The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art | Sephardic Heritage International (SHIN-DC)/Multicultural Jewish Arts Museum (MJAM) | Washington DC (DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities) Presents:
MIMOUNA AT THE SMITHSONIAN
SHIN-DC’S 11TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF GOOD NEIGHBORS
Sunday, Aprl 27, 1:30-4:30PM (ET)
FREE OF CHARGE
In Person at the National Museum of African Art, SW DC 20560
– Smithsonian Metro Station –
(Also Virtual Option)
Neta Elkayam is a multidisciplinary artist and musician and has gained recognition worldwide as a performer of North African music.
Having graduated the Key School of Arts with honors, Neta creates music and art inspired by North African Jewish artists and connects their spirit and roots to contemporary global arts and music scenes. Neta’s creative approach mixes influence of Andalusian, Amazigh and Mediterranean music as well as rock, pop, and jazz. She performed at many festivals and venues around the world including the Essaouira Music Festival and the Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco, GWMF Gibraltar, the Krakow Jewish Festival, IMA – Institut du Monde Arabe Paris, and more. Neta was awarded the 2017 ACUM Music Prize and the Sami Michael Award for Social Equality in 2019, as well as the Moroccan “Salam Contemporary Arts Forum” prize in 2021 and was granted the Moroccan Trophées MDM for spreading the Moroccan Jewish Voice around the world (March 2022).
Currently, Neta is an artist-in-residence in the U.S., teaching at Xavier and Tulane, and living in New Orleans.
Mimouna is a traditional Moroccan Jewish festival of good neighbors celebrated together with Muslims, when after Passover, doors of Moroccan-Jewish homes are left open and all are welcomed to enjoy singing, dancing, and traditional sweets.
Enjoy traditional foods and experience a new generation of Jewish and Muslim Moroccan artists who will share a harmonious blend of music drawing from their collective Sephardic, Jewish, Gnawi, Muslim, and Mimouna heritages, as well as Gnawa, Andalusi, and Chaabi styles.
Chaabi music and dance in Morocco comes from the Berber-speaking tribes of the Rif Mountains in the north, and true to its name meaning ‘of the people,’ is enjoyed by diverse Moroccans alike. Gnawa music originates with the Gnawi people in Morocco who have ancient roots in sub-Saharan Africa, while Andalusi music was originally developed in al-Andalus/Muslim Spain and is exemplified by traditional Sephardic-Moroccan Jewish music.
Questions? Email info at shindc dot org.
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