The Tambourine my partner in diplomacy and disruption
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so
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the wreck has been my best friend for
life we’ve been making music and
breaking stereotypes together
for decades now you know a best friend
should be diplomatic
they should comfort and encourage talk
to you but also listen
but a best friend should also disrupt
you
challenge you and make you examine your
actions
rick surprises people it is not as
simple as its reputation the
preconception of the tambourine is this
um
amateur accessory instrument played like
this
like this well this
is the arab classical
tambourine mine is made with the skin of
fish
mother of pearl brass symbols
it’s fine and thin like the arabic word
rick denotes and it’s capable of making
these
filigree level phrases such as
textures stocks stacks
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and rick is my tool for the craft of
music
music is our tool for diplomacy
and disruption diplomacy and disruption
i help give visibility and advocate
for arabs these are my people that are
often
misunderstood even vilified portrayed as
exotic sultanic fantasy
in films and movies or as erratic
dangerous and irrational fanatics in the
news
so diplomacy creates a dialogue
rec makes people curious and perhaps
they’re interested in
the technique or they are captured by
the music or maybe
they’re propelled by the rhythm that
dances you maybe like
like this
or like this or even
however they dance this is a
participation with
our culture and so they are becoming
familiar
with us and they are feeling our music
and our movement they can identify
with the performer this creates the
potential
for future advocates and allies
so diplomacy creates the dialogue
while disruption interrupts
a monologue
rick is bold and startling so jostled by
this
combination of sounds a person would
have to stop
talking and listen so their rhetoric is
paused
and they take in they absorb and listen
to the other statements
this creates a moment a moment when
they can reassess previous biases
and question these recurring stereotypes
like these uh alienating depictions that
we heard in
the news or the movies the the genie
the extremists the other
rick has given me a tool to advocate
for my culture a way to give positive
visibility to my people
i perform assemblies
in elementary schools i conduct dance
seminars
and dance workshops i record albums
and video tutorials giving college and
university lectures even writing a play
and all of this is to help disrupt
stereotypes all of this has helped me
diplomatically dissuade
xenophobia thanks to the rick
i’ve learned this art and this is the
true virtue
and power of art the art that makes
people curious
and fosters a dialogue and the art that
can
disrupt the rhetoric prompting people to
reconsider their biases
the tambourine it engages with the ears
and it resounds through the dancing body
and gives someone the chance to listen
past the preconceptions and
experience the the details
this diversity but also the uniqueness
of the fingers that are making the music
and this all creates the potential
for friendship
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the potential for friendship
thank you
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you