The music of Rumi

Rumi by Haydar Hatemi

       Listen to the reed and the tale it tells,
       How it sings of separation...

The music of Rumi is...

• music of his poetry (the sound of language itself, in the original Persian)
• music as metaphor in his poetry (music, instruments, musicians...)
• music of the performed Rumi text
• music as a metaphor for the performance of all mystical love texts
• music as metaphor for the ritual experience of Rumi's poetry, for Rumi as Mevlana, as saint
• music as metaphor for mystical experience and spirituality generally
• music as metaphor for the harmonious machinery of the cosmos, the synchrony of micro/macrocosm, the mutual whirling of human and universe...

Concert sketch:

PART I

• Blackout....Swirling nay emerges, followed by deep-toned bendir/tar (fades in); recitation of Rumi's Masnavi in Persian (2 lines) enters, followed by English, theme of the nay, the reed-bed...tar fades out...

• Trio (Regula, Vinod, Michael) accompanies more recitation, theme of music...perhaps tar reenters at some point...then move to

• Geha's dance recitations, part I, with musical accompaniment, then

• Whirling dervishes projected onto screen (run throughout, but sound down) while next group sets up, with transition to

• Indian ensemble performance, followed by

• Rumi poetry recitation (just 2 minutes) in Persian then English with nay and tar, theme of love, with transition to

• Arab ensemble (containing Persian ensemble subgroup where Rumi's poetry is actually performed)

---start intermission---

(let video of whirling dervishes run with sound up)

---end intermission---

PART II

• Geha's dance recitations, part II (with musical accompaniment) opens second half,

Recitation (focus on ecstatic dance) with nay and tar, transition to

• Kreisha's performance

• More Rumi recitation with nay and tar, themes of ecstasy of the dance, then transition to

• African ensemble

• Final Rumi recitations - short poem --- concludes the program.