September 6, 2006

Santa Monica High School Hosts A Cultural Celebration

Santa Monica High School and UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies are hosting a celebration of Persian culture to be held on Sunday, September 10^th, from 4-6pm in Barnum Hall on the Santa Monica High School campus.

For the past three years, Santa Monica High School has sponsored a “One School, One Book” reading program. The purpose of the program is to have the entire school read the same novel over the summer in an effort to create a community of learning and communication. This year, all students are reading Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. It is the memoir of a young girl being raised in both Iran and the United States.

Our celebration will include an introduction to Persian culture and literature by Professor Firoozeh Papan-Martin, a demonstration of traditional Persian santur and tombak music by Manoocher Sadeghi and Mehrdad Arabifard, and a concert of contemporary electronic improvisation accompanying traditional Persian violin music by Shahrokh Yadegari and Keyavash Nourai. The event is free and the public is welcome.

SANTA MONICA-MALIBU UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

1651 16^TH Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404

ph: 310-450-8338, fax: 310-581-1138

www.smmusd.org