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Iraqi-born musician Rahim Alhaj earned a 2008 Grammy nomination for his CD titled When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq, released on the Smithsonian Folkways label. He studied at the famed Baghdad Conservatory under the late Munir Bashir, who was perhaps the greatest oud (Arab lute) master of the twentieth century. Since arriving in the United States in 2000, Alhaj has released three more CDs, including one of original music for  oud and string quartet. Legendary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell calls Alhaj’s music “beautiful, mysterious, and powerful.” This concert on July 31, 2008, was made possible in part through support from the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University.

Part I
Dream (Rahim Alhaj)  (0:00–10:46)
Home Again (Alhaj) (10:40–18:10)
Maqam Ajam/The Beautiful One Passed Me (traditional) (18:29–25:07)
Maqam Rast/The Night Is Sweet and Beautiful (traditional) (25:23–33:10)
Maqam Hijaz/Atop the Palm Tree (33:25–38:00)

Part II
Gray Morning (R. Alhaj) (0:00–5:00)
Maqam Segah (Sika)/The Girl with Her Eyes on Me (traditional)  (5:12–8:44)
Traditional Iraqi, Egyptian, and Syrian songs (8:57–19:20)
Percussion demonstration (19:34–23:40)

Listen Now: Part 1 | Part 2

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The Freer and Sackler Galleries celebrated the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Sufi poet Jalal-a-Din Rumi with a day of concerts, poetry readings, family activities, and gallery tours. The Persian National Music Ensemble, based in Baltimore, told stories of Rumi’s life, reflected on his philosophy, recited selected poems, and performed traditional musical settings of Rumi’s lyrics sung by vocalist Firoozeh Zarrabi, accompanied by santur (hammered zither), tar (lute), and daff and tombak (percussion).

This studio recording presents the same program performed at the Freer Gallery of Art on October 27, 2007.

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Hwang Byungki is Korea’s acclaimed master of the classical kayagum, an ancient ancestor of the Japanese koto. His six-member ensemble performs traditional music and original works by Hwang on kayagum, taegum (flute), komungo (zither), and changgu (hour-glass drum). Hwang Byungki has toured internationally for more than forty years. In 1990, he led an ensemble to North Korea to perform in a landmark concert advocating the reunification of Korea.

This concert was made possible, in part, by the Korea Society and the Korea Foundation. Recorded live on June 5, 2007, Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art.

Sounds of the Night (0:00–11:30)
Soyop Sanbang (11:53–22:10)
Moon of My Hometown (22:36–27:02)
Kayagum sanjo (27:25–46:02)
Harimsong (46:40–54:20)
Ch’imhyangmu (Dance of Aloe Perfume) (54:43–1:08:50)

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Grammy Award-winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt expanded the Hawaiian slide guitar to incorporate nineteen strings, which allows him to combine the techniques of Indian classical music from several traditional instruments, such as the sitar, sarod, and vina. He has performed worldwide, including appearances at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the United Nations and for the celebration at Lincoln Center of Mahatma Ganhi's 125th birthday. Subhen Chatterjee has accompanied such masters as Bhimsen Joshi, V. G. Jog, and Rashid Khan. This concert was presented in celebration of the Freer's "Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas." Recorded live in the Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art, March 28, 2008.

Part 1 of 2: Rag Puriya Kalyan (1:08:15)
Part 2 of 2: Rag Desh, Rag Kirwani, and Meeting by the River (50:47)

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Six veterans of the venerable Marlboro Music Festival perform Franz Joseph Haydn's String Quartet, op. 20, no. 4 (1772); Elliott Carter's Figment IV, for unaccompanied viola (2007, American premiere); Carter's Quartet for Oboe and Strings (2001); and Robert Schumann's Quartet for Piano and Strings, op. 47 (1842). The ensemble features Susie Park and Harumi Rhodes, violins; Samuel Rhodes, viola; Priscilla Lee, cello; Rudolph Vrbsky, oboe; and Ieva Jokubaciute, piano. Recorded live in the Freer Gallery's Meyer Auditorium on March 18, 2008, as part of the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series. [1:17:08]

Haydn: String Quartet in D Major (0:00-26:50)
Carter: Figment IV (27:14-30:15)
Carter: Oboe Quartet (30:33-47:27)
Schumann: Piano Quartet (47:55-1:16:42)
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Enjoy this rarely heard tradition of Chinese music and drama called nanguan. Dating from the early seventeenth-century Ming dynasty, it has been revived by Chinese musicians and actors in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. It is performed here by vocalists and instrumentalists on Chinese fiddle, lute, gongs, flute, and percussion. The centerpiece of the performance is an excerpt from Enjoying the Flowers, a famous scene in the nanguan repertoire. In this episode, a lady's maid conjures up imagery of bees, butterflies, birds, and flowers to convince her patron to express her frustrated love through romantic poetry. This performance was presented in cooperation with the Taipei Cultural Center and in conjunction with the Sackler exhibition East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art. Recorded live in the Haupt Garden at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on April 22, 2007. [38:13] Listen Now

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Enjoy new works for traditional Chinese instruments by award-winning composers Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and Wang Guowei, plus a pair of winning compositions from the seventeenth-annual Music From China International Composers Competition. New York's Music From China ensemble performs the classical "Moon Rising High," newly arranged by Zhou Long; Chen Yi's "Chinese Fables," and Shen Yiwen's "Study in Terra Cotta," among other new works. The Kansas City Star called the Music From China ensemble "music from heaven" and "exceptionally rewarding." (See www.musicfromchina.org.)
Listen Now (46:30)

Cappella Romana, a leading Byzantine music ensemble of virtuoso singers from Greece, England, and the United States, performs "Medieval Byzantine Chant: Advent and Christmas from St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt." The concert features music from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including works by Manuel Gazes and St. John Koukouzeles. This concert is part of the Meyer Concert Series and was presented in conjunction with the Sackler exhibition In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000, and incooperation with the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai. Recorded live in the Meyer Auditorium November 30, 2006.

Invitatorium (17:17)
From the Lamplighting Psalms (14th and 15th century): Kekragarion; 3 Stichera Prosomoia for Saint Catherine; Doxastikon (Sticheron Idiomelon) (16:44)
Advent and Christmas: Service of the Furnace: A liturgical drama of the Three Holy Children; Imperial Acclamations for Christmastide (MS Sinai 1234) (36:47)
Encore (5:19)

The Woodley Ensemble, the area's leading chamber choir, gives the Washington premiere of Gustav Holst's rarely heard Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda. Holst made his own translations from the Sanskrit for this work, which he completed in 1918. Traditional Vedic chants offered by the chief priest at the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, one of the Washington area's oldest and largest Hindu temples, precede the concert. Frank Albinder, conductor of the Woodley Ensemble, was long-time associate director of the Grammy Award-winning Chanticleer choir of San Francisco. Presented in conjunction with the centennial of Freer's 1906 gift to the Smithsonian. Recorded live in the Meyer Auditorium October 14, 2006.
Samavedic chant (traditional), Venkatesh Sastri, Sri Siva Vishnu Temple. (15:43)
Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Gustav Holst. Woodley Ensemble; Frank Albinder, music director; Mark Vogel, piano. (53:03)

Here is an unprecedented opportunity to hear this quartet of faculty members from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Jerusalem on their debut American tour. The ensemble performs classical and contemporary Arab music for 'ud, nay, clarinet, qanun, and percussion. The conservatory, with campuses in Bethlehem and Ramallah, was famously endorsed by both Edward Said and conductor Daniel Barenboim for its teaching of Western and Arab music to Palestinian youth. Presented in cooperation with American Near East Refugee Aid. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery of Art on February 16, 2006.
(42:02) Listen now

Fresh from his West Coast tour, Murat Aydemir, a young Turkish tanbur (lute) virtuoso, joins veteran ney (flute) master Salih Bilgin for informal performances of Ottoman Turkish music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Hear the sounds of musical instruments that are often depicted in Ottoman paintings and were central to musical life in the Ottoman court. Recorded live at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery January 14, 2006.
(36:34) Listen now

Internationally acclaimed composer/conductor Tan Dun, whose many accomplishments include an Academy Award for his score to the hit film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," leads this discussion/demonstration exploring the vanishing musical cultures of ethnic minorities in western Hunan. His discusses his most recent creation, The Map, which combines a stone-drumming ensemble, cello soloist, the Shanghai Symphony, and video of traditional dance. The talk follows the American premiere of the work at the Kennedy Center on October 17, 2005. A co-presentation with the Kennedy Center's Performance Plus program. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery October 18, 2005.
(46:41) Listen now

Experience the haunting choral melodies and evocative dances of the aboriginal Bunun and Ami tribes of Taiwan's high central mountains and rugged east coast. The troupe appeared at Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival, prompting the New York Times to delare, "The city's busy skyscape paled before the authority, simplicity, and radiant humanity of the company." The surprisingly modern choral sounds of the Bunun shocked musicologists who first heard it 60 years ago, and Bunun musicians were featured on the recent CD with ECM recording artist, cellist David Darling. To preserve and share the island's rich aboriginal culture, the ensemble draws its membership from Taiwan's twelve native tribes. This concert was presented in cooperation with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery October 9, 2005.
(26:30) Listen now

Travel to the fabled caravan routes of desert India with this eight-member ensemble. Their infectious rhythms spring from thirty-six generations of musicians who performed for Rajput maharajas and at temple festivals, where Muslim musicians, Hindu devotion, and rich local culture blended with invigorating results. Presented in cooperation with Folk Arts Rajasthan. Recorded live at the Freer Gallery September 18, 2005.
(1:09:16) Listen now

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The Freer and Sackler Galleries' Silk Road Storytelling group is made up of volunteers from the Washington DC community who have cultural ties to various sites along the ancient Silk Road. They trained with professional storyteller Louise Omoto Kessel to learn to tell stories from their homelands, including Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. Here is a sample of their stories. We trust that listeners will experience the many ways that appreciation for family, meaningful work, truth, beauty, and mystery are expressed through these unique voices from along the ancient trading route.

Listen now:
Dilber, the Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Filfilled (Turkey, 11:16)
How Asanga Came to See the Future Buddha (Tibet, 11:43)
Jade (Taiwan, 10:17)
Malik and the King (Bangladesh, 7:43)
Peach Boy (Japan, 8:10)
The Cow Boy and the Weaving Lady (China, 11:01)
The Discovery of Silk (China, 1:06)
The Ruti Eaters (Bangladesh, 5:34)

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Freer avidly collected works by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Curator Ann Yonemura explains how his appreciation for Hokusai's bold, creative genius resulted in the world's foremost collection of the artist's paintings. This recording offers excerpts of a Point of View Gallery Talk presented in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on April 11, 2006. The talk is the second of a series entitled Freer's View, which explores what Freer himself thought of particular objects from his museum's treasures.
(28:52) Listen now

Contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto talks with James Ulak, deputy director and curator of Japanese art at the Freer and Sackler Galleries, about his exhibition "Hiroshi Sugimoto: History of History." In this interview Sugimoto discusses his Japanese roots and western influences, the relationship between his role as art collector and his own artwork, and his process of selecting material for this exhibition.

"History of History" opened April 1, 2006 at the Sackler. "Hiroshi Sugimoto," a retrospective of the artist's photographs, opened February 16, 2006 at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum.
(40:14) Listen now

Gain an in-depth appreciation of the luxurious robes in the exhibition "Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey" from multiple perspectives as you listen to commentary by Dr. Nurhan Atasoy, principal contributor to Ipek: Imperial Ottoman Silks and Velvets, and Massumeh Farhad, chief curator at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. This podcast was created in part from live segments of a Point of View Gallery Talk presented on November 1, 2005. Point of View are informal public gallery talks which offer multiple perspectives on exhibitions and objects on view.
(14:54) Listen now

European fascination with the textile and costume arts of the Ottoman Empire has shaped design and clothing for centuries. Professor Walter B. Denny from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is the Charles Grant Ellis Research Associate for Oriental Carpets at the Textile Museum. Co-sponsored with the Textile Museum. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Style & Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey. Recorded live in the Freer Gallery of Art's Meyer Auditorium on January 9, 2006.
(1:13:42) Listen now

Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), surveys the global history of fashion, including Ottoman court dress. Co-sponsored with the Textile Museum. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Style & Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey. Recorded live in the Freer Gallery of Art's Meyer Auditorium on January 9, 2006.
(50:39) Listen now