The Brooklyn Museum's Target First Saturdays event attracts thousands of visitors to free programs of art and entertainment each month. In conjunction with the special exhibition Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam and as part of the city-wide celebration Islamic Culture, Muslim Voices, the June 6 Target First Saturday event presents music, dance, and film of the Islamic world.
Highlights include a Sufi-inspired musical performance by Brooklyn Qawwali Party, a demonstration which follows a cinematic glimpse into the world of whirling dervishes in I Named Her Angel, and a dance party by GlobeSonic's DJ Fabian Alsultany and DJ Pepe of Electric Lila.
JUNE 6 SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS
5–7 p.m. & 9:30–10:45 p.m. Music
Funky jazz orchestra Brooklyn Qawwali Party performs songs with a Brooklyn flare that honor the legendary Pakistani vocalist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
5:30–7 p.m. Film and Performance
I Named her Angel (Nefin Dinc, 2006, 30 min., Turkish with English subtitles) follows twelve-year-old Elif as she conquers her stage fright, masters the art of whirling, and joins the Mevlevi Brotherhood. The film will be followed by a whirling demonstration in the Beaux-Arts Court.
6–7 p.m. Artist Talk: Seher Shah
Seher Shah, featured in the exhibition 21: Selections of Contemporary Art from the Brooklyn Museum, discusses her work. Free tickets are available at the Visitor Center at 5 p.m.
6:30–8:30 p.m. Hands-On Art
Participants are invited to create a lantern inspired by the light in Sufi art and poetry.
6:30 p.m. Film
I Love Hip Hop in Morocco (Joshua Asen, Jennifer Needlemna, 2007, 80 min., NR) follows a group of Moroccan artists struggling to produce the country's first professional hip-hop concert. A question-and-answer session with the director follows.
7 p.m. Young Voices Gallery Talk
Student Guides explore the diversity of Islamic art and identity in the Museum's permanent collection.
8 p.m. Curator Talk
Ladan Akbarnia, Associate Curator of Arts of the Islamic World, leads a Sign Language-interpreted talk on the special exhibition Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam.
9 p.m. Target First Saturdays Book Club
Participants are invited to join in a discussion about My Name Is Red, the award-winning murder mystery by Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk that revolves around illuminated manuscripts in sixteenth-century Istanbul.
9–11 p.m. Dance Party
GlobeSonic Sound System DJ Fabian Alsultany and DJ Pepe of Electric Lila bring together the eclectic sounds and rhythms of the Islamic world. -- www.brooklynmuseum.org
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