Photo by Gabriel Ramirez Photography
Shireen Abu-Khader heads a moving, at times breathtaking, performance of Middle Eastern music at SOU presented by Anima Mundi
By Lucie K. Scheuer for Ashland.news
As part of its Heart of Humanity series for 2025-26, Anima Mundi Productions was finally able to present Shireen Abu-Khader, an internationally recognized, dynamic Palestinian-Jordanian-Canadian choral leader, vocalist and composer-arranger of Middle Eastern music, at Southern Oregon University’s Music Recital Hall last weekend.
The concert consisted of two parts: A live concert with Abu-Khader and a filmed concert: “The Songs She Became” by noted filmmaker Mariam J. Momani, featuring Abu-Khader’s USUL ensemble and the pictorial inclusion of various scenes from Middle Eastern life.
Abu-Khader’s voice is deep, ethereal, mesmerizing and so complimentary to the maqams (Arabic melodies found in Middle Eastern and Andalusian traditional music with meandering rhythms and microtonal intervals) which she has successfully married to Western harmony. The results can, at times, be breathtaking...
