WCMC-Q Coffee House talent show unites Education City community

April, 2014

More than 400 guests from across Education City convened at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) for the college’s 12th annual Coffee House open talent show event.

Students, staff and faculty of the various colleges of Hamad Bin Khalifa University turned out to watch – or take part in – a series of acts that ranged from musical performances to traditional folk dancing.

The event was organized by WCMC-Q’s Medical Student Executive Council (MSEC) and held on the evening of Thursday 27 March in the college’s East Piazza.

Second-year WCMC-Q medical student Dana Diab performed the traditional dabke dance at the event.

She said: “Coffee House is a wonderful event because it brings everyone from Education City together. I love to perform the dabke because it helps me to stay in touch with my Palestinian heritage, and it’s extremely expressive and athletic, which the crowd enjoys.”

Dana and her team of nine other dancers spent a month practicing for the performance. Another WCMC-Q student who spent a lot of time preparing to perform was Yazan Abou-Ismael of the fourth-year medical class, who played keyboard at the event for the sixth consecutive year.

Yazan, who played an instrumental medley of Arabic tunes, said: “For a medical student, Coffee House is great because it gives you motivation to practice your hobby and maintain your skills. Because we have to spend a lot of time studying it is very easy to neglect your hobbies, but the pressure of performing live really helps you to maintain focus.”

Other performances from the bill of 19 acts included an original rap by WCMC-Q student Brian Wang and a poetry recital by Israa Al-Kamali of Georgetown University.

Guests enjoyed sharing food, cupcakes and – of course – coffee while watching the performances, which included a turn at the piano by Dr. Stephen Scott, WCMC-Q’s Associate Dean for Student Affairs, who played an arrangement of the much-loved standard What a Wonderful World. Dr. Scott also welcomed internationally renowned jazz trumpeter and bandleader Dominick Farinacci, and other artists from Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha, who gave a very well received performance.

Dr. Scott said: “Dominick and the band were very energetic and upbeat, and they enjoyed a great reaction from the crowd.

“Coffee House is a wonderful community event with a wide variety of performances that showcase the talents of students from the different Education City campuses, ranging from pop to traditional Arabic music to techno and dance. Our MSEC members can be very proud of starting an event that has become an established date in the Education City calendar.”