Contact

My name is Sami Abu Shumays, and I conceived, designed, and coded this site, wrote the text content, and played and recorded the audio content.

I perform regularly in New York City and direct Zikrayat, an Arabic music and dance ensemble dedicated to presenting the classical and dance repertories of the Arab world side-by-side, with a special focus on the song and dance from Egypt in the Golden Age of Egyptian musical cinema, the 1940's-1960's. Watch videos of Zikrayat here.

I teach a weekly maqam class in New York City--it's open on a drop-in basis. I also teach privately, and take new students. Email me at maqamlessons [at] gmail [dot] com if you are interested. I also teach every year on the West Coast at Lark Camp for a week in August--this is a wonderful intensive immersion.

For any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions about this site, please send an email to maqamlessons [at] gmail [dot] com. I'd love to hear from you, good or bad--your opinions and comments will help me as I develop the full version of the site.

Thanks for visiting!
-- Sami Abu Shumays, February 2010