All this fusion of music and dancing has inspired the storyteller to write a novel.

About Graffiti Hack:

Nelly divides her workdays into two chunks: before lunch, she hacks into high-profile websites to install lavish graphical designs-her own brand of digital graffiti; and after lunch, she clocks hours performing the nauseatingly boring tasks of her mundane job. But when the multitudes read political and social messages into her art/vandalism, Nelly discovers that the adoration of her new fans offers a more jarring prospect than ridicule. Graffiti Hack is a story of impossible contradictions.

About the author:

Elen Ghulam worked as a computer programmer for 20 years. Telling stories to silicon chips proved to be easy, and so she graduated to amusing humans. She is an Iraqi-Canadian living at ihath.com.

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Book Trailer:

Inspired by Mashregh's performance at the Victoria Flamenco Festival on August 17th, 2013 I made this video

The phone rang around noon on a Friday in February. I was feeling already tense because later that day I was scheduled to perform a solo in a performance at the Wise Hall in Vancouver BC. It was Farnaz on the other line asking me if I would like to join her on stage during her own solo. In my head I wanted to scream in indignation: "Are you mad! you are figuring out what you are planning to do on the same day of the performance". For my own solo, I have been practicing it and working hard on it for two months, but that is not Farnaz's style. I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible on the phone, agreeing to bring one of my palestinian dresses I got in Rammalah to wear for the performance. "Yeah! sure! I will join you, no problem, let's see what happens" I said towards the end of our conversation.

The madness continued, 1 hour before the actual show, Farnaz the guitarist and myself huddled around in a hallway at the wise hall to figure out the song, the tunes of it, the rythm, the breaks ... etc. As we talked we kept being interrupted by other people who needed to discuss one thing or another with one of us. Plus we couldn't hear each other because of background noise. I kept leaning over with my ear right next to the guitar so that I could hear it struggling to detect each note.

Then the craziest thing happened, we got up on stage. "I have no clue what I am doing" I found myself thinking. "Lets see what happens, lets just wing it"

Here it is, you judge for yourself.

When I was looking for a logo for the group, it seemed only natural that the name Mashregh needs to be done in calligraphy. And for that I went to my favorite calligrapher whom I have never actually met but came across online.

Josh Berer (http://www.arabiccalligrapher.com/) has created some other designs for me including a spectacular zoomorphic design for a tattoo.

So the logo was born. Once the English text and the medallion was added the logo took its final shape. The medallion though, was begging for colour and I toyed with the colour combination for quite a while.

The results as seen bellow was what I arrived at after many different versions and colour schemes.

The sun rays point to the west, because the sun is shining in "Mashregh". :)

On Saturday, May the 12th, we had the pleasure of being a part of the show, "Molotov Caravan". Thrown together by the fabulous due of "Scarlet Lux" (https://www.facebook.com/ScarletLux). 
What a fantastic night! Chuck full of awesome performers of all kind: belly dancers, fusion dancers, tribal dancers, magician and fire performers, Polynesian dancers and so much more. 


Time to toot our horn a bit:


Typical to Mashregh's mandate, we went in with very little rehearsal and the magic was raw enough that was felt by everyone from the first row to the back of the audience. 


"your performance was beautiful!"
"you were amazing!!!!"
"Mashregh was SPECTACULAR!!!"
"The wave of energy coming off the stage hit me so hard last night. You were amazing."


Normally I would say being humble is the first thing an artist needs to be - after being good at being an artist that is of course! - but still ... 


When I rely on my group members to deliver, I feel that all of us go in with a slight tremble of fear, that maybe perhaps this time, the magic may not quite work - but when it does .... gah! Its just so addictive and brilliant and wonderful and just  ... so ... damn AWESOME!


All my original theories about a group of artists being able to work together to create something magical with little or no rehearsals is coming true. And its a testament to how professional and good these members are. Peter, Michelle, Andrew - you guys ROCK my world. 


Thank you. 


I can NOT wait to perform with you again and weave some more magic. 

Welcome!

Mashregh (East) is a musical group combining the haunting and passionate flamenco music with the spiritual lyrics of Persian poetry. 

With Farnaz Ohadi as the singer and the musical director at the helm, Mashregh strives to create meditative melodies that transcend Earthly boundaries and transport the soul to the East and beyond.

Accompanied with skillful Spanish guitar of Peter Mole, memorable story telling of Elen Ghulam, percussive mastery of Liam MacDonald, and the passionate movements of dancers Michelle Harding and Andrea Williams, together they represent a new sound, unique in its genre of world music; music that is at once contemplative and rejuvenating.

With very few rehearsals, Mashregh’s sound is always unpredictably fresh, as they rely on each member’s strong improvisational and professional skills to deliver a performance that promises a new experience each night. 

Mashregh will also at times welcome guest artists such as the highly accomplished mastery of Mehlinda Heartt on Harp and Nima Ghaemi on Santour among others. 

Mashregh means East - both in Farsi and Arabic.