Itraab Music Ensemble Concert

Now in its 12th season, Itraab Music Ensemble was established in 2014 as a project of the Center for the Arts and has been continuously active since then. The group’s name translates as “the act of enchanting by music” and is a nod to the Tarab style of music that enjoyed a golden age in the early- to mid-20th century. Itraab is a multigenerational ensemble of students, faculty, staff, and community members who study and perform classical, traditional, and contemporary repertoire  from South and Southwest Asia and North and East Africa, as well as their diasporas. This season the ensemble is honored to work with the center’s guest curator, Esraa Warda. In past seasons Itraab has worked with percussionist Ali Analouei, multi-instrumentalist Karim Nagi, hip-hop artist and activist Omar Offendum, Iranian-American fusion group Niyaz, violinist Sami Abu Shumays, and specialists of Arab-Andalusian traditional music Aïcha Redouane and Habib Yammine. In frequent performances on and off campus, Itraab aims to present its chosen musical styles in their cultural richness, satisfying seasoned audience members and acquainting new listeners with the sounds of musical enchantment. Itraab regularly performs for events hosted by the Arabic Club at Virginia Tech, the Iranian Students Association, YMCA at Virginia Tech, the International Street Fair, the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership, and other local schools and organizations.

Anne Elise Thomas, director, is an ethnomusicologist and performer with specialties in Arab musical traditions, Irish music, and Appalachian music and dance. A native of Blacksburg, Thomas has directed Itraab at Virginia Tech since its founding in 2014. She began playing the qanun at the College of William and Mary in 1994 and spent several years studying Arabic music in Jordan and Egypt for her dissertation research. Her teachers include Alfred Gamil, Saber `abd al-Sattar, `Ala Saber, Emile  Haddad, George Sawa, Jamal Sinno, and Anne Rasmussen. As a Ph.D. student, Thomas founded and directed the Brown Middle Eastern Music Ensemble at Brown University. She has performed at Symphony Space in New York City, Harvard University, the Library of Congress, and other locations throughout the mid-Atlantic region, as well as a variety of venues in Virginia with her all-woman professional ensemble al-Hawanim. Thomas is currently assistant professor of music at Sweet Briar College, where she teaches in the music program as well as women’s and gender studies.