GREENFIELD – At a time when immigration is much in the news, Professor John Rapson of the UI School of Music’s Jazz Studies Program has created a powerful multi-media performance piece about an early 20th-century immigrant whose story remains highly relevant today.
“Hot Tamale Louie: The Story of Zarif Khan” will be performed by Rapson and a cast of musicians and actors 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, at Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield.
The performance is based on a June 2016 New Yorker article on Zarif Khan who emigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 1907, eventually settling in Sheridan, Wyoming, where he took over a tamale business, “Hot Tamale Louie.” Rapson immediately recognized the story’s dramatic possibilities, the timeliness of its themes and the opportunities it presented to work with local musicians whose talents mirrored Khan’s global wanderings.
Rapson teamed up with Danyel Gaglione, an immigrant now living in Iowa City, to collaboratively compose and arrange the material for eight musicians. Rapson compiled more than 300 historic photos from the Middle East, American West and elsewhere to illustrate Khan’s story, which is told in words, music, and visual projections.
“Hot Tamale Louie” was first performed as a faculty showcase at University of Iowa in November 2016, a week before the U.S. Presidential election. The enthusiastic audience response led to subsequent performances and now a tour. The band was featured in a Celebration of the Arts on April 28 in Sheridan, Wyoming, and was the Friday night closing act at the Iowa City Jazz Fest in July 2018.