There’s no better week to get off your couch and enjoy what Amman has to offer. Spring is in full bloom and the cultural agenda is jam-packed with exciting events by artists from all over the world; a dance festival, jazz festival, film week, musical performances, and much more.

Iraqi musician Aida Nadeem, now based in Denmark, will be performing at Dar Al Anda (Sunday 8:30 pm, tickets JD5). Nadeem has previously released three albums, spanning more than two decades. She attended the Music and Ballet School in Baghdad and has been part of Iraq’s symphony orchestra.

The Amman Jazz Festival continues this week with performances by Pascal Shumacher Quartet from Germany, who will be performing at the Zara Expo (Sunday 8:00 pm). The young Jazz musician and vibraphone player Pascal Shumacher teamed up in 2002 with piano player Franz von Chossy, pianist Chrsitophe Devisscher (piano) and drummer Jens Düppe to create the Pascal Shumacher Quartet. The Quartet first came into being at Sounds Jazz Club in Brussels, and is known for its modern acoustic evocative style.

Tin Men & the Telephone from the Netherlands  will be performing at Al Balad Theater (Monday 8:00 pm) and Blue Fig (Tuesday 9:00 pm). Their eccentric music blends mundane sounds into their music and uses theatrical and visual accompaniments to create a unique engrossing experience. The band is comprised of three musicians influenced by modern classical music, contemporary jazz, hip-hop and Balkan rhythms.

Netherlands based band, Arifa, will also be participating in this year’s Amman Jazz Festival in a one night performance at the Zara Expo on Tuesday. Their Middle Eastern/Turkish music is imbued with Balkan and Jazz accents, and their eclectic style can be attributed to the diverse backgrounds of the musicians who hail from Turkey, Romania, Germany and the Netherlands.

The American Embassy in Jordan in cooperation with the Sundance Institute is organizing the Film Forward Showcase this week, screening four films, Beasts of the Southern Wild, La Misma Luna, Town of Runners and Light in Her Eyes throughout the week from Sunday till Wednesday at Rainbow Cinema.

The fifth version of the Amman Contemporary Dance Festival kicks off this week. On Monday, the Haagenrud dance company from Norway will be performing at Al Hussein Cultural Center in Ras Al Ain.

The dance festival includes a performance by the National Center for Culture and Arts, titled “Valley of the Moon,” at Al Hussein Cultural Center on Thursday, and “Additional Tones” by the Swiss dance company, Linga, on Saturday.

Another highlight this week is the Dozan wa Awtar choir, which performs three concerts on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Terra Santa School theatre. The choir will be joined by singers and instrumentalists from the Damascus High Institute of Music, and a portion of the proceeds will go directly to the Syrian charity organisation ‘LamsatDafa.’

‫Özkan Gölpınar‬, Turkish/Dutch art critic, playwright and researcher at Leiden University Center for Arts in Society, will be giving a talk at Darat al-Funun (Tuesday 6:30 pm) titled “Chasing Ghosts in an Era of Melancholia.” ‫Gölpınar‬ will guide us through exhibitions and artwork from several artists from the Arab world and beyond.

For details on these events and more check out 7iber’s calendar.