Artists pay tribute to culture from Iraqi capital

Patrons of the Newport Beach Central Library have never had to flee from bomb blasts en route to picking up their reading materials. But in a special program Saturday afternoon, the library paid tribute to a city where culture comes with a higher risk.

The Levantine Cultural Center, a Los Angeles-based group dedicated to celebrating the art, music and literature of the Middle East, hosted “Memorial for Mutanabbi Street” at the library on Avocado Avenue. The program commemorated the first anniversary of a terrorist bombing on Mutanabbi Street, a street in Baghdad with a large number of bookstores and cafes.

Former Baghdad residents Suad Brandt and Hamied Al-Ansari started the afternoon by telling the crowd about their memories of living in the Iraqi capital and their thoughts on the ongoing war. Afterward, the Saadoun Al-Bayati Ensemble performed live Iraqi music.

Jordan Elgrably, the artistic director of the Levantine Cultural Center, said his group hoped to educate people on the rich — and, in the West, often overlooked — culture of Middle Eastern countries. At one point, he asked everyone in the crowd who wasn’t of Arab descent to raise his or her hand. When hands quickly shot up around the room, Elgrably said it showed how easily cultures could blend.

“Wow, and you’re all sitting in between,” he said. “It’s not like you’re over here and the Arabs are over there.”

— Michael Miller