Program Notes:
Dabke (2015) for wind ensemble was commissioned by the College of William & Mary Wind Ensemble. Dabke is an arrangement of the third movement of Kareem Roustom's A Voice Exclaiming; a work for triple string quartet that was originally commissioned for the Kronos Quartet and Providence R.I. based Community MusicWorks. The wind ensemble version of Dabke was premiered by the William & Marry Wind Ensemble on March 29th, 2015 at the Kennedy Center under the direction of Dr. Paul Bhasin.Dabke is an Arab folkloric line dance that is typically performed at joyous occasions. The leader of the dance line, called a hawaash, directs the movements of the dancers behind him. There are many variants of this dance that involve men and women and I felt that this ideal of a communal, inclusive dance best supports the inspiration behind this project with the ideals of Community Music Works and the Kronos Quartet. This movement is based on a six beat dabke rhythm called sudaasi. -Kareem Roustom