With John Kameel Farah

Presented in partnership with Upstream Music Association

All proceeds will be donated to the Sameer Project in Palestine

$10 in advance and $15 at the door

If cost is a barrier, please reach out to info@mayworkskjipuktukhalifax.ca and we will accommodate you.

Blending personal narrative, visual art and virtuosic piano and electronic music, John Kameel Farah celebrates Palestinian history and culture. Through this extraordinary concert, Farah connects the Palestinian struggle to other liberation and anticolonial struggles in the global south, and the rich tapestry of Palestinian indigenousness, interwoven through his music.

“In performance, Farah ranges all over his instruments while setting up textures and countertextures, moving deftly from acoustic to electronic episodes, and testing and deploying his materials with a mixture of scientific care and wild abandon. Improvisation is a key working method, both at his various keyboards and in the execution of electronic beats and processes that are equally at the core of his approach.

“Frenetic and contemplative in turn, Farah’s music is underpinned by a deep emotional and spiritual reservoir which, when framed through his exceptional musicality and virtuosic instrumental command, packs his highly original music with considerable and undeniable clout.”

-Scott Thompson, Guelph Jazz Festival

JOHN KAMEEL FARAH is one of Canada’s most creative and imaginative composers. He is a Palestinian-Canadian pianist whose music embraces Baroque and Arabic Music, experimental improvisation and electronics. He studied at the University of Toronto, where he received the Glenn Gould Composition Award twice and afterwards had private lessons with Terry Riley in California, and later at the Arabic Music Retreat in Hartford. He has been a member of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble since 2010, and was a guest-performer with Tangerine Dream in Toronto in 2023.

THE SAMEER PROJECT is a Palestinian-led mutual aid group supporting people in Gaza during the genocide. It is a donations based initiative, led by Palestinians in the diaspora, who are working to supply aid to displaced families in Gaza. Fiscal host: Social Change Nest.