Risala Foundation invites you to an epic night – an evening of hip-hop, Arabic poetry, and maqam music with MC/Poet Omar Offendum, Oud virtuoso Ronnie Malley, and DJ/Beatmaker Thanks Joey, along with other special guests! This show has been playing to sold-out crowds across the US and we are thrilled to bring it to Houston. These creative voices have adroitly weaved a story that connects their rich Arab/Muslim/Immigrant stories to a contemporary audience. This event will take place at the historic El Dorado Ballroom.

Omar Offendum is a Syrian-American rapper/spoken-word artist. Known for his unique blend of hip-hop and Arabic poetry, he’s been featured on prominent world news outlets (Aljazeera, BBC, PBS, LA Times), lectured at a number of prestigious academic institutions (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Northwestern, UT-Austin, UCLA, SOAS, American University of Beirut), collaborated with major museums and cultural organizations (LACMA / Penn Museum / Ithra / Shangri-La / Arab-American National Museum), and helped raise millions of dollars for various humanitarian relief groups (Islamic Relief, Karam Foundation, Syrian-American Medical Society). Offendum was recently named a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, an Arab America Foundation “40 Under 40” award recipient, and a member of both the Pillars Fund cohort for Muslim Narrative Change and the RaceForward Butterfly Lab cohort for Immigrant Narrative Strategy. He currently resides in the great state of New York with his wife and two little children, while daydreaming about the jasmine-tree-lined streets of Damascus.

Ronnie Malley is a multi-instrumentalist musician, theatrical performer, producer, and educator. He is executive director of Intercultural Music Production in Chicago and a teaching artist with Chicago Public Schools. Ronnie’s theater credits include the Broadway musical tour of the Tony Award-winning The Band’s Visit and Disney’s The Jungle Book. He also performs with the music groups Allos Musica, Apollo’s Fire, Surabhi Ensemble, and more.

Children must purchase a ticket regardless of age!

Tickets are nonrefundable

Thanks Joey is a music Producer & audio engineer specializing in Music Production, Mixing, & Mastering unique cultural sounds in Hip-Hop, R&B, Reggaeton, Afropop, Pop and Founder of Colours Of The Culture label – www.itsColours.com