UCSB Middle East Ensemble (MEE) is an official “Ethnomusicology Performance Ensemble”

The UCSB Middle East Ensemble is an official “Ethnomusicology Performance Ensemble” in the UCSB Music Department. Founded in 1989 by ethnomusicology professor Scott Marcus, the Ensemble’s repertoire reflects the great diversity of cultures found in the Middle East. The ensemble performs music and dance from Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, Sephardic and Oriental Jewish, Kurdish, and Assyrian cultures. Performance items range from classical pieces to religious, folk, popular, and children’s songs, as well as folk, classical, and cabaret-style dances.

The Ensemble has performed widely throughout California and in Tucson, Arizona, Washington D.C. and Albion and Dearborn, Michigan. In Fall 1999, seven members of the Ensemble performed in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan representing the U.S. at the biannual International “Melodies of the East” Festival in the city of Samarkand. In July 2010, the Ensemble traveled to Egypt to give a series of concerts sponsored by the Egyptian government’s Ministry of Culture. With a group of 54 musicians, singers, and dancers, the Ensemble presented nine concerts over a two-week period, the highlight being four performances at the Cairo Opera House, the premier performance venue in Egypt, with additional performances at Cairo University and in the cities of Ismailia, Helwan, and Beni Suef. We also performed for the Nevada Museum of Art in June 2011 on the occasion of the museum’s 80th-year celebration.