Click Here to Register for Luncheon and Reception
NEW YORK—Registration is now open for the “Lunch with Robert Fisk” and Saturday Night VIP Reception at the “Responsibility 2015” Conference on March 13-15 at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. To register, visit either the conference website or the conference registration page.
Robert Fisk
On Sat., March 14 at 2 p.m., renowned journalist Robert Fisk will speak at a catered luncheon at the Marriott Marquis. Fisk is the Middle East correspondent of the Independent newspaper. He holds numerous awards for journalism, including two Amnesty International UK Press Awards and seven British International Journalist of the Year awards. During the 30 years he has been reporting on the Middle East, he has covered every major event in the region, from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution, from the hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War, from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan to Israel’s invasions of Lebanon, and from the Gulf War to the invasion and ongoing war in Iraq. His books include The Great War for Civilization: the Conquest of the Middle East.
On Saturday evening from 7-10 p.m., a VIP Cocktail Reception will also take place at the Marriott Marquis, featuring music by Bei Ru, TheOudplayer, Artyom Manukyan, Martin Haroutiounian, and the Ozan Aksoy Quartet, among others. The event will provide an opportunity to mingle with conference panelists and hear statements of support from various invited guests. Hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Bei Ru
Bei Ru is a Los Angeles-based multi-genre music producer/composer/DJ known for his unconventional use of Middle Eastern melodies and rhythms combined with heavy drums, electronics, and a plethora of live instrumentation. In the fall of 2010, Bei Ru released his debut album, “Little Armenia (L.A.),” which received much critical acclaim as well as support from artists and listeners alike.
His new album, “Saturday Night at the Magic Lamp,” blends electronica, Middle Eastern influences, funk, and hip-hop, and features musicians playing electric bass, electric guitar, electric oud, cello, keyboards, and piano. He recently scored three songs for the upcoming film “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” (watch the trailer), an Iranian vampire western produced by Elijah Wood and distributed by Vice Films. “Saturday Night at the Magic Lamp” is now available on iTunes.
TheOudplayer
TheOudplayer is the leading oud interpreter of his generation, as both an artist blending traditional oud artistry with modern and experimental themes, and as an ethnomusicological researcher studying the origins of the oud’s Armenian cultural history. He has toured the world several times with his Fusion Rock Project VI∙ZA, performing with Grammy Award-winning System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian, famed Punk Rockers Gogol Bordello, and Reggae Metal Innovators Skindred, and at some of the largest festivals in the world, including Download and Sziget, alongside such acts as Korn, Swedish House Mafia, Aerosmith, Linkin Park, and others.
Cellist Artyom Manukyan first made his name as a musician to watch in his native Armenia, and traveled the world as the youngest member of the BBC World Music Award-winning Armenian Navy Band. Currently living in Los Angeles, Manukyan is equally at home on the stages of jazz clubs, concert halls, and rock festivals, performing with major international artists including Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-D.M.C. fame and Grammy-winning Latin alternative rocker Draco Rosa; scoring for film and television; or leading his electro-jazz quartet.
Artyom Manukyan
Ozan E. Aksoy’s dedication to music was nurtured in early childhood, when his father began teaching him the art of bağlama (long-necked lute), an instrument of special symbolic importance for the Alevi minority in Turkey. He developed an interest in the multi-ethnic musical traditions of Turkey from the beginning of his music career in the Boğaziçi University Folklore Club, and became a member of the band Kardeş Türküler (“Ballads of Fraternity”) from 1995 to 2002 as an arranger and performer. Aksoy has recorded five albums, including for two Kurdish Diaspora musicians (Ali Baran and Şexo), and has given concerts throughout Europe and Turkey with Ballads of Fraternity, performing the local music of Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus.
He has pursued his enthusiasm for the different ethnic musical traditions of Turkey in various media, including producing a 2003 documentary called “The ‘Other’ Voices” for a TV channel in Turkey. Having studied in the Women’s Studies MA Program at Istanbul University, he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in ethnomusicology at the Graduate Center, CUNY, as a Chancellor’s Fellow.
The Ozan Aksoy Quartet consists of Ozan Aksoy, Insia Malik (violin), Jeff Dingler (bass), and Dan Kurfist (percussions).
Tickets for the luncheon and the reception are $100 each. Register for these events by visiting www.responsibility2015.org.
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