The Amman Jazz Festival kicks off this week and continues till the end of the month with performances in different venues across town by local and international bands. On Tuesday, the Alp Bora Quartet plays at Zara Expo. Alp Bora was born in the European city of Istanbul and grew up in the Anatolian city of Ankara and in Baghdad. In 1998, he found his true home in Vienna. The Alp Bora Quartet will be presenting an evening of music that celebrates folkloric music from Turkey and the Balkan countries, infused with chamber music and jazz influences of his adopted home. There will also be songs from and dedicated to Istanbul, Bora’s hometown. (Tuesday, 8:00 pm)
Vahagn Hayrapetyan Duo from Armenia will be performing at the Corner’s Pub on Tuesday, Al-Balad Theater on Thursday, and Oobé on Friday. Hayrapetyan is one the most popular and celebrated Armenian jazz pianists and composers. He graduated from the Tchaikovsky special music school as a pianist and composer, and studied with Jazz bebop legends Barry Harris and Frank Hewitt in New York, and collaborated with many legendary musicians. He recorded and released three albums in New Orleans: ”Love for sale” “Tripp to New Orleans” and “Bop it up”.
As always, the Rainbow Film Club has an eclectic schedule of classical, international, and documentary films. One of the week’s highlights is the Oscar nominated Norwegian film Kon-Tiki, about legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal, who travels an epic 4,300 miles across the Pacific on a wood raft in 1947 in attempt to prove that it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. (Tuesday 5:00, 7:15, and 9:30 pm)
Tim Mackintosh-Smith, author, travel writer and lecturer, will deliver an illustrated talk titled “Out of the Library, On the Road” at the Columbia University Middle East Research Center this Monday. Macknitosh-Smith will be sharing some of the his discoveries and experiences he made on his journeys in the footsteps of Ibn Battutah. In addition to a resulting trilogy of travel books and BBC television series, he has also edited Ibn Battutah’s own Travels. Tim has lectured on Arabic travel literature at Harvard University and at the Royal Geographical Society in London, and was a historical consultant for the film Journey to Mecca. (Monday at 6:30 pm)
For details on these events and many more, check out 7iber’s calendar.