Speaking across the divide

Our condition is one of both shared humanity, and deep differences of culture and language. How do we respect those differences while reaching out across the divide? The art of translation is a subtle and necessary one, whether in literature or music, preserving the particularity of our experiences, while allowing us to flourish together. Join us this evening to learn about how translation affects how we understand one another – and ourselves.

Esther Allen

Speaker

Esther Allen is a writer and translator. She is a professor at Baruch College and for the PhD programs in French and in Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures at City University of New York Graduate Center. Esther is a two-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowships (1995 and 2010) and was a 2009-10 Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Her translation of Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto, won the 2017 National Translation Award. In 2018-19, she was a Guggenheim Fellow. Her essays, translations and interviews have appeared in the New York Review of Books, the Paris Review, Words Without Borders, Bomb, LitHub, The New Yorker and other publications.

Esther can be found on Twitter and her official website.

Amir ElSaffar

Artist

Composer, trumpeter, santur player, and vocalist Amir ElSaffar has a classical background, conversant not only in the language of contemporary jazz, but has created techniques to play microtones and ornaments idiomatic to Arabic music that are not typically heard on the trumpet. He was a recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a 2018 US Artist Fellow. Amir is a purveyor of the Iraqi maqam tradition, which he performs actively as a vocalist and santur player. As a composer, Amir has used the subtle microtones found in maqam music to create an innovative approach to harmony and melody, and has received commissions to compose for large and small jazz ensembles, traditional Middle Eastern ensembles, chamber orchestras, string quartets, and contemporary music ensembles, as well as dance troupes.

Amir can be found on Twitter, Instagram and his official website.

Hamid Al-Saadi

Artist

Maqam scholar, singer, artist and writer, Hamid Al-Saadi learned the art of singing and performing the Iraqi maqam from legendary musician Yusuf Omar. Hamid is the only person in his generation to have memorised and mastered all 56 maqamat from the Baghdadi repertoire, and is recognised as one of the few vocalists keeping the maqam alive today, at a time when so many elements of this profound tradition are in danger of extinction. Hamid is also author of al-maqam wo buhoor al-angham, a comprehensive text on the Iraqi maqam and its poetry.

Sam Dresser

Host

Sam Dresser is a senior editor at Aeon+Psyche. He enjoys, to a fault, taking interminable train rides and drinking good Scotch, both of which pair beautifully with what we do at Sophia Club New York: talk about meaningful ideas in a lively, playful way.