by different groups and were never retrieved. Some of his work remains unpublished.

In 1944 after the school in Habbaniya was nationalized he moved his family to Baghdad. He worked as a business man for many years. In 1965 he lost his wife Mervat .

Rabi Yacoub immigrated to the United States in early 1972 and settled with his son Emmanuel and his family in El Cerrito, CA then moved to Santa Ana, CA. lived with his son William and his family for many years. As his health deteriorated he lived with his daughter Shamiram and his Son-in-law Sargon Hermes in Daly City, CA where he passed away on December 25, 1988 at the age of 92.

The surviving members of his family are: his daughter Shamiram Hermes and her family; late Emmanuel’s children Ted Jacob and Peggie Hernandez; late Willams’ children Dina Powers, Adena, Paul and Peter Jacob; in addition grand and great-grand children, nephews and niece.

Rabi Yacoub taught for a total of 25 years and had produced a generation of well educated youth who served their nation and families efficiently. He touched the lives of thousands of students whom he disciplined educationally and morally. He instilled in their minds a sense of responsibility. He trained and inspired confidence in them-selves. He will be remembered as a hero who served his nation in a self denial way.

Rabi Yacoub was one of a kind. He was a prominent educator. He lived full family life. He was a truly fine person and a religious man; yes, a gracious human being. This was Rabi Yacoub Bet Yacoub.

Latest Updates on Mesopotamian Night Project

1. Mesopotamian Night 2013 is set for June 15th, 2013 at the California Theatre in San Jose, California.
2. The program content are being developed.
3. Obeit Yadgar has returned as the writer for the project after his absense in 2012 project.
4. John Bailey Kendal will continue to serve as conductor for the Mesopotamia Symphony Orchestra.
5. The old songs of late Rabi Yacoub Bet Yacoub will be one segment of MN2013 presentation.
6. The songs of the late Shamiram Urshan will be another segment of our presentation. The Assyrian singer Stella Rezgo http://www.stellarezgo.com/ will sing Shamiram songs.
7. The songs of late Edward Yousif (Biba) is the third segment of our presentation Assyrian songs.
8. At least two songs from Rabi Nebu Issabey will be presented by a large choir group. The magnificent Oratorio of "Mar Benyamin" is the feature presentation of the choir group. Re. Samuel Khangaldy has orchestrated and arranged this oratorio.
9. The musical commedy "The Marriage Proposal" of Rabi William Daniel is our other feature presentation. This work again is being orchestrated and arranged by Rev. Samuel Khangaldy.

More information will be provided as we make more progress.

The Mesopotamian Night Team 2013


  

We Are Back Blogging!

Dear Friends of Mesopotamian Night,

It has been a while we have not updated this blog page and we appologize for this. While the blog pages provide valuable information, lately we mostly relied on facebook social network to update our audience about Mesopotamian Night. But this is going to change as we are attracting more volunteers to help with our project.

Stay tunned as we update this blog page more frequently.

Best Regards,

Tony Khoshaba
Producer and Director of The Mesopotamian Night Project
November 1st, 2012

Singers at the Fifth Annual Mesopotamian Night

Five Assyrian singing talents will be performing the Assyrian songs of Vania David and Misha Ashoorian at the fifth Annual Mesopotamian Night concert. In the article below Sargon Alkurge has gathered a summary of their biography and artistic accomplishments.

By: Sargon Alkurge

LAZAR MALKO



Lazar was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Assyrian parents, Hormiz and Chima Malko.  His Family decided to immigrate to the USA and after spending four years in Greece, they arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1980.  That became their new home and they lived there since then.  At a young age, Lazar remembers how fascinated he was listening to his father singing and playing the “Oud”, a Middle Easterner pear-shaped stringed instrument, as he was a big fan of the legendary Lebanese singer Farid Al-Atrash.  It wasn’t long until Lazar discovered his passion for singing so he joined the Choir group at the Assyrian Church in Chicago.  When Lazar was still in high school, his brother introduced him to a group of Assyrian youth that was looking for a singer for their newly formed band.  For the next four years he performed with the band at Assyrian parties and weddings.  He received many positive response and attention from the Assyrian community in Chicago for his exquisite vocals and talents.  It was just a matter of time until Lazar decided in early 90’s to turn to solo career and began to sing professionally.  He also started to pursue his dream of making an album of his own.  That dream became reality in 1996, when he released his first album titled “Murre Kha Khabra” which marked the beginning of a very successful career. 

In addition to his singing talent, Lazar has composed almost all of his songs and wrote many of the lyrics.  His songs became instant hits and popular among Assyrian music fans nationwide.  He continued his success and so far he has produced six albums including his latest 2011 album “Kasreh Rameh”.  Lazar has worked with great musicians and song writers’ icons like Ninos Nirary, Odisho Younan, Nimo Marcos and many others to ensure quality music that Assyrians would be proud of.

Albums released so far

- 1996 Murre Kha Khabra

- 1999 Lazar  

- 2003 Free To Dance

- 2005 Ashtar

- 2010 Greatest Hits

- 2011 Kasreh Rameh

Listen to one of Lazar's top songs:



SALEM SEFO



Salem was born in Kirkuk, Iraq and he started to play the Guitar at a very young age. In 1978 he joined his first band, the Bee Band and his musical career advanced when he became the lead singer of his second band, Sweet Band.  His career was interrupted when he and his family decided to leave Iraq. He arrived in Chicago, IL and made it his new home since. It didn’t take long until he restarted his musical career and pursued his ultimate dream which was to come out with his own CD. The dream became true when he released his album debut “Bet Nahrain” in 2001 which was an instant hit. He continued his success and produced three more albums the most recent in 2010 titled "Khaeya Atour."

Salem is a very talented musician that is admired by many other singers because of the quality music he produces for them. Most recently he contributed six musical melodies for Emanouel Bet Younan hit album “Dyouta”. This musical talent runs in the entire Sefo’s family, Salem’s younger brothers Wesam, Ashur and Audisho Sefo are also great musicians and members of the well known band The “Bandoleros”

Albums released so far
- 2001 Bet Nahrain
- 2004 Where Is The Love
- 2007 Bzamrin Boot Shooprakh
- 2010 Khaeya Atour

Listen to one of Salem's top songs:

 

 TONY GABRIEL

Tony was born in 1972 in Kirkuk, Iraq. His father was a truck driver for an oil company, and his mother was a housewife who took care of raising Tony, four sisters and three brothers. His brother James was his role model while he was growing up, he taught him everything about singing. He started his singing career in 1988 in Kirkuk and two years later he went to Baghdad to join "Ashur King's band" that performed at Nineveh and Ashoor's banquet halls. In 1997, he left Iraq and lived in several other countries, significantly in Holland and Jordan, until he settled in Hamilton, Canada. In 2000 he restarted his singing career in his new home performing alongside keyboard player Wail Yako. Tony instantly became popular and in demand at Assyrian parties, picnics and weddings in Canada and all around the world.

He has released four very successful albums with lyrics written mostly by his brother James Gabriel and three live albums.

Albums released so far
- 2004 Qaala D' Qarna
- 2007 Khoba Khata
- 2009 Tony Gabriel 09
- 2011 Khloola

Listen to one of Tony's top songs:

 JOWAN DAVID "BULBUL"

Jowan was born in Baghdad, Iraq and raised in Chicago, IL where she currently lives. Since she was a little girl, Jowan would always say that her dream is to become an Assyrian artist known around the world. That dream became true, at the age of 21 Jowan released her first album and not surprisingly she called it "A Dream Came True (Khulma el shrara khdreh)". Her career moved ahead and she started to perform all around the world. Her second album "Khayen" released in 2009 was a smash hit with song "Zowaa" receiving a national recognition and admiration. This year Jowan has released her third album Called "Basa Ya Donyeh" with collaboration of many of top Assyrian musicians and lyrics writers.

Albums released so far
- 2004 "A Dream Came True"
- 2009 "Khahyin"
- 2011 "Basa Ya Donyeh"

Listen to one of Bulbul's top songs:

Rita Toma Davoud



"Oh, my God, it was unbelievable. It has always been my dream to become a singing star, and in that moment, my dream came true," Rita Toma Davoud said after wining the first ever "Assyrian Superstar," an "American Idol"-like competition held in Chicago back in May 2006. Two years later she released her debut album “Gashaqtet Khoba.”
The distinguished writer Helen Talia once wrote “I feel that in given time and with enough performance maturity, our beloved Rita can accomplish great musical heights. She most certainly has the vocal charm and softness to be adorned as Assyria’s Ambassador of Peace.”
Rita was born in Duhok, Iraq, raised in Detroit, MI. and after getting married she moved with her family to Phoenix, AZ. She is currently working on her second album but no release date has been set.

Album released so far
- 2008 “Gshaqtet Khoba"

Listen to one of Rita's top songs:

A clip from "Malek Rama" Musical Rehearsals

"Malek Rama: The Handsome Prince" is a musical based on poems of Rabi Hannibal Alkhas. This musical is commissioned and sponsored the Assyrian Aid Society of America thanks to a generous grant from "Eden Frye Assyrian Fund for Culture". The composition is done by Edwin Elieh and 15 volunteer singers from California are currently rehearsing. The musical will be premiered in Mesopotamian Night 2012 event at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts on February 18th.

The following clip is an excerpts from a recent rehearsal with a few interviews of the singers.

Introducing Youbert Lazar's Nastaligh Art

Calligraphist Youbert Lazar might not be well known to Assyrians around the world but he is a familiar name and face among the Iranian art community. This year, the Mesopotamian Night team has approached him and we proudly announce that his donated art will be auctioned at our event. We welcome him to a growing number of artists joining us for a spectacular display of Assyrian arts and culture. Mr. Lazar has also made efforts to join the small club of Assyrian Calligraphy artists. In his private communications Rabi Issa Benyamin has always admired and commanded his artistic talent and has encouraged him to also contribute to Assyrian calligraphy.

Below is a short biography of this talented Assyrian.

Art is the reflection of beauty. Calligraphy, the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner, is a type of fine art. One of the most beautiful and complicated forms of calligraphy is the art of Nastaliq, which is traditionally considered to be the most elegant of the Persian scripts. Your eyes will enjoy watching the words dancing together with their natural curves in harmony. It is known as “The Bride of the Calligraphy Scripts”.

Youbert Lazar was born in 1946, Urmi, Iran. He, accompanied his family, moved to the beautiful historical city of Hamedan in 1950. His passion for lettering began with the learning of Nastaligh handwriting at the primary school. He practiced calligraphy imitating beautiful scripts enthusiastically. He was always applauded by veteran calligrapher Hasan Asasi. In 1958, his high school literature teacher, Ahmad Ghayemi, encouraged him to begin practicing under tuition of Ghlolam Hosein Homayouni, one of the most well-known Iranian mentors. A few years later, he continued learning of calligraphy under tuition of Bahman vakiliyan and he became a member of the Hamedan Calligraphy Society. At the same time, he started teaching and calligraphy for advertisement signs. Traveling to different cities of Iran in 1963, he started topography and cartography.

He then migrated to America and settled in San Jose, North California and continued cartography. Since then, he has been collaborating with various magazines and media regarding calligraphy, tutoring and teaching in Persian schools. In recent years, he held some local exhibitions which were applauded by Iranian community in America.

Auction Art Piece

Size: 2 ' 6 " x 3 ', Ink
Value: $1500
Text: Hafez poem
If you would like to have this piece before our live auction on Feb 18th 2012 please contact us at mesopotamiannight@gmail.com

Below are some other art pieces of Mr. Lazar.