Celebrate the longest night of the year!
BIYA BIYA Productions and Shokoufeh present YALDA NIGHT LIFE, a winter solstice celebration ft. live music, dance, and djs. At the California Clipper, we’ll steep in some SWANA sound and movement as we gather to keep warm and cherish the triumph of light over darkness.
🏆 Best of Chicago Reader
Vote BIYA BIYA as best Art Group or Collective
Vote TAYF as best international or world music act
Vote Bellydance by Phaedra as best dance studio or training program for adults
Meet Our Artists
Farnaz Khosh-Sirat
Farnaz Khosh-Sirat is an Iranian artist whose voice is a sanctuary she carries within. Rooted in classical Iranian singing, she traces memory, longing, and what is quietly hoped for. In performance, she leans into the delicate thresholds of being human, letting tenderness, ache, and devotion rise. Her work creates spaces of reflection and presence—small worlds where sound becomes remembrance, inviting listeners into shared intimacy and quiet contemplation.
TAYF
TAYF is a queer-fronted maqam ensemble that steeps their set in music focusing on the spirit of tarab—musical ecstasy. Their contemporary arrangements of music in the maqam tradition are lovingly swirled with jazz and pop stylings.
Featuring:
C Mikhail (they/them) is an Assyrian-German-American musician and audio engineer based in Chicago. With a speciality in the Arab music tradition of maqam, they have become a coveted bassist in ensembles across the city like the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, Sumoud Collective, and the Middle East Music Ensemble of UChicago.
Dr. Aliah Ajamoughli, PhD is a Syrian American ethnomusicologist, cellist and educator. Her musical style intertwines seemingly two opposing worlds: the folk tunes of her fatherland Syria with medleys of her Alabama upbringing. This blending of bluegrass and maqam sounds the necessity of revolution, joy, and hope across global systems of oppression.
Kai Samih Movagh is a musician and visual artist from the Chicago area whose primary instrument is drums and percussion. Kai has experience playing in a diverse area of musical acts of different genres including jazz, rock, r&b, metal, and folk music from the SWANA region.
Pouyan is a practicing physician whose artistic life is centered on singing. As an amateur tenor, he has performed with the Ordibehesht Choir and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra Choir in Iran. He now sings with the University of Chicago Middle Eastern Music Ensemble Choir, where he blends his passion for vocal performance with a desire to preserve and share Middle Eastern musical traditions.
Yasmeen
Yasmeen is Arab Hispanic American and grew up loving raqs sharqi, or bellydance. After finding Phaedra's classes and deciding to study raqs sharqi formally in 2021, she quickly became dedicated to honoring this art and professionally reclaiming SWANA dance. She values joy and authenticity and hopes to bring that to every performance.
Meet Our DJs
Gigi Sa3id is a local artist & disc jockey with a deep reverence for the dancefloor. Her club mixes prioritize movement, often focusing on deep house & garage. Her background as a musician spanning several disparate subcultures has armed her with a library that is both encyclopedic and bizarre - indicative of a lifetime of devotion to music.
Ilham Mae is originally from Amsterdam with deep roots in North Africa and Chicago. She ropes together a sonic wrap around the world.
A. Parssi is a Chicago based artist + DJ. Parssi got their start as a DJ at their college radio station in Rochester, NY. After moving to Chicago in 2017, Parssi expanded their radio involvement by joining CHIRP Radio. As a former Music Co-Director and DJ, recontextualizing music and bringing in new voices to the airwaves drove their work. In March 2023 they started Shokoufeh, a DJ night that focuses on SWANA music from across genres and decades. Since then, they’ve brought this night to Podlasie, Sleeping Village, The California Clipper, and other venues across the city.