NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Rykodisc UK) - Stephan Said, formerly Smith, the Iraqi-American artist increasingly hailed as "this generation's Woody Guthrie" and compared to protest legends Bob Marley, Dylan, and John Lennon, debuts songs from his up-coming vanguard album with Grammy winning producer Hal Willner and an all-star orchestra with Cindy Blackman,
Kevin Hunter, Lenny Pickett, Art Baron, Earl Gardner, Jane Scaprantoni, and internationally renowned guests including Salman Ahmed of the Pakistani rock group Junoon. This unforgettable show marks a celebration of Stephan's announcement reclaiming his Arabic name, despite American music industry blacklisting, in a cross-cultural shout out for global tolerance benefiting refugee children.
Perhaps the most reputed Iraqi or Arab American recording artist, the thenemerging prodigy of both folk legend Pete Seeger and the late poet Allen Ginsberg, Stephan had been forced to use his mother's maiden name, Smith, when major record label executives told him he "would never have a career in the United States with an Arabic name."
Stephan states, "If we want to give our children a world in which people live together in peace, every individual, every child, must be permitted to live equally, free of suppression simply because of his or her name, and ethnic, class, or religious identity. I am now a member of a global community that transcends borders, and brings together Christians, Muslims, Jews, East and West, Conservatives and Liberals, who understand our mutual security necessitates a more equal and tolerant world. I make pop music to celebrate this growing clan."
Stephan will perform songs from his just-completed upcoming album, "Songs From Below," (due Feb. 2009), with Grammy Award winning Producer Hal Willner (Tom Waits, Bono, Lucinda Williams, Saturday Nite Live). The much-anticipated album features his most universal songwriting to date, with cinematic love songs and pop anthems to global tolerance and peace in English, Arabic, French and Spanish blending pop with rock, folk, and world music.
Stephan burst into mainstream consciousness with his cult pop-litical hits such as "The Ballad of Abner Louima," with rock icon Patti Smith, and 22/41, about Ghanaian Amadou Diallo. His song "The Bell" was "the first major song against the war in Iraq"(Neil Strauss, NY Times) and hailed as "the antiwar anthem of this generation."(GNN) Following the release of "The Bell," Stephan was completely excluded from the U.S. touring industry. A multi-ethnic spokesperson for the global justice movement, his essays on music and global affairs have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Progressive Magazine, CounterPunch, Sing Out! Magazine, Folker Magazine (Germany), The Huffington Post, AlterNet, Counterpunch, and others.
Born to an Iraqi father and Austrian mother, he sings in English, Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian and Spanish. He holds a Masters in International Affairs from The New School, and has written extensively on global development finance, poverty reduction, weapons law and human rights.
WHAT: Stephan Said concert celebrates name change and raises funds for Refugee children
WHERE: Joe's Pub, The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. New York, NY
www.joespub.com
WHEN: Monday, September 22, 2008, 7pm
