Palenke Arts is proud to bring back to Seaside the Al Firdaus Ensemble 2 years after their mesmerizing performance for our community.
Al Firdaus will be presenting songs from their album Shifa, which is inspired in the tradition of music therapy used in the medieval Bimaristans (hospitals) established in Al Andalus and across the Islamic world. Patients would be treated in beautiful courtyards with fountains and fragrant plants, using music with the same maqams (musical modes) that we have used on the songs on our album Shifa, to restore balance to the sick following the Greek medical system related to the humours.
Their songs will also explore the relationship between different musical traditions such as, Flamenco, Andalusí, Syrian, Celtic and Sudanese, and these traditions are blended in songs such us Talama Ashku Gharami and Salawatun Tayyibatun.
We will also present songs from previous albums including a Morisco song which is from a 16th manuscript found while restoring a house at the the end of the 19th century. The poem from the manuscript was written in Aljamiado which is in old Castilian dialect written in Arabic script. We don't know how they sang it but adapted the words to a traditional Moroccan melody which fits the metre. Some of the poems that we will be singing were written in the 11th and 12th centuries by Sufi masters from Al Andalus like Ibn Arabi (Murcia), Al Shushtari (Guadix, Granada) and Abu Madyan (Sevilla). We hope that the program will give our audience a taste of the rich and harmonious musical tradition that echoes the beauty of the civilization that produced great monuments such as the Córdoba Mosque and the Alhambra Palace.
MORE ABOUT AL-FIRDAUS ENSEMBLE
Al Firdaus Ensemble was founded in 2012 by the English violinist and singer Ali Keeler, and is based in Granada, Spain. The group takes its inspiration from the word Firdaus, which is the Arabic name (of Persian origin) for the most elevated abode in Paradise.
The intercultural nature of this name reflects the character of the group in which musicians from different countries and cultural backgrounds are brought together with one purpose - to tune their hearts to receive the inspiration of the moment and transmit that to the audience. The traditional Arabic term for this kind of music is sama` which could be translated as “the art of listening.”
The unique sound of their music is due to a synthesis of different musical styles. These include original compositions of a more Western classical character with influences from both Celtic and Flamenco traditions, and new arrangements of songs drawn from the rich heritage of traditional sufi music from Arabic, Andalusi and Turkish sources. The words of the songs are mainly in Arabic drawn from the poetry of the great sufis from Al Andalus and the Arab world such as Ibn Arabi and Al Shushtari. Also within their repertoire are musical adaptations of poems in aljamiado (old Spanish written by the Moriscos using the Arabic script). They use a combination of Arabic and Western classical instruments in addition to the flamenco guitar, and have a range of singers, some of whom are soloists and others who sing in the choruses. They have performed in concerts and international festivals throughout Europe, Bosnia, the U.S., Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon, and Malaysia.