Dr. Lillie Gordon, lecturer in musicology, and UT’s Middle East Ensemble brought a variety of entertainment to Susan G. Powell Recital Hall Saturday night, from love and children’s songs to an elaborate belly dancing routine in the School of Music’s 70th concert of the season.
Gordon, an ethnomusicologist who specializes in music from the Arab world, said that many people join the ensemble after seeing one of their performances. Being a part of the ensemble gives students, alumni and faculty members the chance to showcase parts of different cultures.
“Many people in Knoxville don’t know a lot about the people and communities of the Middle East except what they see on the news, so our ensemble is meant to fill that gap, inform people about the region and hopefully humanize the people in the region for our audience members,” Gordon said.
“We play lots of different gigs throughout the year, some of which are for the very active Arab American community in town, but our big concert in the School of Music gives us a chance to showcase new pieces we’ve been working on in a more concentrated setting.”
The performances included dance routines by Middle Eastern troop dancer Shannon Meyer and vocalists Summer Awad, Elizabeth Geist, Debalina Ghosh, Isaiah Green and Elena Tajuelo Rodríguez received loud applause for their performances.
The set list was comprised of songs from the 20th century and songs made famous by Arab singers. While some of the pieces were reflective of some of the Arab world’s history, the concert also included pieces from the Sephardic Jewish community, Persian, Greek and the American style cabaret.
Susan Dakak and her family have been attending the concert every year for the past three years. She said she is always amazed at how the performances keep getting better and better with time, believing that everyone should attend at least one of the two concerts the group puts on each year.
“If you look around, there are people from all over the world here are there are people who don’t understand a single word in Arabic or Greek or whatever and they’re enjoying the music,” Dakak said.
Dakak said that she is proud and blessed that Gordon leads the group and that she exceeds their expectations each time.
Gordon said that she wanted to share the music that she has studied and loves with students as well as members of the community.
“I think learning about music is one of the best ways to learn about people,” Gordon said.
