Marcel Khalife, a Lebanese oud artist and a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Originisation "Artist for Peace" was turned away by the Salvation Army's Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center becuase the center wanted to present what they considered a fair and unbiased performance by having an Israeli artist performing opposite of him.

How absurd! Marcel Khalife is a musician who's dedication is to music and peace, not radical politicial messages through song. His main focus is on changing the music tradition of the oud and Arab music in general. I don't see how his performance would create bias or discord among an audience.

Read more here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/45767-l...

Short biography on Khalife: http://www.marcelkhalife.com/httpdocs/htmls/marcel...

Marcel Khalife and Al Mayadine Ensemble will be performing here in Austin, at UT's Hogg Auditorium on Saturday, October 20th. I will be giving away a pair of tickets on my show - Tuesday nights 9-10 PM - the first three weeks in October.