Muslim Comics Coming of Age

A recent post by one of the funniest Arab-American comics around, I hope you get a chance to watch this documentary on PBS. I certainly will be. I'll try to include a YouTube video of his comedy at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

Hey friends- I just wanted to let people know about a great one hour documentary airing nationally on PBS on May 11, 2008 at 10:00 PM about the rise of Arab-American and Muslim American comedians. Its part of PBS's critically acclaimed series "America at a Crossroads" and its entitled: "Stand Up: Muslim American Comics Come of Age." It was shot over the past three years and it features Ahmed Ahmed, Tissa Hami, Azhar Usman, Maysoon Zayid and myself. Here is the link to the show's webpage on the PBS website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_standup.html
The 2005 and 2006 NY Arab-American Comedy Festivals and Comedy Central's The Watch List" taping are also featured in the special so many of you who attended those shows are in the audience shots.They also uploaded some short clips on Youtube including this one with me and my Sicilian mom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CiG6H9Kb4o.This documentary presents us being very funny and getting a chance to tell our own story (which we must do!) Obviously its rare to see a full hour on American TV that portrays us in a positive light.I hope you will check it out!
Thanks!Dean

Seminar on Cultural Diplomacy

Recently I attended a Seminar on Cultural Diplomacy at George Washington University in honor of Dave Brubeck, one of the first musicians to conduct cultural diplomacy tours around the world. Dr. Marc Lynch spoke about the parallels between Hip Hop and Jazz and the importance of listening to that which reaches those audiences that we want to see America in a more positive light, particularly in the Arab world. Now, I'm not in support of exporting Nelly or 36 Mafia, but instead, I argue we should foster the growth and development of those indigenous hip hop artists already in place. Perhaps we could provide productive hip hop mentors such as Talib Kweli and others who write and sing about social justice, equality and those issues which parallel the experience of many Middle Eastern youth who struggle to harness their emotions into a vehicle of song and spoken word. I believe that we really have a golden opportunity to reach those youth that so desparately need their voices to be heard. Arab rappers and hip hop artists have very important things to say--they are politically and socially conscious and are not singing about those things which the American public look to as frivolous and materialistic, but rather those concepts which America's historical experience has grown through and from. Exporting American culture is not necessarily the goal, but rather providing a public space for the growth and maturation of a culture already in place. We don't need to transplant American values onto populations (and the youth) in the Middle East; those values are already there. Instead, I argue we should work to enhance those characteristics which are already there that we too identify with: equality, social justice, freedom and happiness. I think we'll find that by fostering the opportunities for young voices to be heard, particularly in the Middle East (whether through hip hop, jazz, art, rock any artistic form) we will find a much more successful long-term cultural diplomatic strategy. I've been told that this is all well and good, however the Arab youth are so "angry" and "passionate"--well I say, right on! Isn't that what socially conscious music has always been about? What we see as muscially and socially acceptable may not be wrapped up in an Enya-like package, but instead, may be found in the emotional and angry poetry which comes from the hearts of the oppressed and are shouting at the rest of the world to pay attention. It would behoove us to listen. Hala.