Saturday, February 8, 2025
Medelhavsmuseet
in
Stockholm
Meet Simona Abdallah (Denmark/Palestine), a darbuka player, and The Darvish (Syria), a queer belly dancer, in an exciting conversation about the power of art to break norms.
How do they perform gender through music and dance? What does home mean to them? Through their unique art, these artists challenge traditional notions and create new ways of looking at identity and belonging.
Join us for an inspiring exchange that explores the limitless possibilities of art!
Moderation: Rasha Shaaban, The National Museums of World Culture
The conversation will be held in English.
Simona Abdallah (Denmark/Palestine)
Simona, born in 1979 to Palestinian parents, grew up in Aarhus, Denmark. A self-taught percussionist, she specialises in the instrument Darbuka, combining Arabic rhythms with House, Electronica and World music.
As the first female musician of Arab descent to gain international recognition with the Darbuka, Simona challenges traditional gender norms. Despite setbacks, she remains determined to realise her dreams.
The Darvish (Syria)
The Darvish is a non-binary self-taught dancer who has been active in the European independent performance art scene for the past eight years. After leaving Syria to Berlin in 2016, they began to explore gender identities through artistic expression, questioning the relationship between social boundaries and performance art.
The Darvish is a queer activist visible in several forums, often drawing on the experience of emigration/refugeeism, and uses her belly dance performance as a tool to decolonise the Western image of Arab culture and belly dance as a phenomenon.
Welcome to an inspiring panel discussion with the Syrian-Swedish pioneering queer writer Khaled Alesmael. Khaled is the award-wining author of Selamlik and En port till havet. His work has been published in Dagens Nyheter, QX and Ottar. He currently lives and works in London.
The talk will be hosted by Edgar Mannheimer, founder of the Kalam Podcast, and will centre on Khaled's journey through literature, identity and language. Together they will explore themes such as queer lifestyles and the LGBTQ+ community in a new Syria, as well as Khaled's current and upcoming literary projects.
Don't miss this opportunity to hear Khaled's unique perspective on Arabic queer culture and activism through literature and journalism.