“Music Pearls of Beth-Nahrin, Continued…”

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Sunday, October 15, 2017 – The growing Assyrian community in Arizona welcomed “molphono” Abboud Zeitoune, author of “Music Pearls of Beth-Nahrin” (2007) and “Modern Assyrian Music” (2015) at Arizona State University’s West Campus in Glendale, Arizona.

Since publishing his first book, Zeitoune has become a household name and an authority on Beth-Nahrenian music. Not only is Abboud “7alyo,” but he possesses a distinct charm that captivated the attention of the entire audience during his two-hour slide show presentation that comprised of song clips of various well-known Assyrian artists and A-lister musicians, composers and lyricists that have impacted modern music history, some dating back to the turn of the last century in both Eastern and Western neo-Assyrian (Aramaic) language dialects throughout the land whose ancestors once ruled the Mediterranean and beyond, from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon, while today its people spreading into Western global wings.

“Marganyatheh Mouseeqayeh D’Beth-Nahrin” (Music Pearls of Beth-Nahrin, Assyrian) is a generous compilation of years of research and resources; yet, it is without a doubt that the ultimate Mesopotamian pearl in this wonderous encasement of discography and biographies is the author himself, a man, who, despite not having a formal musical background, has assumed a project that has given a glimpse of hope to his otherwise desolate nation as it faces its darkest hour in Iraq and Syria, the latter being Zeitoune’s birth country.

Hosting organizations Assyrian Student Association of Arizona and Assyrian American Cultural Organization of Arizona presented Mr. Abboud Zeitoune with an honorary plaque for his exceptional work, which will for a very long time have made substantial contributions to the preservation of the Assyrian culture.

To learn more, visit: musicpearls.net or subscribe to Abboud Zeitoune YouTube channel.

Photos and “Assyrian” language contributions made possible by Mr. Gabrial Babella (Arizona) and Mr. Orahim Lazar (California), respectively.

This article is dedicated to the heroic soul of the late legendary founding father of modern Assyrian nationalism Naum Elias Yaqub Palakh (Naum Faiq) Turkey, 1868 – USA, 1930.

Helen Talia, MBA, CPA
Chicago and Phoenix (USA)