MIT Documentary Honors the Arab Spring

Since the Arab Spring revolution began in early 2011, four Arab-speaking countries have removed rulers from power and nearly 20 more have had some form of protests, uprisings, or civil wars.

For musician and composer Jamshied Sharifi ’83, the uprisings were personal. Born in Kansas to an Iranian father and American mother, Sharifi was exposed to Middle Eastern music as a child and later watched unsuccessful political protests in Iran. So when MIT Wind Ensemble music director Frederick Harris asked Sharifi to compose music related to the Arab Spring, he welcomed the opportunity.

The resulting work and accompanying documentary, Awakening: Evoking the Arab Spring through Music, will premiere on the Boston PBS affiliate WGBH on Friday, May 31, at 10:30 p.m. The performance, which debuted in March 2012, was composed by Sharifi and performed by the Wind Ensemble.

From Arts at MIT:

“For those of us with Persian heritage who watched the earlier political protests in Iran, initially with hope and then with bitter disappointment, the success of the civil movements in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were especially gratifying,” Sharifi says. “The labor of developing effective and responsive political systems in those three countries still remains. But something in the Middle East has undeniably changed. And I tried to honor that shift in this piece.”

Jamshied Sharifi '83

Awakening is split into three movements. According to Sharifi, the first piece, Maghreb/Bouazizi/The Uprisings, acknowledges the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor whose suicide served as the catalyst for the Arab Spring. The second, Reflection: Let Each One Hear Her Own Thoughts, serves as a respite to contemplate the uprisings and the third, Ahead: The Real Transformation Has Barely Begun, looks ahead to continued political and social progress.

Sharifi, who is based in New York, led the MIT Jazz Festive Ensemble from 1985-1992. Since leaving MIT, he has helped score the soundtrack of more than 20 televisions shows and feature films and recorded three full-length albums.

Founded by Harris in 1999, the MIT Wind Ensemble is a collection of Institute students and alumni that perform diverse musical styles ranging from the 16th century to present day. The ensemble’s Awakening performance featured 11 alumni, including ensemble president Emily Jackson ’12 and vice president Rachel Clary ’12, and more than 30 current students.

The program was supported in part through a gift by A. Neil ’64 and Jane Pappalardo. The broadcast is the first music-related MIT production to air on PBS.